Conference changes

[CNU85]

Also, even with certain safe perks in terms of automatic qualifiers for some sports, hope the C2C and the ASC (both having 6 and 5 respectively, in the C2C's case it has 5 men's & women's and 1 women's-only) would need to find member schools as expansion candidates to remain alive in the long term; or otherwise they are in the brink to be squandered and be in favor to join more nearby regional friendly conferences.

Ummm....the sole reason the C2C exists is because this has already been explored and there is no place to go. But hey - I'm open for suggestions!

[jeffconn]

Also, even with certain safe perks in terms of automatic qualifiers for some sports, hope the C2C and the ASC (both having 6 and 5 respectively, in the C2C's case it has 5 men's & women's and 1 women's-only) would need to find member schools as expansion candidates to remain alive in the long term; or otherwise they are in the brink to be squandered and be in favor to join more nearby regional friendly conferences.

Ummm....the sole reason the C2C exists is because this has already been explored and there is no place to go. But hey - I'm open for suggestions!

I have two suggested conferences for CNU, but it involves jumping to NCAA Division 2. CNU is just too isolated to get an invite from a D3 conference that wants state schools.

[CNU85]

Also, even with certain safe perks in terms of automatic qualifiers for some sports, hope the C2C and the ASC (both having 6 and 5 respectively, in the C2C's case it has 5 men's & women's and 1 women's-only) would need to find member schools as expansion candidates to remain alive in the long term; or otherwise they are in the brink to be squandered and be in favor to join more nearby regional friendly conferences.

Ummm....the sole reason the C2C exists is because this has already been explored and there is no place to go. But hey - I'm open for suggestions!

I have two suggested conferences for CNU, but it involves jumping to NCAA Division 2. CNU is just too isolated to get an invite from a D3 conference that wants state schools.

True. Even those 2 D2 conferences are not a great fit especially since CNU really wants to stay D3. There is a better D1 conference option than the 2 D2 conferences. But it just isn't going to happen any time soon. There is too much uncertainty in the D1 NCAA landscape at the moment.

[Inkblot]

Brockport and Geneseo to the Empire 8... https://empire8.com/news/2023/8/21/general-suny-brockport-and-suny-geneseo-to-join-empire-8-2024-25-start-date-anticipated.aspx

[Caz Bombers]

This is totally bizarre, why would they leave the SUNYAC at all, let alone for the Fisher and I forget how many dwarves conference that is the E8?

[Pat Coleman]

From what we've been hearing, the geographic scope of the SUNYAC including those schools (and Buffalo and Fredonia) and the schools such as Potsdam and Plattsburgh is a lot of travel that they don't want to have to do.

[Caz Bombers]

The 'YAC has been rather snobby towards the NAC West contingent of SUNY schools, one wonders if their attitude might get much friendlier now.

[Gregory Sager]

My thoughts exactly. SUNY Canton, SUNY Delhi, SUNY Cobleskill, and/or SUNY Morrisville might be looking much better now in the eyes of the 'YACers.

[Gregory Sager]

The other question is: Do Buff State and Fredonia, which are now out on an extreme island with regard to the rest of the SUNYAC, opt to move to the AMCC? Football is not an issue; the AMCC doesn't sponsor the sport, Fredonia doesn't have a football program, and Buff State is already a football-only member of the Liberty League.

The AMCC is a mixed league that has a public-school majority, and there are already two western NY schools in that league (Hilbert and Alfred State), with two others (Pitt-Bradford and PSU-Behrend) just across the Pennsylvania border from WNY.

[Caz Bombers]

The other question is: Do Buff State and Fredonia, which are now out on an extreme island with regard to the rest of the SUNYAC, opt to move to the AMCC? Football is not an issue; the AMCC doesn't sponsor the sport, Fredonia doesn't have a football program, and Buff State is already a football-only member of the Liberty League.

The AMCC is a mixed league that has a public-school majority, and there are already two western NY schools in that league (Hilbert and Alfred State), with two others (Pitt-Bradford and PSU-Behrend) just across the Pennsylvania border from WNY.

Sounds very plausible. The Bengals and Blue Devils have been totally non-competitive in the SUNYAC for a long time in the vast majority of their sports. AMCC is a better fit for where they're at right now and in the future.

I'm not certain the Empire Greater Than 8 is done either, it sounds like Utica has found the D1 hockey home they were searching for and will be moving the rest of the athletic department to D2 (Northeast 10 or ECC) within 1-2 years. Also I have it on good authority that Elmira, Sage, and Hartwick voted no on E8 expansion and are starting to explore their options.

[Pat Coleman]

And of Elmira, Hartwick and Sage, I wonder if they will all be open in five years' time anyway.

[Caz Bombers]

And of Elmira, Hartwick and Sage, I wonder if they will all be open in five years' time anyway.

yeah, same here...they're all among that cohort on the cliff's edge for sure.

[Gregory Sager]

Yeah, they not only have to deal with the coming demographic collapse of America's college-age cohort, they also have to face the music in terms of the ongoing depopulation of upstate New York that's been happening for forty years now and shows no sign of slowing down.

My high-school alma mater in suburban Onondaga County had nearly four thousand students when I attended there. Last year it had 2,100, and I talked to a friend back in the Syracuse area who told me that it'll be dipping below two thousand this fall. Stuff like that is not good news if you're a New York college that draws most of its students from in-state.

[IC798891]

I work at Ithaca, and the demographic changes are looming over everything. You've got to change things. IC added a graduate level physician's assistant program, one of the country's fastest growing job fields

https://www.ithaca.edu/news/ic-launches-high-demand-physician-assistant-program-fast-growing-profession

They've also invested more heavily in recruiting students from outside the Northeast region

https://www.ithaca.edu/news/board-trustees-chair-david-h-lissy-87-makes-gift-expand-recruitment-and-marketing-resources

IC is very lucky to be able to do this. Smaller schools that don't have those resources, or simply don't have a non-state or Northeast region footprint....

[thebear]

From what we've been hearing, the geographic scope of the SUNYAC including those schools (and Buffalo and Fredonia) and the schools such as Potsdam and Plattsburgh is a lot of travel that they don't want to have to do.

That's spot on.  Geneseo and Brockport to the E8 - cuts their transportation budgets by HALF, and eliminates all but one overnight trip.  SUNY enrollment is down dramatically in many places, and online enrollment all over the system is reducing the fees that provide the athletic budgets.