FB: Southern Athletic Association

[Ralph Turner]

There are small liberal arts colleges in those states who have kept the financial house in better condition by policies of the respective administraions than those 2. We are just D3-centric.

[awadelewis]

Coaching change on the Mountain as Travis Rundle is moving to the head coach position at Albion College.   Figured change was going to happen given the results of the past few seasons.

https://sewaneetigers.com/news/2023/1/17/staff-changes-announced-for-the-university-of-the-south-football-program.aspx

[jknezek]

Coaching change on the Mountain as Travis Rundle is moving to the head coach position at Albion College.   Figured change was going to happen given the results of the past few seasons.

https://sewaneetigers.com/news/2023/1/17/staff-changes-announced-for-the-university-of-the-south-football-program.aspx

Heck of a jump for Coach Rundle. Albion just came off a 9-1 season and, with the exception of 16/17, has been pretty solid in the MIAA for 10 years. That Sewanee press release was stretching pretty good to find something he accomplished at Sewanee. To be fair, the corresponding release at Albion struggled to find much to say about his Sewanee tenure as well (https://gobrits.com/news/2023/1/17/football-travis-rundle-tabbed-head-football-coach.aspx). Coach Rundle won 5 conference games, total, in 6 seasons at Sewanee (though 2020 was essentially a washout). But he hadn't won a conference game since 2018 and went 0-10 twice while never winning more than 4 games in a season. I get Sewanee has faced some headwinds for at least the last 20 years, but he didn't exactly change the trajectory.

So I guess when you are the son of a storied Albion Head Coach and an Albion alum, maybe none of that matters much?

[Ron Boerger]

Coaching change on the Mountain as Travis Rundle is moving to the head coach position at Albion College.   Figured change was going to happen given the results of the past few seasons.

https://sewaneetigers.com/news/2023/1/17/staff-changes-announced-for-the-university-of-the-south-football-program.aspx

Heck of a jump for Coach Rundle. Albion just came off a 9-1 season and, with the exception of 16/17, has been pretty solid in the MIAA for 10 years. That Sewanee press release was stretching pretty good to find something he accomplished at Sewanee. To be fair, the corresponding release at Albion struggled to find much to say about his Sewanee tenure as well (https://gobrits.com/news/2023/1/17/football-travis-rundle-tabbed-head-football-coach.aspx). Coach Rundle won 5 conference games, total, in 6 seasons at Sewanee (though 2020 was essentially a washout). But he hadn't won a conference game since 2018 and went 0-10 twice while never winning more than 4 games in a season. I get Sewanee has faced some headwinds for at least the last 20 years, but he didn't exactly change the trajectory.

So I guess when you are the son of a storied Albion Head Coach and an Albion alum, maybe none of that matters much?

Apparently not.  9-42 doesn't make for much of a recommendation, they're putting a lot into hoping the family name can translate into W's.  Wish him well but there's going to be a lot of immediate pressure to continue the success they had under Beurer.  And they didn't waste any time, naming him less than a month after Beurer left; all too often the quick choice ends up being not the best. 

[Etchglow]

I guess I'll drop this here since southwestern is going to be saa for a few before going back to the scac...  Looks like they're replacing a practice field with their new stadium. Going to have to add a lot of parking over there.

https://communityimpact.com/austin/georgetown/education/2023/01/16/southwestern-university-designing-new-football-stadium/

[Ron Boerger]

I guess I'll drop this here since southwestern is going to be saa for a few before going back to the scac...  Looks like they're replacing a practice field with their new stadium. Going to have to add a lot of parking over there.

https://communityimpact.com/austin/georgetown/education/2023/01/16/southwestern-university-designing-new-football-stadium/

Thanks.  This was announced some time ago and it looks like they're running behind (construction was originally supposed to start last month).  They have some open land fronting TX-29 and a bit to the east of the current practice field that could be turned into parking - and they actually own a number of undeveloped parcels to the north and east of the current campus (details at https://portico.mygisonline.com/html5/?viewer=williamsontx).

In the original announcement the university sold some excess property far from campus and "turned $66,000 into $28 million" which is a great way to pay for the new stadium along with some other upgrades and new facilities.

[Etchglow]

I guess I'll drop this here since southwestern is going to be saa for a few before going back to the scac...  Looks like they're replacing a practice field with their new stadium. Going to have to add a lot of parking over there.

https://communityimpact.com/austin/georgetown/education/2023/01/16/southwestern-university-designing-new-football-stadium/

Thanks.  This was announced some time ago and it looks like they're running behind (construction was originally supposed to start last month).  They have some open land fronting TX-29 and a bit to the east of the current practice field that could be turned into parking - and they actually own a number of undeveloped parcels to the north and east of the current campus (details at https://portico.mygisonline.com/html5/?viewer=williamsontx).

In the original announcement the university sold some excess property far from campus and "turned $66,000 into $28 million" which is a great way to pay for the new stadium along with some other upgrades and new facilities.

Yeah, this is the first link I'd seen with an actual location planned.  That is a cool link to who owns what.  I tried to look up what they owned but couldn't find it.  I didn't realize they owned all that property east of the creek.  I "think" some of that is technically flood plane so parking would be a prime use for that land.  Hopefully they'll keep playing UMHB in football because that game was always closer to home than the Belton games lol.

