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Wildcat80
March 8th, 2009, 05:08 AM
Being able to actually offer a full scholarship to recruits will make a difference. Our experience is we can recruit in California & Fla with scholarship offers. Stony Brook does the same. I believe Lafayette & others do a nice job in Florida too--to lower income kids. With athletic scholarships the surplus talent in football rich states will look more seriously at Fordham--& others. There is an attraction to many kids going to the Big Apple. Now if the entire Patriot goes along they will be a force in FCS football. Facilities at Lafayette, Lehigh, Colgate, Holy Cross are superior to alot of schools. They will be able to recruit better kids. Scholarships WILL have an impact.

Seawolf97
March 8th, 2009, 11:48 AM
I know StonyBrook has benefitted from going to a full scholarship porgram. We recruit now in California, Florida and Texas all football rich states. One of the selling points is getting to play at least 1 FBS team a season and for us that begins in 2010. .
Fordham really has alot going for it not only as a superior academic school but being in the Big Apple, and scheduling some name brand FBS programs. This should draw some attention to their program in the NY media playing the likes of UConn and Army.

Redwyn
March 8th, 2009, 12:00 PM
I know StonyBrook has benefitted from going to a full scholarship porgram. We recruit now in California, Florida and Texas all football rich states. One of the selling points is getting to play at least 1 FBS team a season and for us that begins in 2010. .
Fordham really has alot going for it not only as a superior academic school but being in the Big Apple, and scheduling some name brand FBS programs. This should draw some attention to their program in the NY media playing the likes of UConn and Army.

Gotta agree. It certainly will be interesting to watch the change in recruit composition next year.

RichH2
March 8th, 2009, 05:22 PM
If PL goes schollie , will truly shift balances in the East. No direspect, but a full ride to PL school will win more often than not over Monmouth, Duquesne et al. As note on Ivy Board will lso impact recruiting vs them as academic difference while real is not that great that a full ride at a PL school will sway many recruits.

Go...gate
March 8th, 2009, 05:28 PM
If Colgate offers scholarships, it will absolutely strengthen the program. I don't know how much, but we will be able to out-recruit quite a few schools whom we are losing out to now.

RichH2
March 8th, 2009, 07:44 PM
From a Lehigh point of view I think you Gate guys recruit well enuf now.

danefan
March 8th, 2009, 07:57 PM
From a fan of a team "stuck" in the NEC - the PL at full scholarships will hurt the NEC, without a doubt.

PLLB
March 8th, 2009, 08:39 PM
fordham should dominate the patriot league

Fordham
March 8th, 2009, 08:42 PM
fordham should dominate the patriot league from your fingers to God's ears. xnodx

However, there is zero chance that we'll be the only FB scholarship team in the PL. Either everyone agrees to go scholly ... or they let each school decide for themselves, in which case several schools will be joining us ... or they say 'no' and we leave. In either PL scenario, we'll have all the PL competition we can handle.

RichH2
March 8th, 2009, 09:42 PM
ALl teams go in cycles, Lafayette has been very good last 3 years < Lehigh mediocre ( being generous there) HC consistently good last 3yrs. Schollies depending on how implemented should not really alter top of the PL too much and could help bottom . Altho GU posters say that Gu does not have the money to implement other than a much lower # of schollies.

blukeys
March 8th, 2009, 10:21 PM
If PL goes schollie , will truly shift balances in the East. No direspect, but a full ride to PL school will win more often than not over Monmouth, Duquesne et al. As note on Ivy Board will lso impact recruiting vs them as academic difference while real is not that great that a full ride at a PL school will sway many recruits.

This is the kind of talk I heard at Delaware in 1986 when Delaware went from the needs based approach to the full scolly. Most UD fans were convinced that the Hens would have a 20 year run of National Championships since they now had the scollys other successful schools had and which they had been denied. In fact UD's success improved but only marginally.

If you want to track Delaware's record for the 20 years before and after 1986 you would actually see very little difference. One could argue that UD was actually more dominant in the 70's when they were in the middle of their "needs based" era.

The Pl already offers scollys in other sports such as basketball and I would not pick them to get a team into the final 4 this year. Scolly's are not the be all end all and not the sole reason for the recent decline of the PL.

I do think the PL in the long run will benefit from a change to scolly football. The teams that will benefit most in the short run are the have nots in this league (assuming they fund to the level of the top teams). I say this because certain teams learn the ins and outs, the tricks of the trade, of the "needs based" system better than others and this is an advantage.

