What is Colgate doing that we aren't?

Could very well be....but I'm sincerely looking for any and all answers rather than turn this into just a "for sale sign" on Gilmore's lawn.

Colgate is a small school in the middle of nowhere NY (apologies to local denizens) yet they have a program that won 2 playoff games last year, has had a pretty strong staht to the season this year and here we are, 1-3 probably staring at another 3 or 4 win season. As crusader12 posted, we deserve bettah.

Colgate's academics are high quality, like HC. They have to live with the same AI we do. They are in the middle of nowhere compared to HC. For decades their fball stadium was a joke. I don't know the answer. Coaching?

They run the football and play defense, neither of which we have done with any regularity for a long time.

IMHO, this is not a lack of talent but a combination of poor play selection, some spotty coaching and bad luck.

Pujals and Flaherty and Jake W, for example, are top notch. Nikolaisen is a monster TE (6'5" 270 lbs.) that is under-utilized. Our OL is almost as big as when Dom dominated but we have a penchant for running under-sized Diquan Walker up the middle. Unless our OL is pancaking people (they aren't that good), this is a prescription for failure. I've harped on this for years, we have no RBs that can break tackles once clearing the opponent's first line of defense. It's speed or stop. Too often, we are stopped.  

Conversely, our DBs constantly go for arm tackles against a full-bore running 205-225 lb. opposing RB and tackles are broken for big gainers. 

Even at LB, our best is undoubtedly McBeath. But at 208 lbs., he'd probably be a safety for other teams. 

Perhaps a look at the strength and conditioning coach is in order?

1.) The Colgate head coach was a long-time assistant at Colgate. Thus, there is program continuity, which is probably important from a recruiting network standpoint  There is no similar continuity at HC.

2.) In recent years, Colgate has spent significantly more on football than HC. In 2014-15, HC was fifth in the PL when it came to spending on football, Bucknell and Georgetown were lower. The schools that spent more began spending more about the time Fordham made the push for scollies. As a result, HC's recruiting classes of 2013-14, and 2014-15 are probably sub-par, at least when it comes to depth.

3.) I have come to the conclusion that how many games a team wins in the PL is hugely dependent on the quality of the 45 or so athletes on the roster receiving fin aid but who are not on a full scollie. To convince a recruit to matriculate on a half scollie often means that a.) the recruit hasn't received a full scollie offer from a quality program, and/or b.) he (and his parents) are convinced the HC academic and football program is worth the financial cost to the family (about $120,000 for HC). compared to a program at Lehigh, Villanova, UNH, Bill & Mary.

If HC offers a half-scollie, and Dartmouth offers fin aid that will cost a recruit's family $30,000 over four years, where's the kid going to play football?  I don't think you can over-estimate the effect on recruiting at the half-scollie level of the HYP financial aid arms race, where if family income is $150,000 or less, the family will pay no more than 10 percent of the cost of attendance.  In the not-so-long-ago days, HC might have been able to offer a 80-90 percent scollie for such a kid, but going to merit scollies pretty much killed that off.
_______________________
The Richmond Colgate game was not as close as the final score.  Richmond had an almost 2:1 advantage in net yards.

But comparing Richmond, Colgate, and Holy Cross, 2014-15.

Richmond
Recruiting, all men's teams $339,000
Football operating expenses $934 000
Total football expenses $6,463,000

Colgate
Recruiting, all men's teams $353,000
Football operating expenses $577,361
Total football expenses $5,274,000

Holy Cross
Recruiting, all men's teams $269,000
Football operating expenses $382,000
Total football expenses $4,776,000

The two unknowns (in that amounts are not given, are coaches compensation, and the amount of financial aid. As all three schools are private, and the cost of attendance is similar, the cost of a full scollie is similar.  The conclusion that I draw is that HC was offering less financial aid than Colgate or Richmond in 2014-15.

To compete against the likes of Richmond or Villanova, a PL school probably has to spend between $5.6 and $5.8 million on football.  (Villanova spent $6.6M, with football operating expenses of $1.4M).  And even then, squad depth (with an absolute cap of 90) will likely be a continuing issue..
________________________________________
Football spending trends ($ in millions).    

2011-12
Colgate 4.7M
HC 3.9M

2012-13
Colgate 4.8M
HC 4.4M

2013-14
Colgate 4.7M
HC 4.4M

2014-15   (second year of full scollies)
Colgate 5.3M
HC 4.8M

Definitely rules against that; way too easy to cheat. And you'd see the bigger programs stockpiling bodies if that was allowed.

tim pretty much answered this.

