Well, with all the new coaches, I think everyone expected the MAC to be down a bit this year, but even I didn't expect how far the conference could drop so quickly.

In 21-22, the 1st season using NET as the metric, the MAC finished the OOC as the 11/10th ranked conference (by average/median NETs) with a NET of 157 average. Last season it dropped a tad, at 13/14th ranked conference with a 170 NET average. But this season, the MAC has plummeted to 21/22th ranked conference with a NET average of 219 - a 48 place drop compared to last year.

Every single team has a worse NET this year compared to last year at the same time, with the biggest drops being EMU (-140), NIU (-104), BG (-91) and Akron (-80). (Note that EMU and NIU didn't lose coaches, nor have significant losses to the portal, although NIU did lose Koker to injury.) But even the top teams are all down at least a little - UT (-33), Ball St (-17), Kent (-19). The MAC has 4 teams this year with NETs below 275, while the last 2 seasons combined, there was only 1. Based on this, it's probable the NET of the best teams will get worse thru MAC play, due to playing lots of very lowly ranked teams (unless they win every game by 40+). I say there is 0 chance of the MAC getting an at-large bid this year.

Team 23-24 22-23 21-22
Tol 85 52 76
BSU 98 81 138
Kent 127 108 105
BG 139 48 112
Akr 213 133 234
Buf 228 211 61
WMU 235 234 144
NIU 255 151 229
Ohio 284 275 92
CMU 307 304 270
Mia 320 254 162
EMU 331 191 262

Based on what I’ve seen, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Miami outperform a few teams above them right now.

(01-01-2024 10:13 AM)northcoastRocket Wrote:  Well, with all the new coaches, I think everyone expected the MAC to be down a bit this year, but even I didn't expect how far the conference could drop so quickly.

In 21-22, the 1st season using NET as the metric, the MAC finished the OOC as the 11/10th ranked conference (by average/median NETs) with a NET of 157 average. Last season it dropped a tad, at 13/14th ranked conference with a 170 NET average. But this season, the MAC has plummeted to 21/22th ranked conference with a NET average of 219 - a 48 place drop compared to last year.

Every single team has a worse NET this year compared to last year at the same time, with the biggest drops being EMU (-140), NIU (-104), BG (-91) and Akron (-80). (Note that EMU and NIU didn't lose coaches, nor have significant losses to the portal, although NIU did lose Koker to injury.) But even the top teams are all down at least a little - UT (-33), Ball St (-17), Kent (-19). The MAC has 4 teams this year with NETs below 275, while the last 2 seasons combined, there was only 1. Based on this, it's probable the NET of the best teams will get worse thru MAC play, due to playing lots of very lowly ranked teams (unless they win every game by 40+). I say there is 0 chance of the MAC getting an at-large bid this year.

Team 23-24 22-23 21-22
Tol 85 52 76
BSU 98 81 138
Kent 127 108 105
BG 139 48 112
Akr 213 133 234
Buf 228 211 61
WMU 235 234 144
NIU 255 151 229
Ohio 284 275 92
CMU 307 304 270
Mia 320 254 162
EMU 331 191 262

I know that you and I have had this conversation on other threads, but I don't think we can blame the conference's demise (temporary, I hope) on the coaching changes. Central Michigan went from being awful to being awful. You can't blame their awfulness on the coaching change. Miami also was bad last year before switching coaches. Bowling Green clearly would have been better had their coach not left, but they were still one of the best MAC teams during the non-conference season. Akron is worse than last year but still in the middle of the conference, as they were last year.

The real problem is that the conference did poorly in the portal. Not only the teams with new coaches, but other teams lost significant players as well. Ohio lost its only good player. Western Michigan lost its two stars. Buffalo lost most of its incoming freshman class, one of whom is starting for Bowling Green. Kent State lost a starter. Northern Illinois lost its star player. This year, there were not gains in the portal that came even close to compensating for the losses. The best incoming transfer that I've seen is Western Michigan's Zaricki (sp?), who is a lot of fun to watch.

(01-01-2024 02:10 PM)Lester Wrote:  

(01-01-2024 10:13 AM)northcoastRocket Wrote:  Well, with all the new coaches, I think everyone expected the MAC to be down a bit this year, but even I didn't expect how far the conference could drop so quickly.

