Birmingham Southern is closing

[Kuiper]

https://www.al.com/educationlab/2024/03/birmingham-southern-college-will-close-may-31-as-loan-bill-fails-to-gain-support.html

"The Board of Trustees voted unanimously today to close the College after a 2024 bill designed to amend the 2023 legislation that established the loan program on which our future depended failed to win sufficient support in the Alabama House of Representatives. Without that funding, the College does not have the resources to continue," a letter from the Rev. Keith D. Thompson, the chair of BSC Board of Trustees, states.

I wouldn't be surprised if many of the soccer players had already transferred, but I feel bad for those who are now scrambling for places to go.

The Southern Athletic Association has already effectively planned for this event with the additions of Trinity and Southwestern from the SCAC starting Fall 2025 (and they still will have 7 for Fall 2024), but there are going to be a bunch of schools with holes in their schedule for next fall.  Among non-conference schools in the south, Birmingham Southern was a regular opponent.  Emory has played them most years, as has Huntington.

[Kuiper]

I just checked BSC men's soccer's social media accounts and they actually started announcing commits about a week ago (plus a January transfer).  If there are any college coaches reading these boards who want to reach out to any of these kids or the BSC coaches, I'm sure they and others would appreciate a sliver of hope right about now.

https://x.com/bscmsoccer/status/1770099042027995367?s=20

Om Shrestha Hoover-Vestavia MLS Next/Oak Mountain HS

https://x.com/bscmsoccer/status/1769732781553184862?s=20

Yossef Awad Hoover-Vestavia MLS Next 2/John Carroll Catholic HC

https://x.com/bscmsoccer/status/1768662155090370637?s=20

Jayro Lopez Funez (transfer from Young Harris)

[SierraFD3soccer]

Very interesting coverage as to why and how it ended up being closed. It appears they tried very hard to include help from the state. However, it appears that it go to deep to fast to get out of the huge help. Going to think that several/perhaps many are like this currently.  Maybe just the beginning of the "College Bubble" bursting. The building craze was just what it was and still going on with respect to other colleges. I know several PA state schools are struggling.  https://www.shelbycountyreporter.com/2024/03/26/birmingham-southern-college-announces-closure/

[Ron Boerger]

B-SC has unfortunately mismanaged their funds repeatedly over the years and this was at least the third instance of spending tens of millions of dollars they didn't have to spend over the last 25-30 years.  There are going to be more schools closing to be sure, but this is a case of a school causing its own problems more than demographics doing them in as will be the case for most.