Back on the old board, at the time that merit scollies were announced, there was extensive discussion about the feasibility of combining need-based and merit aid, but only counting the merit aid against the 85 roster limit of those receiving scollie aid.

The NCAA does not allow such creativity; if need-based aid was combined with merit aid, the entire amount counts as merit.  If need-based aid is the only aid given to a football player, it counts as merit aid for the purposes of the 85 man cap.
_______________________
There are 44 private institutions in I-AA (FCS)..  Of the 44, 17 spent more than $3.5 million in 2014-15, indicating they had a significant number of scollies.  Of the 17, six are in the PL, several are in the CAA (Richmond, Villanova), a few are historically black institutions, and most of the rest are smaller institutions in the South, e.g., Samford, Wofford, Presbyterian, Furman.

One could justifiably take the view that these 17 are at a recruiting disadvantage to those public institutions that also roster up to the 85 man limit of players receiving scollie aid/  The cost of attendance at a public institution is substantially less than at a private institution, so a family's contribution to the cost of attendance at Public U. might be half that of a family whose son is on a half-scollie at one of the 17.

One could also take the view that these 17 are at a disadvantage against the Ivies, whose roster is capped at 120, and all 120, theoretically, might be receiving need-based aid, with most receiving aid more generous than the amount of a half-scollie offered by a PL school.  That is, a school that only offers need-based is not constrained by the 85 player limit of those offering full or partial merit aid.

________________________________________________
I referenced the amounts spent on recruiting for men's sports at Richmond, Colgate, and Holy Cross. Dartmouth's spending on recruiting dwarfs these three schools:  $739,000.  Princeton spent $787,000.



 



 

Unfortunately, at this point, the solution is a new head coach. Time for a new era to start. With schollies, the new facilities and improved schedules in the next several years, this should be a very attractive job. With the right head coach and staff in place, I see no reason why we can't be competitive with the top teams in the CAA and the Ivy and become a regular partcipant in the NCAA tourney.

This mostly in response to Joe's search for answers.  So, in no particular order:

1.)  Tackling.  This year, the Ivies have banned tackling in regular season practice.  Full contact is limited.  The underlying reason for this, IMO, is lawyers and insurers looking 30-40 years in the future and trying to minimize future liabilities.  Whether the PL has also done similarly, or in a modified fashion, I don't know.  One solution would be to buy Dartmouth's robotic tackling dummies.

2.)  Defensive schemes.  Its not like Dartmouth or Albany showed up running the single wing formation, the HC defense presumably practices against the HC offense, and HC and most of HC's opponents run offenses that are variants of a theme.  If full-speed, full-contact practices are few and far between, this may translate into a slowed reaction on game day.

3.)  Recruiting.  High school football in the Northeast is languishing.  Increasing numbers of college-educated parents are directing their sons to sports other than football..That complicates current and future recruiting for a school such as HC.

4.)  Money (and coaching).   Ivy spending on football averages around $2.8 million (Brown and Penn are lowest at around $2.2 million.)    If one were to add $3.8 million to the Ivy spending (63 scollies at $60,000 each)  the Ivies would average $6.6 million a year, which is similar (bit higher) than what Villanova and Richmond spend.  (And the Ivies have a smaller travel budget, there are no conference games they need to fly to, and no post-season expenses.)

The differential in spending between HC (and the PL) and the Ivies almost certainly stems from the Ivies spending a lot more on recruiting, and on coaches' compensation.  If an Ivy spends $500-700,000 more a year on football coaches salaries, how easy will it be for HC to attract quality coaches, when it pays significantly less?  Even the Ivies have trouble finding and hiring head coaches who can make a school a contender year after year.  Look at the tenure of coaches at Ivy schools other than Harvard, Dartmouth, and Brown.

Contrary to the view of some, I don't think the head coaching job at HC (or any PL school) is particularly desirable, unless you have had years of experience in the PL / Ivy system, and the recruiting and acafemic challenges associated with recruiting / matriculating.

5.)  A future football budget for HC.

Recruiting  $350,000 (up from probably $200,000)
Operating expenses  $500,000 (up from $350,000)
Scollie aid:  $3.800,000
Coaches compensation.  $1,250,000
Total  $5,900,000
 
.^^^ which is about $1.1 million more than was spent in 2014-15, and still about $400-500,000 below Villanova, Richmond, and the Ivy (assuming 63 scollies) average.
 

   

WCHC Sports- Worcester is very accessible to Boston, Hartford, Providence, the Cape, Amherst, Northhampton, the Berkshires, the White Mts, skiing in Vt, Hampton Beach, South Boston Beach. The same cannot be said of Colgate. It's not just Worcester itself.