In 21-22, the 1st season using NET as the metric, the MAC finished the OOC as the 11/10th ranked conference (by average/median NETs) with a NET of 157 average. Last season it dropped a tad, at 13/14th ranked conference with a 170 NET average. But this season, the MAC has plummeted to 21/22th ranked conference with a NET average of 219 - a 48 place drop compared to last year.

Every single team has a worse NET this year compared to last year at the same time, with the biggest drops being EMU (-140), NIU (-104), BG (-91) and Akron (-80). (Note that EMU and NIU didn't lose coaches, nor have significant losses to the portal, although NIU did lose Koker to injury.) But even the top teams are all down at least a little - UT (-33), Ball St (-17), Kent (-19). The MAC has 4 teams this year with NETs below 275, while the last 2 seasons combined, there was only 1. Based on this, it's probable the NET of the best teams will get worse thru MAC play, due to playing lots of very lowly ranked teams (unless they win every game by 40+). I say there is 0 chance of the MAC getting an at-large bid this year.

Team 23-24 22-23 21-22
Tol 85 52 76
BSU 98 81 138
Kent 127 108 105
BG 139 48 112
Akr 213 133 234
Buf 228 211 61
WMU 235 234 144
NIU 255 151 229
Ohio 284 275 92
CMU 307 304 270
Mia 320 254 162
EMU 331 191 262

I know that you and I have had this conversation on other threads, but I don't think we can blame the conference's demise (temporary, I hope) on the coaching changes. Central Michigan went from being awful to being awful. You can't blame their awfulness on the coaching change. Miami also was bad last year before switching coaches. Bowling Green clearly would have been better had their coach not left, but they were still one of the best MAC teams during the non-conference season. Akron is worse than last year but still in the middle of the conference, as they were last year.

The real problem is that the conference did poorly in the portal. Not only the teams with new coaches, but other teams lost significant players as well. Ohio lost its only good player. Western Michigan lost its two stars. Buffalo lost most of its incoming freshman class, one of whom is starting for Bowling Green. Kent State lost a starter. Northern Illinois lost its star player. This year, there were not gains in the portal that came even close to compensating for the losses. The best incoming transfer that I've seen is Western Michigan's Zaricki (sp?), who is a lot of fun to watch.

My point was that if you look at the NET rankings, I would argue that the vast majority of the drop is due to the teams that underwent coaching changes.

Miami, although a lower tier MAC school, had a 250 NET this time last year, but now are at 320. Miami lost most of their players due to losing their coach, and those players - Scott, Cluse, Freeman, Morrow and Watkins would have made a much better squad than the current one at this point. And the freshman Tretter has been IMO the best freshman in the MAC so far, so she would have just added more. The coaching change had to be made, but I belie they would likely have a NET at least 100 points better if not for the coaching change.

Akron is similar. They keep the coach, then they keep Ferrell, Camp and Stinson and are a much better team at this point of the season and I propose would have a much better NET. BG is a given that they would be 50-75 points better in NET with the old coach and her players.

Even CMU, I would argue would be much improved this year. They were going to sign Lauren Ross prior to the coaching change, and would have kept Utberg which would have made them a better team than currently, although they might have lost some other depth players.

I think if those 4 teams don't change coaches, the MAC's average NET is 30-40 points better than it is right now. Hopefully, those coaching changes all work out in the long term, but right now they are a drag on the conference rankings.

Yes the MAC lost several top players to the portal and didn't sign too many impact players, but the top teams didn't really need to. Morris has been a good add for Kent though, and Rinat a good role player add for UT. Hampton has been a key add for BSU, although I know that was just a trade from another MAC school.

The teams that lost coaches were behind the clock in signing any real impact players, so you can't really blame them for missing on that route. Ohio, EMU and Buffalo are the three teams that had room to sign some real impact players and really didn't, other than a couple good role players - Watkins at OU and Elhusseini for Buffalo - but single player adds were not going to turn around those schools immediately anyway.

Ohio, with its long-time coach, is awful.
Northern Illinois, with its long-time coach, is very bad.
Eastern Michigan was so pathetic with its long-time coach that he was fired in December.
Buffalo, with its second-year coach, is worse than it was in her first year.
Western Michigan, with its long-time coach, is pretty bad.

Oesterle (CMU) and Hendrix (Miami) were proven losers. (Oesterle won her first year with Guevara's players before driving a proud program into the ground.). Under Hendrix, Miami somehow managed to be bad last year with a roster that was arguably as good as Toledo's. They would have been bad this year with a still talented but less talented roster. (Wolf announced her transfer before Hendrix was fired.). Jackson (Akron) reached a ceiling of mediocre in her tenure at Akron, which is why she was fired.

