D1 Schools are seriously considering reclassifying out of D1 | Matt Brown

[WestCoastAggie]

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[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

Ahh yes, the result of coercion and manipulation. Some will frame it as the residual effects of "unintended consequences" but we know better than that as thinning the herd has long been an inexact science. Thus easily detectable...

Lest we not forget, the landscape of D1 athletics nearly forced Lafayette down to D3 at the turn of the 21st century. Others have faced, and made the requisite decision to drop down; West Chester, Hartford, Wayne State (I think?) among others. Lafayette remained....

From a PL standpoint. I don't see anyone bailing. Loyola would be the only candidate imo but without football, situational variables make it easier to find a path to the status quo. Generally speaking, and despite evolution taking its course, the Patriot League and Ivy League will ensure their presence is felt....

My first post in a while given the lunacy that some of the offseason discussion dissolves into. I'm interested to see where this heads...

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

Directly from Matt Brown himself....

So, a few bits of clarity here:

1) The rationale and situation for every school is different. For some of the schools my industry people raised to me this week, the thought process around potentially reclassifying has little to do with the athletic department itself, and everything to do with budget cuts, generally. For other schools, the House settlement and increased cost structure of D1 athletics is forcing some difficult conversations. For at least one school, Trump/DOE/NIH budget cuts may be the shove off the D1 bridge. There isn't a one-size-fits-all situation here.

2) I decided not to mention the specific schools because some of them (and their peers) are still playing meaningful basketball games, and I don't want to blow up anyone's spot if the school holds the meetings and decides to stick around. That being said, St. Francis Brooklyn decided to pull the plug on athletics in March, right around when FDU beat Purdue, if I remember correctly. If decisions are made, schools are going to look to pull the band-aid quickly.

3) I have not heard directly from any industry person that I really trust that any *FBS* schools are considering getting out of D1 sports. The bulk of the schools I've heard from, but by no means exclusively, are in the Northeast. I imagine many of you could probably guess at least some of the schools...I haven't heard any names that like, deeply shocked me or anything.

4) Part of the reason I tweeted this, beyond trying to present a counternarrative to the "everybody is opting into House" stuff, is that sometimes posting a little bit of the story pushes folks to leak me other stuff...or at least, clarifying information.

There will be AD and presidential meetings this week and next to discuss some of these school-specific situations. As I get more concrete information, including any on-the-record denials, I will share it.

https://csnbbs.com/thread-1007768.html

[NY Crusader 2010]

Only schools I can think of that did it in the last 30 years or so that actually did it:

Hartford - dropped to D3 in 2021
St. Francis of Brooklyn - dropped athletics after 22-23 season
Northeastern Illinois - dropped athletics in the late 1990's
Birmingham-Southern - dropped to D3 in the early 2000's; closed its doors last summer but was a captivating sports story where the baseball team made the CWS AFTER the school had officially ceased operations and the coaches/staff were working for free
Morris Brown - dropped athletics in the early 2000's, school had some major money laundering issues but I think still exists as a university
Savannah State - dropped to D2 about 5 years ago
Winston-Salem State - moved up to DI in mid-2000's and joined the MEAC but dropped back down to D2 within 5 years
U. of New Orleans - dropped to D3 in the wake of Hurricane Katrina but moved back up to DI within few years. I actually went to a UNO-LSU baseball game in New Orleans in spring 2009.

Wayne State had DI hockey, not sure if they dropped the program or moved down. Don't remember them as a DI school otherwise. Didn't know West Chester was ever DI -- maybe DI basketball but DII in football. Of course, if you go pre-Dayton Rule you had a bunch of schools that were DI in basketball only into the 1970's and 1980's -- Catholic, NYU, CCNY are the 3 I can think of. I'm sure there were more. How long ago did the Carlisle Indians shut down athletics

[Bisonator]

Let's be honest hear there are a lot of D1 schools that never should have been D1!

[Lehigh Football Nation]

You would think that the Ivy/PL are not a part of this cohort, but having lived through the Lafayette-to-DIII rumors in the past, I wish I could say it's zero chance. I think there is definitely a chance.

You would think the enormous Ivy endowments (and most PL endowments aren't terribly far behind) would insulate them more from these shenanigans, but I'm trying to find out more. My impression is the schools with huge hospital networks are the most at risk (think Penn Medical center, state schools like Maine where the University is the top Healthcare provider in the state, etc.). However Lehigh has a College of Health that seems like it could be affected, etc. Georgetown and Villanova have large medical presences, etc.

I also wonder about Colleges vs. Universities. On the surface it looks like colleges wouldn't be affected as badly - after all, Lafayette doesn't have a graduate medical research center with NIH funding - and rich colleges in particular seem like they would be in the best situation of all. But I need to look into it more.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

One thought I had about reclassifying risks were MEAC schools. Delaware State leapt to mind. But any speculation would have to center on low-funded Northeast schools that either don't want to pay for House or suddenly can't afford it. The question is does that also include schools who might do it on principle.

[WestCoastAggie]

One thought I had about reclassifying risks were MEAC schools. Delaware State leapt to mind. But any speculation would have to center on low-funded Northeast schools that either don't want to pay for House or suddenly can't afford it. The question is does that also include schools who might do it on principle.

IMHO, any school opting out is a candidate here. But yes, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast schools are most likely to do this.

[WestCoastAggie]

One thought I had about reclassifying risks were MEAC schools. Delaware State leapt to mind. But any speculation would have to center on low-funded Northeast schools that either don't want to pay for House or suddenly can't afford it. The question is does that also include schools who might do it on principle.

I doubt any HBCU is dropping.

[ElCid]

Let's be honest hear there are a lot of D1 schools that never should have been D1!

Umm, yeah. This here. A lot of schools grasping at the golden ring trying to get name recognition or a cut of the pie, but nowhere near prepared to meet the needs of a respectable program. And if you need subsidies to exist, you probably shouldn't tie them to the ability to field sports teams. Ultimately, that's just moving money from one pot to the other.