(02-08-2023 08:43 PM)Todor Wrote:  

(02-08-2023 02:42 PM)Rube Dali Wrote:  NVU Johnson is leaving D-III for the USCAA: https://vtdigger.org/2023/02/08/vermont-...-programs/

Good info! Thanks for the share. This is not a huge surprise to me, but a little one. It is a good move for them. They are not the first to leave the NCAA for the USCAA and won’t be the last I suspect. They could have just gone and ahead and made either Castleton or Lyndon USCAA as well, and just have one Vermont State in D3. I do think it’s a shame that the Vermont Tech campuses will not have athletics, but the community college/tech college students will now have no intercollegiate athletic options in Vermont. But perhaps their club sports can help that a little.

The NCAA and D3 are an expensive and complex system for a small, low budget athletics program. The USCAA offers a a much better value proposition. Dozens upon dozens of D3 schools in the Northeast never sniff one single NCAA Nationals in any any sport, year after year. Maybe one or two in all sports combined in a decade? What’s the point.

I can’t help but wonder when Fisher College leaves the NAIA for the USCAA. Being the “lone outpost” is always hard to pull off.

It's kind of a lot of shuffling for not much change. The NAC played this season at 12, and is losing Cazenovia (closing) but adding Eastern Nazarene, SUNY Morrisville and Lesley so will play at 13 until NVU-Johnson downgrades and they are back at 12. NVU-J can just take Vermont Tech's spot in the YSCC.

The YSCC schools tend to either be 2-year, or they just kinda run an informal athletic program. The four year schools in the conference are basically glorified club teams. Some of the two year schools take it more seriously. But it is certainly a step down from D-3 structurally. I watched a YSCC women's soccer game where the opponent showed up with 8 players and were losing 12-0 four minutes into the game. You don't see that in the NAC or any other New England D-3 conference.

I don't see either Castleton or Lyndon making that drop (particularly because Castleton would need to figure out what to do with its hockey programs).