I agree with you that the conference would be somewhat better this year if all four coaches had stayed. Bowling Green, especially, would be much better. But to me that's not the biggest issue. As noted above, most of the teams with long-time coaches are bad, as well. (Bowling Green and Akron are 4th and 5th in the conference, respectively, in NET rankings.) During the transfer season, kazoorocket and I kept screaming that the sky was falling on MAC women's basketball, and you told us to relax. Now the results are in, and the sky actually fell. Even Chicken Little is right now and then. We can't blame the MAC's nosedive on the new transfer rules, either, as the teams that leapt ahead of us are other mid-majors. Can you believe that the Horizon League is now better than the MAC?

Let's hope that some of the new hires are able to build quality programs and get the conference back where it was a few years ago. If Sallee and Cullop stick around, we at least will have two consistently good programs.

(01-01-2024 10:10 PM)Lester Wrote:  Ohio, with its long-time coach, is awful.
Northern Illinois, with its long-time coach, is very bad.
Eastern Michigan was so pathetic with its long-time coach that he was fired in December.
Buffalo, with its second-year coach, is worse than it was in her first year.
Western Michigan, with its long-time coach, is pretty bad.

Oesterle (CMU) and Hendrix (Miami) were proven losers. (Oesterle won her first year with Guevara's players before driving a proud program into the ground.). Under Hendrix, Miami somehow managed to be bad last year with a roster that was arguably as good as Toledo's. They would have been bad this year with a still talented but less talented roster. (Wolf announced her transfer before Hendrix was fired.). Jackson (Akron) reached a ceiling of mediocre in her tenure at Akron, which is why she was fired.

I agree with you that the conference would be somewhat better this year if all four coaches had stayed. Bowling Green, especially, would be much better. But to me that's not the biggest issue. As noted above, most of the teams with long-time coaches are bad, as well. (Bowling Green and Akron are 4th and 5th in the conference, respectively, in NET rankings.) During the transfer season, kazoorocket and I kept screaming that the sky was falling on MAC women's basketball, and you told us to relax. Now the results are in, and the sky actually fell. Even Chicken Little is right now and then. We can't blame the MAC's nosedive on the new transfer rules, either, as the teams that leapt ahead of us are other mid-majors. Can you believe that the Horizon League is now better than the MAC?

Let's hope that some of the new hires are able to build quality programs and get the conference back where it was a few years ago. If Sallee and Cullop stick around, we at least will have two consistently good programs.

What I had tried to say previously is that there was not a mass exodus of top MAC players to the portal, like some have been insinuating. Of course when you bring in new coaches, there is going to be a period (unless the team was already good, and kept its players) where performance is going to fall for a year or 2. That's a given. But players were not abandoning the MAC in droves, at least until the coaching changes were announced.

I went and checked, and here are the 15 highest impact transfer losses from the MAC this season. Of those, 9 were either directly due to coaching changes, or influenced by coaching changes. Another was a 5th year player who had already announced she would turn pro, unless the right transfer spot opened up. So, by my count, that's only 5 players who left for supposedly greener pastures (Felder, Harris, Santoro, Williams, Wolf), which is not a huge number these days for a 12 team league. Other than Santoro, all of those left poor teams.

Interestingly, in checking how those players are doing, 3 have suffered season ending injuries already. A 4th has not played yet, reportedly due to injury, but I can't find info as to whether it was season-ending or not.

Elissa Brett, BGSU->Mich (coach chg/5th yr). 8p / 4r, 5 starts.
Dominique Camp, Akr->Syracuse (coach chg, 5th yr). Knee injury in exhibition game, out for season.
Maddi Cluse, Mia->Clemson (coach chg). 7p / 4r, 13 starts.
A'Jah Davis, NIU->Seton Hall (5th yr). 6p / 6r, 13 starts.
Yaya Felder, Ohio->Baylor. 9p / 3r / 3a, 1 start.
Layne Ferrell, Akr->Wright St (coach chg). 13p / 4r, 15 starts.
Amani Freeman, Mia->Clemson (coach chg). 5p / 2r.
Sydney Harris, CMU->TCU. Has not played due to injury.
Lauren Ross, WMU->MSU (ast coach chg). 4p / 1r.
Casey Santoro, Kent->FGCU. Achilles injury during practice, out for season.
Peyton Scott, Mia->Oregon (coach chg). Knee injury in opening game, out for season.
Jocelyn Tate, BGSU->MSU (coach chg). 7p / 4r, 13 starts.
Bridget Utberg, CMU->Marquette (coach chg). 2p
Taylor Williams, WMU->Mich. 6p / 5r, 6 starts.
Ivy Wolf, MIA-Dayton. 11p / 3r / 3a, 12 starts.

