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Post by sader1970 on Oct 15, 2022 20:47:48 GMT -5
I had a nice talk with the Nichols College (D-3) president last night. He confirmed that he would like to see them move up to D-2 then D-1 in order to expand the awareness of the college beyond the MA (77% of students), CT and RI area. You may recall it was posted somewhere here that they put Nichols billboards on I-95 in CT and 2 other locations in New England. We also discussed the Silver Fox bus that was "wrapped" with the Nichols Bison after Holy Cross removed first the Crusader wrap and then the shield logo wrap. Again, all part of his plan to get more visibility for Nichols.
I'm happy we have not played them in basketball. No sense in having another UMass-Boston type result.
As for their move up in division, I didn't follow up with a timeframe.
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Post by bfoley82 on Oct 15, 2022 22:06:53 GMT -5
I had a nice talk with the Nichols College (D-3) president last night. He confirmed that he would like to see them move up to D-2 then D-1 in order to expand the awareness of the college beyond the MA (77% of students), CT and RI area. You may recall it was posted somewhere here that they put Nichols billboards on I-95 in CT and 2 other locations in New England. We also discussed the Silver Fox bus that was "wrapped" with the Nichols Bison after Holy Cross removed first the Crusader wrap and then the shield logo wrap. Again, all part of his plan to get more visibility for Nichols. I'm happy we have not played them in basketball. No sense in having another UMass-Boston type result. As for their move up in division, I didn't follow up with a timeframe. The entire athletic department has basically quit....should ask him why that is.... |
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Post by sader1970 on Oct 16, 2022 5:47:37 GMT -5
I don’t expect to see him again any time soon. You should put that on your own to-do list.
But do post what you think or know about your subject.
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Post by timholycross on Oct 16, 2022 11:25:58 GMT -5
When would they move from FCS to FBS; what the heck, might as well go full throttle.
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Post by bfoley82 on Oct 16, 2022 13:40:23 GMT -5
I don’t expect to see him again any time soon. You should put that on your own to-do list. But do post what you think or know about your subject. Not a good look when long time employees (faculty also) are quitting at a place within your first year. |
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Oct 16, 2022 13:58:40 GMT -5
When would they move from FCS to FBS; what the heck, might as well go full throttle. Little East to Big East |
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Post by Tom on Oct 17, 2022 7:47:10 GMT -5
Clearly D-I is a cure all and presents no financial risk
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Post by longsuffering on Oct 17, 2022 10:02:06 GMT -5
I had a nice talk with the Nichols College (D-3) president last night. He confirmed that he would like to see them move up to D-2 then D-1 in order to expand the awareness of the college beyond the MA (77% of students), CT and RI area. You may recall it was posted somewhere here that they put Nichols billboards on I-95 in CT and 2 other locations in New England. We also discussed the Silver Fox bus that was "wrapped" with the Nichols Bison after Holy Cross removed first the Crusader wrap and then the shield logo wrap. Again, all part of his plan to get more visibility for Nichols. I'm happy we have not played them in basketball. No sense in having another UMass-Boston type result. As for their move up in division, I didn't follow up with a timeframe. Did he help you up after you fell over? The only logic I can see for this is I read once that Nichols, being a business school, had one of the highest CEO to alumni ratios and maybe some receptive donors to finance this progression. Going D-1 on the cheap could be soul sucking for a college. See Cross, Holy. After spending 90 million or so on the Luth (without touching the two fan venues to speak of) and constant multi-million dollar upgrades to outdoor facilities, HC has gone from woeful to weak overall. |
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Post by longsuffering on Oct 17, 2022 10:06:59 GMT -5
Clearly D-I is a cure all and presents no financial risk How do you value the euphoria of their fans at a packed Hart Center for one of their D-3 NCAA runs compared to a projected decades of wandering the desert in D-1 before ever getting to the NCAA tournament again? |
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Post by Wormtown Railers Fan on Oct 17, 2022 10:24:18 GMT -5
I heard they are starting a major 5 year fundraising campaign next year. I wonder if it connected to their plans to move up divisions. It would be nice to have a D1 counterpart 1/2 hour from the HC campus.
