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Post by sader81 on May 23, 2022 8:02:01 GMT -5
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Hartford
May 23, 2022 8:24:12 GMT -5
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Post by nycrusader2010 on May 23, 2022 8:24:12 GMT -5
Sounds like a good read. Paywall.
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Hartford
May 23, 2022 8:26:15 GMT -5
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Post by longsuffering on May 23, 2022 8:26:15 GMT -5
This is what I think about when suggestions are made that HC drop certain sports, never mind drop divisions. There is really no way to do it cleanly, or get people to focus on any projected benefits of either move.
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Hartford
May 23, 2022 10:07:26 GMT -5
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Post by bfoley82 on May 23, 2022 10:07:26 GMT -5
This is what I think about when suggestions are made that HC drop certain sports, never mind drop divisions. There is really no way to do it cleanly, or get people to focus on any projected benefits of either move. Both of Hartford's lax programs did not have enough athletes to even field a team this year because they all left. The baseball coach left for Keene State last summer. The head SID quit...the place is a mess
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Post by sader81 on May 23, 2022 13:45:38 GMT -5
Sounds like a good read. Paywall. here is part of it, by John Feinstein Fourteen months ago, the University of Hartford men’s basketball team made history, qualifying for the NCAA Division I basketball tournament for the first time in the school’s 64-year history. For the next week, as the college hoops world gathered in Indiana for the coronavirus-affected tournament, Coach John Gallagher was onstage nonstop. “I’d like to talk to him to congratulate him,” Phil Martelli, his college coach at St. Joseph’s, said at one point. “But every time I see him, he’s being interviewed.” Hartford lost in the tournament’s first round to eventual national champion Baylor, but it hardly mattered. In his 11 seasons as the Hawks’ coach, Gallagher had built what was dubbed “the Neighborhood,” a little-program-that-could with good kids and a relentlessly outgoing coach who seemed to be everyone in town’s best friend. And then, less than two months after Hartford’s shining moment, the roof fell in. The Hartford Board of Regents, at the urging of school president Gregory Woodward, announced the school would transition to Division III by 2025 and would stop giving athletic scholarships by the start of the 2023-24 school year — leading to a cascade of embarrassments that hasn’t abated. The numbers Woodward originally produced to justify the move were called into question by multiple sources who studied the study he had commissioned. An initial study claimed the school was losing about $13 million per year by competing in Division I. A counter-study said the cost reductions from moving to Division III would be closer to $500,000 — if the school didn’t continue to have success in basketball. Miami’s billionaire booster defends his big-dollar NIL deals Some athletes transferred. Others stayed. Gallagher, who had turned down a huge raise to move to Oklahoma as his pal Porter Moser’s top assistant before the D-III announcement, also stayed. Woodward ducked out of a graduation ceremony last spring, amid boos and jeers. In June, a new interim athletic director was hired to replace the old interim athletic director. That interim AD, Sharon Beverly, sent two emails in advance of Sunday’s graduation. One was to the school’s coaches; the other was to the school’s “student-athletes,” or, as she called them at one point in her note to the coaches, “SA’s.” To the coaches: “I encourage you to address with your team that while any disruption may result in disciplinary actions, including but not limited to their diplomas or transcripts being held, the respective sport programs may also have repercussions. These will include forfeiting games and/or suspensions of the entire 2022-2023 season. Lastly, keep in mind that as leaders of your program, you are responsible for the behavior of your SA’s. ”And, to the students, under the subject line, “Congratulations!” she wrote in part: “It is also my sincere hope that all of our student-athletes will respect the formality and meaning of the Commencement ceremony. As shared in prior University communications, it is expected that all graduates and their guests will be courteous during the entire ceremony and refrain from behavior that is disruptive, distracting, or dangerous. This is a day to celebrate the years of hard work by you and your peers, and to honor the support of your loved ones. Should any of our graduates or their guests be found responsible for disruptions, there will be athletic repercussions for the respective team, in addition to the transcript and diploma holds. I recognize you are graduating, but your teams will ultimately have to take responsibility for your actions, including the possibility of games being cancelled or forfeited next season.” Congratulations; now keep your mouths shut — or else. And be glad we don’t demand you sit crisscross/applesauce. The Day, a Connecticut newspaper, published the email to the coaches Monday. The email to the students has not previously been published. After receiving copies of both emails, I wrote to “Dr. Beverly,” as she signed her message to students, and asked if we could talk so I could tell her side of the story. I got a response via email from a spokeswoman, Molly Polk, who said she was responding on behalf of the university. There were three sentences in her note. This is the one that matters: “The University shared behavioral expectations related to disruptive and distracting behaviors before the ceremony because last year’s graduation was interrupted with shouting and other inappropriate actions as some graduates crossed the stage. This affected the graduation experience for all.” Translation: Woodward didn’t want to be booed, and “shouting” is dangerous. “The whole thing is so sad,” Joseph Coughlin, a 1980 Hartford graduate and former Board of Regents member, said Wednesday. “The silence [from the board] is stunning. They meet four times a year and just rubber stamp what’s put in front of them.