So again, this supports my view that Akron, Miami, BG and CMU would all be much better this year, if not for the coaching changes. The new coaches will (hopefully) make them better in the long run, but it will take a couple years at least. Buffalo is also still reeling from a coaching change 2 seasons ago, but is likely on the rise, if there is no more drama. EMU, although was already very bad with the old coach, will be in a transition period for a couple years more now.

What you’re saying is Toledo has no excuses for not being MAC champions coming out of Cleveland…

(01-02-2024 02:07 PM)Rocket_Fanatic Wrote:  What you’re saying is Toledo has no excuses for not being MAC champions coming out of Cleveland…

I think it's Toledo's conference to lose. Ball State is very good, but I think you guys are better. I thought BGSU had a great shot at a top-3 finish, with Kent State possibly sneaking in there. Now that Fleming is out, I think that ends any outside chance BGSU had to win a championship.

And I'm not smart enough to determine the reason(s) the MAC is down this year, but the MAC is most definitely down this year.

(01-02-2024 02:07 PM)Rocket_Fanatic Wrote:  What you’re saying is Toledo has no excuses for not being MAC champions coming out of Cleveland…

If Q doesn't come back Id say our team level is on par with Ball State and Kent. If she is healthy Toledos floor should be 2 MAC losses.

(01-02-2024 09:09 AM)northcoastRocket Wrote:  

(01-01-2024 10:10 PM)Lester Wrote:  Ohio, with its long-time coach, is awful.
Northern Illinois, with its long-time coach, is very bad.
Eastern Michigan was so pathetic with its long-time coach that he was fired in December.
Buffalo, with its second-year coach, is worse than it was in her first year.
Western Michigan, with its long-time coach, is pretty bad.

Oesterle (CMU) and Hendrix (Miami) were proven losers. (Oesterle won her first year with Guevara's players before driving a proud program into the ground.). Under Hendrix, Miami somehow managed to be bad last year with a roster that was arguably as good as Toledo's. They would have been bad this year with a still talented but less talented roster. (Wolf announced her transfer before Hendrix was fired.). Jackson (Akron) reached a ceiling of mediocre in her tenure at Akron, which is why she was fired.

I agree with you that the conference would be somewhat better this year if all four coaches had stayed. Bowling Green, especially, would be much better. But to me that's not the biggest issue. As noted above, most of the teams with long-time coaches are bad, as well. (Bowling Green and Akron are 4th and 5th in the conference, respectively, in NET rankings.) During the transfer season, kazoorocket and I kept screaming that the sky was falling on MAC women's basketball, and you told us to relax. Now the results are in, and the sky actually fell. Even Chicken Little is right now and then. We can't blame the MAC's nosedive on the new transfer rules, either, as the teams that leapt ahead of us are other mid-majors. Can you believe that the Horizon League is now better than the MAC?

Let's hope that some of the new hires are able to build quality programs and get the conference back where it was a few years ago. If Sallee and Cullop stick around, we at least will have two consistently good programs.

What I had tried to say previously is that there was not a mass exodus of top MAC players to the portal, like some have been insinuating. Of course when you bring in new coaches, there is going to be a period (unless the team was already good, and kept its players) where performance is going to fall for a year or 2. That's a given. But players were not abandoning the MAC in droves, at least until the coaching changes were announced.

I went and checked, and here are the 15 highest impact transfer losses from the MAC this season. Of those, 9 were either directly due to coaching changes, or influenced by coaching changes. Another was a 5th year player who had already announced she would turn pro, unless the right transfer spot opened up. So, by my count, that's only 5 players who left for supposedly greener pastures (Felder, Harris, Santoro, Williams, Wolf), which is not a huge number these days for a 12 team league. Other than Santoro, all of those left poor teams.

Interestingly, in checking how those players are doing, 3 have suffered season ending injuries already. A 4th has not played yet, reportedly due to injury, but I can't find info as to whether it was season-ending or not.