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Post by Tom on Oct 17, 2022 10:36:09 GMT -5
I heard they are starting a major 5 year fundraising campaign next year. I wonder if it connected to their plans to move up divisions. It would be nice to have a D1 counterpart 1/2 hour from the HC campus. vs the D-I counterparts 45 minutes from campus ---------- Won't they need a landing spot? The Northeast conference has recently absorbed Merrimac and Stonehill. Are they still looking to expand? |
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Post by longsuffering on Oct 17, 2022 12:26:34 GMT -5
I heard they are starting a major 5 year fundraising campaign next year. I wonder if it connected to their plans to move up divisions. It would be nice to have a D1 counterpart 1/2 hour from the HC campus. vs the D-I counterparts 45 minutes from campus ---------- Won't they need a landing spot? The Northeast conference has recently absorbed Merrimac and Stonehill. Are they still looking to expand? Nichols would have to get into the NE-10 first and succeed there like Merrimack and Stonehill did. |
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Oct 17, 2022 13:00:33 GMT -5
I heard they are starting a major 5 year fundraising campaign next year. I wonder if it connected to their plans to move up divisions. It would be nice to have a D1 counterpart 1/2 hour from the HC campus. Isn't that why we have BU, Harvard, Merrimack, BC, Brown, Providence, Northeastern, Bryant, UConn, Stonehill and UMass-Lowell? Plus Bentley in Men's Hockey. Plenty of DI schools within roughly 45 minutes of Worcester. |
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Post by Wormtown Railers Fan on Oct 17, 2022 13:30:08 GMT -5
I heard they are starting a major 5 year fundraising campaign next year. I wonder if it connected to their plans to move up divisions. It would be nice to have a D1 counterpart 1/2 hour from the HC campus. Isn't that why we have BU, Harvard, Merrimack, BC, Brown, Providence, Northeastern, Bryant, UConn, Stonehill and UMass-Lowell? Plus Bentley in Men's Hockey. Plenty of DI schools within roughly 45 minutes of Worcester. Ok, a Worcester County D-1 school 3 towns away. A ride to Webster/Dudley is a lot closer than Boston or Providence or Lowell. Come on people. |
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Post by alum on Oct 17, 2022 13:33:41 GMT -5
I had a nice talk with the Nichols College (D-3) president last night. He confirmed that he would like to see them move up to D-2 then D-1 in order to expand the awareness of the college beyond the MA (77% of students), CT and RI area. You may recall it was posted somewhere here that they put Nichols billboards on I-95 in CT and 2 other locations in New England. We also discussed the Silver Fox bus that was "wrapped" with the Nichols Bison after Holy Cross removed first the Crusader wrap and then the shield logo wrap. Again, all part of his plan to get more visibility for Nichols. I'm happy we have not played them in basketball. No sense in having another UMass-Boston type result. As for their move up in division, I didn't follow up with a timeframe. Nichols has about 1100 students with twice as many men as women. They admit about half of the applicants. It is standardized test optional with SAT 25-75 range in the 480-570 range for both reading and math. Full sticker price including room and board is $53,000 but the average student only pays $27,000 and graduates with $32000 in debt. Alumni giving rate is 12% and there is a $32 million endowment. A third of students leave after the first year and 45% graduate within 6 years. Almost all majors are business related with just a few others--psych, crim. justice, econ (They offer a variety of humanities courses but don't seem to have majors in them.) So, how many teams does a little school without a lot of financial resources offer, you ask? Turns out it is 21, including football and mens and women's ice hockey. I couldn't find the percentage who play on a team, but it has to be among the highest in the country. I think that they have used the opportunity to play D3 sports as an effective marketing tool to get kids to apply and attend. I am not sure how going to D2 and eventually D1 is productive. It would appear that they are attracting kids who want to be on a team. Will those kids still come to watch others play? I'm not sure they will. |
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Post by sader1970 on Oct 17, 2022 15:07:13 GMT -5
While 20 something percent of the enrollment is women, they were celebrating that something like 36% of the most recent class are women.
