Month: April 2020

 

The Group of Five Commissioners ( from the 5 power schools) have petitioned the NCAA to cut the number of sports sponsored to be considered for Division one status. ( currently a school must sponsor 16 sports to be considered in Division one). Jennifer Heppel, commissioner of the Patriot League was one of 32 mid major league administrators who responded with a strongly worded open letter to the NCAA opposing the power play by the large football playing schools.

The letter dated April 21 reads as follows:

” On behalf of the Intercollegiate Coach Association Coalition (ICAC), we herby register our opposition to the request by the Group of Five Commissioners to allow conferences and schools to cut the number of sports sonsored to be considered for Division on status.

The economic impact the Covid 19 endemic places a lasting burden of both higher education and intercollegiate athletics alike, but slashing opportunities for students is not the solution.

Last year, NCAA Division one institutions provided educational opportunities for 141,483 students in Olympic sports. These are not just exceptional athletes, but outstanding students with graduation rates and donation rates higher than their non-athletic peers. These student athletes generated 3.6 billion in tuition and fees to their university, an amount nearly equal what it costs to provide these opportunities .

Sport fosters community and a life long love for our colleges and universities, impacting alumni involvement, endowment  and giving. We need these contributions now more than ever.

Our first and most important commitment must be to our students, and duty requires us to explore every possible avenue for maintaining or investment in them. Reducing the minimum sports sponsorship requirement that would open the door to eliminating sports should not be an option. We are all in this together , and we are ready, eager and willing to partner with the NCAA to fine creativity solutions for the challenges to come. America’s students have had so much taken from them. Now is not the time to cut them. off from yet another critical institution that makes university life so special.

We respectfully request anything related to the discussion of the number of sports sponsored to follow the protocol of legislative procedure that allows for discussion and collaboration.

We stand as a committed partner to consider how to balance the reality of athletic department budgets with the enrollment needs of institutions. We know that we can develop the structural changes needed to preserve these opportunities, support our collective educational mission , and build a stronger NCAA as we emerge from the Coviv 19 pandemic.”

WELL SAID!!!

Anxiety is not an uncommon emotion these days, as our institutions try to organize a response to the pandemic. Perhaps it is Higher Education that may experience more radical change than any other group of institutions. Hospitals, pubic schools, even most small businesses will reappear, but there is growing concern higher education may be permanently scarred, as a result of the effects of social distancing and staying in place.

As a sector, higher education is getting “hammered,” as some analysts have suggested. Some universities and colleges may never recover much less sports programs operate as usual. Many college and universities were forced to refund room and board. In Lafayette’s case 1/2 room and board was refunded, or applied to next year’s expenses. In addition, every student was given a 1,000 dollar stipend to cover expenses of moving out.  However, not all students were able to move out, and as I understand it from some sources, about three hundred students remain on campus.

Lafayette like many schools has moved to online learning. Syllabus’ needed to be changed, curriculum, and teaching methods needed to be readjusted. I can only imagine the difficulty the stem fields have in teaching without access to labs. and seniors who have had to cope with lack of access for their various research projects. Lafayette does have a 900 million dollar endowment to draw from, but that drawing from  an endowment that may have suffered declines may impact resources in the future. Salaries and hiring have been frozen, and senior officials have taken cuts in compensation. I have to believe that alumni, whose portfolios and businesses which have been hit by declines no doubt will ultimately have an impact on philanthropy.

Lesser institutions may be left in precarious circumstances. It is estimated that between 10 and 20 percent of all higher education institutions are in trouble. With about 5300 such institutions it could mean that as many as  1000  will not survive intact. Public universities are not left alone, because they are. supported by state government already strapped for cash.

Over the last decade there was an 11 percent enrollment drop. Expenses have continued to climb during the last ten years, but going forward that will not be possible. Discount rates ( scholarships vs full pay) is rising past the 40. pct level, a level years ago considered unsustainable. The three classes of vulnerable institutions effected are non-selective private colleges, middle tier state institutions and community colleges.

The AP reports that some universities are looking at losses of 100 million or more. Drew University is laying off 70 staff, Quinnipiac has announced 3- 5 percent salary cuts, Marquette is furloughing 250, University of Minnesota had a 300 million dollar hit, and the University of Arizona has announced salary cuts up to 20 percent. The New York Times estimates a 15-20 percent drop in enrollment nation wide next year.

What does this mean for sports programs? The era of multi-million dollar contracts for coaches is over ( thankfully Lafayette and all the Patriot League schools are not among them). It has been rumored that the Power 5 conferences are considering cancelling or altering the fall football season. So goes football so goes the other non revenue sports. For Patriot League schools, those budgets are not large compared to the overall budget, but the programs are important to connect and encourage alumni giving.

It is a certainty, if students do not return to campus in the fall there will be no sports at least in that semester. What happens to eligibility, and will students defer their fall semester for a year? After all, they enrolled for the whole experience not an “at home on line education.”