Elissa Brett, BGSU->Mich (coach chg/5th yr). 8p / 4r, 5 starts.
Dominique Camp, Akr->Syracuse (coach chg, 5th yr). Knee injury in exhibition game, out for season.
Maddi Cluse, Mia->Clemson (coach chg). 7p / 4r, 13 starts.
A'Jah Davis, NIU->Seton Hall (5th yr). 6p / 6r, 13 starts.
Yaya Felder, Ohio->Baylor. 9p / 3r / 3a, 1 start.
Layne Ferrell, Akr->Wright St (coach chg). 13p / 4r, 15 starts.
Amani Freeman, Mia->Clemson (coach chg). 5p / 2r.
Sydney Harris, CMU->TCU. Has not played due to injury.
Lauren Ross, WMU->MSU (ast coach chg). 4p / 1r.
Casey Santoro, Kent->FGCU. Achilles injury during practice, out for season.
Peyton Scott, Mia->Oregon (coach chg). Knee injury in opening game, out for season.
Jocelyn Tate, BGSU->MSU (coach chg). 7p / 4r, 13 starts.
Bridget Utberg, CMU->Marquette (coach chg). 2p
Taylor Williams, WMU->Mich. 6p / 5r, 6 starts.
Ivy Wolf, MIA-Dayton. 11p / 3r / 3a, 12 starts.

So again, this supports my view that Akron, Miami, BG and CMU would all be much better this year, if not for the coaching changes. The new coaches will (hopefully) make them better in the long run, but it will take a couple years at least. Buffalo is also still reeling from a coaching change 2 seasons ago, but is likely on the rise, if there is no more drama. EMU, although was already very bad with the old coach, will be in a transition period for a couple years more now.

As I recall 16 of the top 21 players in the league are not back this year. That is a significant loss of talent which can not help but adversely impact competitive capability. Last time I looked there were only 4 players in the league averaging 15 points a game. We can't be sure why every player transfers and some may have been planning to leave whether the coach did or not. Who knows. My concern continues to be that as long as the transfer portal is as liberal as it is and the potential exists to generate income from likeness players who perform well at MAC level will be motivated to move to bigger media markets where the likeness money would be greater and the competition is better. So I see this to be problem for mid majors which will be sustained unless some constraints are incorporated into the current NCAA rules on transfer and likeness.

(01-02-2024 05:33 PM)UofToledoFans Wrote:  

(01-02-2024 02:07 PM)Rocket_Fanatic Wrote:  What you’re saying is Toledo has no excuses for not being MAC champions coming out of Cleveland…

If Q doesn't come back Id say our team level is on par with Ball State and Kent. If she is healthy Toledos floor should be 2 MAC losses.

Ball State is an excellent team. They gave us all we wanted in our two games last year. They lost their two leading scorers Clephane and Augustdaghter (sp} from last year but IMO they are better than last year. Hampton is an outstanding addition and Bischoff is a major factor as a 3 point shooter (37/74 47%). And with Becki and Hampton in the backcourt they lead a high energy and dominating defensive team. In both games last year Hampton while with BG made life very difficult for Sophia. They have nine players in the rotation and all contribute. Based upon their OC performance and UT's lackluster performance in so many games I would make Ball State the clear favorite this year. We don't want to see a game against Ball State without Q.

(01-03-2024 02:01 PM)kazoorocket43 Wrote:  

(01-02-2024 05:33 PM)UofToledoFans Wrote:  

(01-02-2024 02:07 PM)Rocket_Fanatic Wrote:  What you’re saying is Toledo has no excuses for not being MAC champions coming out of Cleveland…

If Q doesn't come back Id say our team level is on par with Ball State and Kent. If she is healthy Toledos floor should be 2 MAC losses.

Ball State is an excellent team. They gave us all we wanted in our two games last year. They lost their two leading scorers Clephane and Augustdaghter (sp} from last year but IMO they are better than last year. Hampton is an outstanding addition and Bischoff is a major factor as a 3 point shooter (37/74 47%). And with Becki and Hampton in the backcourt they lead a high energy and dominating defensive team. In both games last year Hampton while with BG made life very difficult for Sophia. They have nine players in the rotation and all contribute. Based upon their OC performance and UT's lackluster performance in so many games I would make Ball State the clear favorite this year. We don't want to see a game against Ball State without Q.

Lackluster to the effect Cincy in an inside team who we shut down in the paint and they hit more threes vs. us than any in the past full year of games. They're net is also higher than the every MAC team but BSU marginally. If we shoot poor we can be got. I don't think BSU can beat Michigan by 20+. I don't think BSU would have held Duke to 70 without a starter, let alone MAC POY. With Q we are defensively above the rest of this league.

