Saint Francis goes D-III

[LanceyHoward]

This might be an exception proves the rule argument, but Fairleigh Dickinson got to the pinnacle for an NEC/lower D-I school by recording the 16 over 1 upset a couple years ago. That resulted in the best-case scenario for smaller schools in which the increased interest over a weekend or two dramatically raises applications in subsequent years. I can't find FDU enrollment numbers for '24-25, but Saint Peter's, which some people out this way thought might have to close during the pandemic, experienced its biggest enrollment in 25 years for the 2023-24 school year...which, of course, started 18 months after the miracle run to the Elite Eight.

Saint Peter’s Reports Highest Enrollment in 25 Years for 2023-24 Academic Year - News

Go forth and change the world.

www.saintpeters.edu

Now, of course, this is the sporting version of someone hitting the lottery and solving all their pre-existing problems. It's not exactly a blueprint for everyone else. Still, it's a bummer to see a school get its moment in the sun immediately before it begins planning a move to D-III.

I think one of the appeals of going D-III is that a school can attract additional, paying students who want to attempt to pursue their athletic interests after high school. For example I had a nephew who skipped Big State U to attend a much smaller, private school where he could play lacrosse, He got there and found out he was not good enough but by that he had made friends and stayed for four years.

 

[Brooklyn Bridge]

I've actually covered a game in Loretto. Nothing like Liberty-St. Francis on a mid-2000s Saturday night...

Hartford just did this a few years ago. I do think this is going to be the beginning of the end of the low major. I wonder about schools like Longwood that just put a ton of capital into building a pretty nice little arena. What does VMI gain by staying Division I? It's at a terrible competitive disadvantage just to stay afloat in the SoCon? Fordham has more in common with Manhattan and the rest of the MAAC than it does with VCU and Dayton and the A-10.

And the UHart president was either forced out, or retired right after, IIRC. Always thought it was strange having them play D-I. What's the enrollment, 5,000?

 

[dixiehack]

Did these tiny Catholic schools receive any actual funding from the church? If so I imagine that dried up when the tab came due for a few decades worth of sex criming.

 

[micropolitan guy]

St. Peter's enrollment gains are due largely to graduate programs, and that suggests they have created some new degree programs. (Undergrad enrollment increased only 30 students from fall 2022 to fall 2023).
This is not to say the run in 2022 has been irrelevant, however.
For the fall 2023 entering undergrad cohort, the school experienced a 58% jump in applications from men, a 37% jump in applications from women and a 40% boost overall. Acceptance rates actually increased and yield fell, but the applicant increases led to a gain of 15.5% in enrollment for for first-time freshmen relative to the prior year.

You have to want to go to college pretty bad to choose to attend college in Jersey City.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

And the UHart president was either forced out, or retired right after, IIRC. Always thought it was strange having them play D-I. What's the enrollment, 5,000?

The sort of odd thing about Hartford and Central CT jumping to D-I was they did so BEFORE UConn busted out. So they at least had some clarity to their plans back in the '80s. Hartford does have a small enrollment and endowment, but they were always competitive in their weight class, had solid facilities and didn't seem to harbor any illusions about who or what they were, which was why the decision to drop to D-III was such a shock.

 

[nickp]

Football has become a quality FCS program, and then this
Women's basketball has tremendous tradition, and then this

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

The sort of odd thing about Hartford and Central CT jumping to D-I was they did so BEFORE UConn busted out. So they at least had some clarity to their plans back in the '80s. Hartford does have a small enrollment and endowment, but they were always competitive in their weight class, had solid facilities and didn't seem to harbor any illusions about who or what they were, which was why the decision to drop to D-III was such a shock.

Not really. As you said, the folks at Hartford didn't seem to harbor any illusions about who or what they were … and I think they read the room before any of the rest of us did.

 

[Twirling Time]

Nothing is driving these tiny RC schools and other tiny low major schools from competing in D-I other than reality.

The lowest of the low hopped on the merry-go-round (and some still are) because of a chance to grab at the brass ring. To an extent that's still there, but in most cases the conference gets the payout to disburse evenly.

In the present NIL milieu, upsets below 10-7 in the first round will become exceedingly rare. For a coach 11 and below, as it's always been, a first-round upset will continue to be their meal ticket. Mike Newell passed on his in Little Rock. Chris Beard didn't.

 

[I Should Coco]

Did these tiny Catholic schools receive any actual funding from the church? If so I imagine that dried up when the tab came due for a few decades worth of sex criming.

I believe more Catholic colleges are associated with religious orders (for example, the Jesuits) than with individual dioceses. The latter were the target of more clergy sex abuse lawsuits.

 

[Bubbler]

Nothing is driving these tiny RC schools and other tiny low major schools from competing in D-I other than reality.

The lowest of the low hopped on the merry-go-round (and some still are) because of a chance to grab at the brass ring. To an extent that's still there, but in most cases the conference gets the payout to disburse evenly.

In the present NIL milieu, upsets below 10-7 in the first round will become exceedingly rare. For a coach 11 and below, as it's always been, a first-round upset will continue to be their meal ticket. Mike Newell passed on his in Little Rock. Chris Beard didn't.

A lot of schools that are or aren't Division I are using athletics for survival.

A very picturesque former all-womens school in my old neck of the woods is doing that. They went co-ed to fend off their then-slow demise in the 2010s. Then they started adding sports by the boatload when they saw the enrollment cliff handwriting on the wall.

They hadn't even been NAIA when they were women-only, but they aspired to Division III. Ultimately, they did settle for NAIA membership.

They have 16 sports now, which is crazy considering enrollment is around 1,500 tops - and that might count online kids. I asked once what the percentage of athletes to non-athletes was and it had ballooned to over 50%. Basically, they created these programs to drive enrollment because they probably weren't going to make it on academics alone.