I hope we are through this by June but the clock is ticking and there is no doubt the effects may be lasting!!

Life for most of us has slowed to a crawl as we wait out the virus. Political leaders seem to be content to point blame at each other from their basements, in front of cameras to pontificate to whomever will listen. I find it incredulous that Congress has gone home, while people await unemployment checks ( first round has already exhausted),  and testing remains tepidly active, far beneath the need!!

At this point in April, I would have expected to have seen our Leopards in several contests, but alas it didn’t happen, and as each day ticks by, the fate of the fall season becomes more hope than certainty.

Pam and I are doing fine, as we brilliantly decided to get a new puppy to amuse us, and she is doing that and more. We forgot that raising a puppy is like raising a baby, only in a compressed time period. She began 4 weeks ago at 10 pounds, walking and running slightly, and now being nearly 30 pounds and can run with the wind, as she teases us by digging up Pam’s flowers, taking a throw pillow for a romp around the house or blessedly taking one of her 2 naps during the day. I have lost 6 pounds in the process so all is good!!

The outside world is at a standstill, but I must say car traffic has started to pick up, and some businesses are finding ways around the regulations to stay alive. Pam is teaching via “ZOOM” ( I had no idea what Zoom was until 4 weeks ago), but wishes she were back in a regular classroom. This is her last year and she regrets she will not see her class live before the end of the year!!

Lafayette is in distant learning, and a real live commencement in August is still a hope, like the beginning of fall classes and sports. It may well depend on our state political leaders, but the governor last week vetoed a call for a “plan” to reopen. Boston University says it is definitely closed through the summer, Harvard has alerted its faculty to prepare to continue distant learning this fall, the University of Cincinnati has dropped soccer altogether, and there is talk among the power five about delaying or canceling the football season.

Lafayette has a decent endowment to weather the storm, but there are indeed challenges to be faced in the coming months as there are always. Higher education is one of those “industries” greatly effected by the shutdown.

We are continuing to look at a new home for USA Field Hockey and I must say interest still looks very promising. However, Futures has come to a halt and the YWNT is at least postponed as practices are impossible during the crisis. The National Team cannot travel or practice, and of course the Olympics are postponed until next year. The NCAA as usual seems frozen, for God knows why.

I am still hopeful we will see our team on the turf come August, which no doubt, given the lack of spring practice, and high performance national opportunities being  blocked, brings its own challenges to coaches.

Stay safe….for our graduating seniors I have donated my usual framed poem by Emerson (Success), meant to be given at the end of year luncheon, to the school and it will be mailed once the empty offices of our administration are again occupied. I presume they are on a desk at the Kirby Sport Center.

We would love to hear from you and what you are doing during this time!!  Information flow has stopped much like the rest of the world! Let us know if I can publish what you have to say to the rest of the world!!

The NCAA this week granted spring sport season athletes one extra year of eligibility. It is not likely many PL athletes or Lafayette athletes will take advantage of this largess by the  Indianapolis hierarchy. First of all, they did not add to the ability of colleges and universities to add additional scholarship grants for those sports. If a sport is allowed 12 scholarships, those head coaches must either renege on offers for incoming freshman or the senior athlete must pay for the extra semester themselves. Secondly, it is not clear whether the extension applies to all members of the team, freshmen through juniors. After all, they have lost a season as well. Third, colleges without graduate programs would be at a disadvantage since their seniors will have already graduated and there would be no academic offerings for those people aside from a second undergraduate degree.

I suppose the senior could transfer, to use their extra year of eligibility as many do if they have an unused red shirt year! I have never been impressed with the NCAA’s ability to foresee all the consequences of actions and this reinforces my ongoing skepticism of the organization.

Meanwhile recruiting continues unabated even though schools are forbidden to meet with recruits and families on site. It is a difficult enough decision for families, but without a campus visit, it makes those still in the hunt for a place on a college team in a difficult spot. Mid-major football and basketball programs are particularly effected as are foreign players who tend to commit late.

Getting back to field hockey in the patriot league, I do see an improvement in all rosters. There is quality being added at all levels. I would have hoped for a spring season to solidify Lafayette’s new lineup. The loss of competitions this spring favors those larger squads who can scrimmage themselves this fall. If I were the NCAA in the interest of health and safety, I would add a week to the fall preseason in all sports while also adding one preseason competition.

Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Inquirer had an excellent article on the impact of the virus on college sports. Revenue is an issue as 400 million was lost, especially by the large programs because of the cancellation of March Madness. Total revenue by colleges and universities. is a question because of the absence of students. Admissions have already been effected as schools try to cushion their acceptance pool to account for those families economically effected by joblessness. Even the elite Ivies are dipping deeper and accepting more students than usual. Last year was difficult for many schools as they fell short of their targets.

The world is a different place this spring and it is unknown what it will be this fall!! In the meantime be safe and care for your neighbors!!