(01-03-2024 03:49 PM)UofToledoFans Wrote:  

(01-03-2024 02:01 PM)kazoorocket43 Wrote:  

(01-02-2024 05:33 PM)UofToledoFans Wrote:  

(01-02-2024 02:07 PM)Rocket_Fanatic Wrote:  What you’re saying is Toledo has no excuses for not being MAC champions coming out of Cleveland…

If Q doesn't come back Id say our team level is on par with Ball State and Kent. If she is healthy Toledos floor should be 2 MAC losses.

Ball State is an excellent team. They gave us all we wanted in our two games last year. They lost their two leading scorers Clephane and Augustdaghter (sp} from last year but IMO they are better than last year. Hampton is an outstanding addition and Bischoff is a major factor as a 3 point shooter (37/74 47%). And with Becki and Hampton in the backcourt they lead a high energy and dominating defensive team. In both games last year Hampton while with BG made life very difficult for Sophia. They have nine players in the rotation and all contribute. Based upon their OC performance and UT's lackluster performance in so many games I would make Ball State the clear favorite this year. We don't want to see a game against Ball State without Q.

Lackluster to the effect Cincy in an inside team who we shut down in the paint and they hit more threes vs. us than any in the past full year of games. They're net is also higher than the every MAC team but BSU marginally. If we shoot poor we can be got. I don't think BSU can beat Michigan by 20+. I don't think BSU would have held Duke to 70 without a starter, let alone MAC POY. With Q we are defensively above the rest of this league.

Will see. Hope I am wrong but there have been many poorly played halfs of basketball by the lady rockets in the early season.

(01-03-2024 02:01 PM)kazoorocket43 Wrote:  

(01-02-2024 05:33 PM)UofToledoFans Wrote:  

(01-02-2024 02:07 PM)Rocket_Fanatic Wrote:  What you’re saying is Toledo has no excuses for not being MAC champions coming out of Cleveland…

If Q doesn't come back Id say our team level is on par with Ball State and Kent. If she is healthy Toledos floor should be 2 MAC losses.

Ball State is an excellent team. They gave us all we wanted in our two games last year. They lost their two leading scorers Clephane and Augustdaghter (sp} from last year but IMO they are better than last year. Hampton is an outstanding addition and Bischoff is a major factor as a 3 point shooter (37/74 47%). And with Becki and Hampton in the backcourt they lead a high energy and dominating defensive team. In both games last year Hampton while with BG made life very difficult for Sophia. They have nine players in the rotation and all contribute. Based upon their OC performance and UT's lackluster performance in so many games I would make Ball State the clear favorite this year. We don't want to see a game against Ball State without Q.

Agree. Watched Ball State and UCONN. I was very impressed with Ball States athleticism. They will be a handful in the MAC

(01-03-2024 01:34 PM)kazoorocket43 Wrote:  As I recall 16 of the top 21 players in the league are not back this year. That is a significant loss of talent which can not help but adversely impact competitive capability. Last time I looked there were only 4 players in the league averaging 15 points a game. We can't be sure why every player transfers and some may have been planning to leave whether the coach did or not. Who knows. My concern continues to be that as long as the transfer portal is as liberal as it is and the potential exists to generate income from likeness players who perform well at MAC level will be motivated to move to bigger media markets where the likeness money would be greater and the competition is better. So I see this to be problem for mid majors which will be sustained unless some constraints are incorporated into the current NCAA rules on transfer and likeness.

The players I tagged with coaching changes were not just made up with no evidence. Tate followed her coach. Scott and Freeman had announced they were both planning to come back for a last year at Miami until the coaching change. Ferrell was reported as one of the players upset with the coach being fired at Akron. The media reported that Ross was all but signed on the dotted line at CMU until Oesterle was fired (picked CMU, supposedly to follow an assistant from WMU to CMU that then fell thru.) Etc.

It was an extraordinary year of change for the MAC. Hard for a conference to have a third of the teams lose coaches and not lose a lot of players. My point being that we can't just blame the scary portal without putting the year in the context of what happened with the coaches.

And next year could see a lot of change too, as often in the 2nd season of a new coach there is greater than average turnover as some players may leave who didn't really fit the new coaches style or whatever. Plus whatever happens at EMU, and if there are any other major changes.