They have new Admissions leader and something they know needed to be changed.
They are looking to expand from the 77% from Mass and the majority of the rest from CT and RI.
They did say how many students play varsity sports and while not taking notes it struck me as very much in the Holy Cross ballpark.
They needed new leadership blood and they got it.
I will tell you that the vibe of the many students there was very similar to Holy Cross students that they loved their college and their fellow students.
And let’s not schedule them in basketball for a few more years as I would be afraid of the results. We need to get better before we could assume we’d beat their D-3 team.
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Post by rgs318 on Oct 17, 2022 15:11:38 GMT -5
sader1970, I can agree with your entire statement up to the last sentence. My response would be "not really." Also, if it were true, how can you know that HC would improve while they will not after a few years. IMHO about that last sentence...it would've been better without it.
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Post by Tom on Oct 17, 2022 15:36:44 GMT -5
While I have been vocal on this board about not liking D-III games, I had no problem playing Nichols a few years ago. But that was because it was a favor for old friend RJ Evans
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Post by bfoley82 on Oct 17, 2022 15:49:09 GMT -5
vs the D-I counterparts 45 minutes from campus ---------- Won't they need a landing spot? The Northeast conference has recently absorbed Merrimac and Stonehill. Are they still looking to expand? Nichols would have to get into the NE-10 first and succeed there like Merrimack and Stonehill did. I heard that the NE-10 declined Nichols application which would be the ONLY option for them as there are no other D-2 conferences in New England outside of Bridgeport's CACC and they are the furthest north that the conference goes. |
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Post by bfoley82 on Oct 17, 2022 15:51:12 GMT -5
I heard they are starting a major 5 year fundraising campaign next year. I wonder if it connected to their plans to move up divisions. It would be nice to have a D1 counterpart 1/2 hour from the HC campus. Isn't that why we have BU, Harvard, Merrimack, BC, Brown, Providence, Northeastern, Bryant, UConn, Stonehill and UMass-Lowell? Plus Bentley in Men's Hockey. Plenty of DI schools within roughly 45 minutes of Worcester. And you forgot Brown and AIC (they might be an hour) in that group.... |
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Post by bfoley82 on Oct 17, 2022 15:54:25 GMT -5
vs the D-I counterparts 45 minutes from campus ---------- Won't they need a landing spot? The Northeast conference has recently absorbed Merrimac and Stonehill. Are they still looking to expand? Nichols would have to get into the NE-10 first and succeed there like Merrimack and Stonehill did. Nichols struggles in pretty much all sports right now besides Men's Basketball. Endicott probably is a better option for the NE-10 if they want a D-3 squad. |
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Oct 17, 2022 17:44:04 GMT -5
Isn't that why we have BU, Harvard, Merrimack, BC, Brown, Providence, Northeastern, Bryant, UConn, Stonehill and UMass-Lowell? Plus Bentley in Men's Hockey. Plenty of DI schools within roughly 45 minutes of Worcester. And you forgot Brown and AIC (they might be an hour) in that group.... I didn't forget Brown and both AIC and UMass-Amherst are both closer to 90 minutes IIRC. |
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Post by longsuffering on Oct 17, 2022 17:59:42 GMT -5
Endicott is another former women's junior college like Colby Sawyer that HC MBB could schedule.
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Post by rf1 on Oct 18, 2022 9:02:00 GMT -5
Nichols in no way should be in D1.
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coachrt
Climbing Mt. St. James
Posts: 92 
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Post by coachrt on Oct 18, 2022 9:45:05 GMT -5
I really don't understand all these schools wanting to move up. Especially in the current D1 climate and all the shuffling and reorganization going on. I know schools see $$$ but that is not guaranteed. The power 5 schools want nothing to do with the low D1's. You can bet your bottom dollar that all the P5 schools will eventully break off and form their own organization leaving all the mid majors and low D1's blowing in the wind. It just seems to me all these schools that are planning to move up (Stonehill, Nichols, etc) are taking a big risk. Also, Bentley is all set to move up to D1, they are just waiting for a conference that they feel is worthy of them to invite them and so far nobody has.
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