[jknezek]

I was over at Birmingham-Southern today for an event with my middle school daughter. The deferred maintenance is starting to be pretty obvious. I know students aren't in session right now, but we were over in the Norton Campus Center and it was just dirty. Dirty floors, dirty windows, dirty, dusty everything. A bad look for 300+ bright Alabama middle schoolers participating in an academic oriented event.

The parking lot was cratered and the shrubs look like they missed their last scheduled trim. The buildings and sidewalks look dingy. I don't know if it was because I was looking for it, or if it just hit me, but there are definitely some things that show just how distressed the place is right now.

Probably doesn't help that this column came out the day before:

https://www.al.com/news/2023/01/whitmire-looking-for-a-way-forward-bscs-time-is-running-out.html

I have to admit, if it was my kid, I'd be exploring options and applying away right now. The place has all the indications of a death spiral. What incoming first year is going to want to jump on that limb right now? And if you can't get them to come, you don't have anything left.

I was really sad. From 100ft going 20mph, it's still a very beautiful campus. So much potential. But it doesn't look like it's going to survive. And I have no idea what you do with that place if it doesn't.

[Etchglow]

I was over at Birmingham-Southern today for an event with my middle school daughter. The deferred maintenance is starting to be pretty obvious. I know students aren't in session right now, but we were over in the Norton Campus Center and it was just dirty. Dirty floors, dirty windows, dirty, dusty everything. A bad look for 300+ bright Alabama middle schoolers participating in an academic oriented event.

The parking lot was cratered and the shrubs look like they missed their last scheduled trim. The buildings and sidewalks look dingy. I don't know if it was because I was looking for it, or if it just hit me, but there are definitely some things that show just how distressed the place is right now.

Probably doesn't help that this column came out the day before:

https://www.al.com/news/2023/01/whitmire-looking-for-a-way-forward-bscs-time-is-running-out.html

I have to admit, if it was my kid, I'd be exploring options and applying away right now. The place has all the indications of a death spiral. What incoming first year is going to want to jump on that limb right now? And if you can't get them to come, you don't have anything left.

I was really sad. From 100ft going 20mph, it's still a very beautiful campus. So much potential. But it doesn't look like it's going to survive. And I have no idea what you do with that place if it doesn't.

That really stinks to hear.  I saw that article this morning and it was eye opening.

[BSCpanthers]

I'm trying to stay positive with it, but it is getting harder to stay that way.  Students, not just athlete, need to be preparing for the "what if" scenario.  Go ahead and apply at other schools and get those transfer paperwork done, if you don't need it, it just goes away, but if you do need it, you need to know where you are going. 

As this rolls along with no answer, the harder it is for them to come through it.  Enrollment will for sure be down next fall, even if there is a next fall, and the rebuild will be long and difficult.  I always wonder why these schools wait until the last minute to really ask for help?  Why wait until you can't make it another semester, this should have been seen 2 years ago and that's when the endowment rebuild should have started. 

[jknezek]

I'm trying to stay positive with it, but it is getting harder to stay that way.  Students, not just athlete, need to be preparing for the "what if" scenario.  Go ahead and apply at other schools and get those transfer paperwork done, if you don't need it, it just goes away, but if you do need it, you need to know where you are going. 

As this rolls along with no answer, the harder it is for them to come through it.  Enrollment will for sure be down next fall, even if there is a next fall, and the rebuild will be long and difficult.  I always wonder why these schools wait until the last minute to really ask for help?  Why wait until you can't make it another semester, this should have been seen 2 years ago and that's when the endowment rebuild should have started.

Because asking the government for money isn't going to get any response unless you are flat out, last chance, desperate. It's painful to do, but pointless to do early. They won't care if you say you are going to run out of money in 2 years. That's 2 years for you to fix your problem without them. And by the time you hit the point where they might care, it's already too late.

[cush]

Any idea what would happen to the Birmingham Southern campus if the school closed ? As for the SAA, I'd like them to invite Transylvania College (KY) if they need to replace BSC

[Ron Boerger]

Any idea what would happen to the Birmingham Southern campus if the school closed ? As for the SAA, I'd like them to invite Transylvania College (KY) if they need to replace BSC

Academically they would appear to be a decent fit.  Two problems with Transy for the SAA: 
(1) it doesn't have football and the SAA, down to six (edit: football-playing) schools after the SCAC schools leave should B-SC not survive, would no doubt like to add a seventh
(2) it's tiny (974 students in Fall 2021) though they seem to have good financial underpinnings ($240M in mid-2021)

Plus they may be happy in the HCAC, though I see they affiliate already with the SAA for field hockey and the CCIW for men's lacrosse (which the SAA also sponsors).

[BSCpanthers]

If BSC goes down, I could see the ASC and SAA football schools coming together under one conference, even if only for football.  Other sports could stay in their current conferences.

[Cowboy2]

Any idea what would happen to the Birmingham Southern campus if the school closed ?

I hope it doesn't come to that, but I was wondering the same thing....I wonder if a larger (state) school would purchase it for a satellite campus??