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Post by newfieguy74 on May 23, 2022 13:59:19 GMT -5
It's all pretty unfortunate, but Hartford is pretty low profile in CT. I've lived about 5 miles from their campus for fifteen years and have never met a single person who cares about Hartford sports.
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Post by Crucis#1 on May 23, 2022 16:23:56 GMT -5
It is a very sad situation at the University of Hartford. I have know several people who cared intensely about their sports teams and had seasons tickets to both men’s and women’s basketball teams.
Over the years, I have worked with faculty connected to the Hart School of Music, as well as several members in the athletic department. In both departments I found the staff to be caring, competent and very competitive in their desire to develop a first class organization. Unfortunately, all of the members of the athletic department have now departed over the last four to five years, as well a several members of the Board of Regents, that I knew on a first name basis.
Over the years, since Hartford change to a D1 program, I have enjoyed attending their athletic events, especially when our gang in purple showed up. I remember one afternoon several years ago talking to Ronnie Perry Jr., as he watched his son Matt play for HC against Hartford. Another time was chatting with former Crusader Doug McCrory, now a State Senator in Connecticut, who transferred to Hartford mid way during his freshman year. A lost that never should have occurred.
Very disappointing that their Alumni have not demanded full accountability from President Woodward. His predecessor, Dr. Harrison is a gentleman, who would have not allowed this deterioration of the athletic department to have occurred.
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Hartford
May 23, 2022 16:37:37 GMT -5
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Post by res on May 23, 2022 16:37:37 GMT -5
Yes, my sister worked in the President's Office for about 25 years, starting with Trachtenberg in the 1980s. I never fully understood the decision to increase the emphasis on athletics at the time, but there is no question that many, many people bought in. Sad, sad way to end it...
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Hartford
May 23, 2022 19:00:52 GMT -5
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Post by longsuffering on May 23, 2022 19:00:52 GMT -5
Hartford's neighbor in West Hartford, St. Joe's increased emphasis on athletics while remaining in D-3 when they hired Jim Calhoun. He was on the way to building a national contender until Covid slowed things down and his own litany of health issues led to his second retirement.
Perhaps Hartford can build some good rivalries with Trinity, Wesleyan, St. Joe's. I assume they won't get into the NESCAC, but hopefully will join a good D-3 league. They have the facilities to impress a league.
On the other hand, a new Administration could move them right back to D-1 or to their old spot in D-2. Four years is a generation in college athletics and the disgruntled athletes will all be gone soon.
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Post by Crosser on May 23, 2022 21:07:04 GMT -5
Just another example of how a lying, ill-informed President can screw everything up.
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Post by bfoley82 on May 24, 2022 17:35:14 GMT -5
Hartford's neighbor in West Hartford, St. Joe's increased emphasis on athletics while remaining in D-3 when they hired Jim Calhoun. He was on the way to building a national contender until Covid slowed things down and his own litany of health issues led to his second retirement. Perhaps Hartford can build some good rivalries with Trinity, Wesleyan, St. Joe's. I assume they won't get into the NESCAC, but hopefully will join a good D-3 league. They have the facilities to impress a league. On the other hand, a new Administration could move them right back to D-1 or to their old spot in D-2. Four years is a generation in college athletics and the disgruntled athletes will all be gone soon. St Joe's didn't have men's athletics until the 2018-2019 season.
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Post by longsuffering on May 24, 2022 17:45:19 GMT -5
Hartford's neighbor in West Hartford, St. Joe's increased emphasis on athletics while remaining in D-3 when they hired Jim Calhoun. He was on the way to building a national contender until Covid slowed things down and his own litany of health issues led to his second retirement. Perhaps Hartford can build some good rivalries with Trinity, Wesleyan, St. Joe's. I assume they won't get into the NESCAC, but hopefully will join a good D-3 league. They have the facilities to impress a league. On the other hand, a new Administration could move them right back to D-1 or to their old spot in D-2. Four years is a generation in college athletics and the disgruntled athletes will all be gone soon. St Joe's didn't have men's athletics until the 2018-2019 season. All the more impressive what Calhoun did.
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Post by bison137 on May 24, 2022 18:58:51 GMT -5
Hartford's neighbor in West Hartford, St. Joe's increased emphasis on athletics while remaining in D-3 when they hired Jim Calhoun. He was on the way to building a national contender until Covid slowed things down and his own litany of health issues led to his second retirement. Perhaps Hartford can build some good rivalries with Trinity, Wesleyan, St. Joe's. I assume they won't get into the NESCAC, but hopefully will join a good D-3 league. They have the facilities to impress a league. On the other hand, a new Administration could move them right back to D-1 or to their old spot in D-2. Four years is a generation in college athletics and the disgruntled athletes will all be gone soon. St Joe's didn't have men's athletics until the 2018-2019 season. they didn’t even have male students until 2018.
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Post by bfoley82 on May 24, 2022 19:06:38 GMT -5
St Joe's didn't have men's athletics until the 2018-2019 season. they didn’t even have male students until 2018. Even more impressive....
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Post by bfoley82 on May 24, 2022 19:09:31 GMT -5
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Hartford
May 24, 2022 19:31:18 GMT -5
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Post by longsuffering on May 24, 2022 19:31:18 GMT -5
What D-3 league will the University of Hartford join?
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Post by Crucis#1 on May 24, 2022 20:18:32 GMT -5
What D-3 league will the University of Hartford join? As of today, TBD. Their current administration has been chaotic.
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Hartford
May 24, 2022 20:38:33 GMT -5
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Post by longsuffering on May 24, 2022 20:38:33 GMT -5
The AD equivalent comes from a hospitality, marketing and branding background and moved over from enrollment management or something.
The Newmac conference with Connecticut College would be a home run but probably out of reach. The Great North AC, the Commonwealth Coast Conference and the Little East would all be good choices.
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Post by bison137 on May 24, 2022 21:24:48 GMT -5
The AD equivalent comes from a hospitality, marketing and branding background and moved over from enrollment management or something. The Newmac conference with Connecticut College would be a home run but probably out of reach. The Great North AC, the Commonwealth Coast Conference and the Little East would all be good choices. there is a better chance that I will win six consecutive Powerballs than of Hartford being added to the NESCAC.
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Post by bison137 on May 24, 2022 21:34:28 GMT -5
All the more impressive what Calhoun did. I shot their NCAA game this past year at WPI and looked to me they hadn't been challenged by anyone in the GNAC. Penn State Harrisburg punched them in the mouth early and they never responded. They are coached by a former D1 head coach in Glen Miller. Penn State Harrisburg is coached by Don Friday, who was a long time assistant coach for Pat Flannery at Bucknell. He is a very good coach. As for St Joes coach Glenn Miller, he was an assistant for Calhoun at UConn on the way up and then he was an assistant for Calhoun at Uconn after being fired in mid season as Penn’s head coach.
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Post by bfoley82 on May 24, 2022 21:52:00 GMT -5
I shot their NCAA game this past year at WPI and looked to me they hadn't been challenged by anyone in the GNAC. Penn State Harrisburg punched them in the mouth early and they never responded. They are coached by a former D1 head coach in Glen Miller. Penn State Harrisburg is coached by Don Friday, who was a long time assistant coach for Pat Flannery at Bucknell. He is a very good coach. As for St Joes coach Glenn Miller, he was an assistant for Calhoun at UConn on the way up and then he was an assistant for Calhoun at Uconn after being fired in mid season as Penn’s head coach. Also was the head coach at Brown
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Post by longsuffering on May 24, 2022 22:51:56 GMT -5
The AD equivalent comes from a hospitality, marketing and branding background and moved over from enrollment management or something. The Newmac conference with Connecticut College would be a home run but probably out of reach. The Great North AC, the Commonwealth Coast Conference and the Little East would all be good choices. there is a better chance that I will win six consecutive Powerballs than of Hartford being added to the NESCAC. If you win just one Powerball don't forget us. I have a hunch a new President and mostly new Board with regular turnover could move Hartford back up to at least D-2 if not D-1. All the other schools moving up can't be wrong. Hartford still finished 9-9 in the America East last year, better than HC did in the PL. Hartford's situation makes the stability of the Patriot League look good in comparison.
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on May 24, 2022 22:54:04 GMT -5
The AD equivalent comes from a hospitality, marketing and branding background and moved over from enrollment management or something. The Newmac conference with Connecticut College would be a home run but probably out of reach. The Great North AC, the Commonwealth Coast Conference and the Little East would all be good choices. there is a better chance that I will win six consecutive Powerballs than of Hartford being added to the NESCAC. 5 I'll agree with but I think 6 is a ball too far
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Post by sader1970 on May 25, 2022 6:57:29 GMT -5
Rumor (more than that?) is Nichols in Dudley planning to move up from D-3 to D-2. You guys are better informed but Hartford to Dudley not a long run. Any chance that together they can go into or create a new conference/league? Assumption is D-2, right? Any other proximate D-2s?
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Post by alum on May 25, 2022 7:37:55 GMT -5
Rumor (more than that?) is Nichols in Dudley planning to move up from D-3 to D-2. You guys are better informed but Hartford to Dudley not a long run. Any chance that together they can go into or create a new conference/league? Assumption is D-2, right? Any other proximate D-2s? Northeast 10 (St. Mikes, St. A's, Assumption, SCSU, AIC, Lemoyne, Adelphi, Bentley, Pace, Franklin Pierce) would be a perfect landing spot for Hartford. The travel would be manageable. I don't think that most of these schools give out many scholarships outside of basketball. I have to think that it is a better fit than the Little East or NEWMAC for probably not much more money.
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