A well versed financial aid office can make a huge difference in the "needs based" system. The scolly system evens the playing field immensely. It will put Bucknell on a much more even playing field with the more traditional powers. (Again this assumes Bucknell funds to the level of Lehigh, Lafayette, and Colgate)

Long term having the also rans improve force the other teams to improve as well.

I have witnessed this in the CAA since 1986 and have especially seen the changes in the last 10 years.

The overall talent increase is and will be impressive. This has already been underway with the CAA for sometime. The Pl needs to catch the train before it leaves the station.

Go Lehigh TU owl
March 9th, 2009, 01:30 AM
I just firmly believe that a lot of, not all, Fordham fans think that the addition of scholarships are instantly going to change the face of Fordham football. Fordham still lacks the facilities, 7k seat stadium, and fan support that most top FCS programs have. I really don't think that the addition of scholarships is going to make the Rams much better. One person said that he was hopeful that the addition of scholarships will allow Fordham to pursue the recruits that JMU, Delaware and Richmond are. I hope Fordham is atleast pursuing them. Lehigh, Colgate and Lafayette already do, sometimes landing them sometimes not. Fordham needs an overall athletic upgrade if their serious about competing. They're barely cutting it in the A10, Rose Hill is the joke of the league and the Fordham people know it. If i'm Fordham i'm praying that the PL doesn't add scholarships because if they do there is no reason to believe the pecking order will change unless Fordham upgrades Coffey Stadium. Even if the PL continued their current format i can see Lehigh, Colgate and Lafayette still beating out the Rams for recruits. Athletics at Fordham need more commitment from the school for this to really benefit the Rams.

CRAZY_DANE
March 9th, 2009, 08:58 AM
Its a HUGE boost for Fordham. I can only hope UAlbany is next.

We need a full schollie NE FCS cinference for the state schools.

Fordham
March 9th, 2009, 09:14 AM
I just firmly believe that a lot of, not all, Fordham fans think that the addition of scholarships are instantly going to change the face of Fordham football. Fordham still lacks the facilities, 7k seat stadium, and fan support that most top FCS programs have. I really don't think that the addition of scholarships is going to make the Rams much better. One person said that he was hopeful that the addition of scholarships will allow Fordham to pursue the recruits that JMU, Delaware and Richmond are. I hope Fordham is atleast pursuing them. Lehigh, Colgate and Lafayette already do, sometimes landing them sometimes not. Fordham needs an overall athletic upgrade if their serious about competing. They're barely cutting it in the A10, Rose Hill is the joke of the league and the Fordham people know it. If i'm Fordham i'm praying that the PL doesn't add scholarships because if they do there is no reason to believe the pecking order will change unless Fordham upgrades Coffey Stadium. Even if the PL continued their current format i can see Lehigh, Colgate and Lafayette still beating out the Rams for recruits. Athletics at Fordham need more commitment from the school for this to really benefit the Rams. 1. Despite using such language as "firmly believe" to support your points, you're dead wrong. As a very active member of the Gridiron Club and someone who was actually there when Masella made the announcement, there wasn't one person in the room who expressed anything close to what you claim above. The over-riding sense when he made the announcement was one of relief since a move to scholarships was reinforcing our commitment to the sport. The greatest fear Fordham fans have is that a school that spends among the most in all of FCS then goes out and produces mediocre (or worse) results. It won't be long until the administration comes looking for that money and either downgrades or kills the program altogether. THAT's what most Fordham fans believe scholarships do for us.

2. Masella addressed facilities directly when asked. As has been posted elsewhere he indicated that he'd love a facilities upgrade but it's not nearly as important as scholarships. He and his team have shown they can recruit and I think it will be very interesting to see what they can do when they can recruit with scholarships. I do agree with you that our facilities are pathetic but I'll take Masella's word for it that he can without that piece of the puzzle.

3. Good for you for already competing against JMU, Delaware, etc. when it came to recruits. Have trouble realizing what your point is there, though. We would pretty much never win those battles before ... if scholarships at least puts us in the mix for kids who would have never even considered us before, aren't they doing their job?

4. You keep making the A10 reference but as we've already gone back and forth on (ad nauseum), it's irrelvant in this situation. Football is the one sport where we fund the sport on par with the best in our (sub)division. In hoops or pretty much any other sport you may bring up, we don't even fund it in the upper half of our conference, let alone division. The money shows our commitment ... and the results, for the most part, follow the money.

5. Tell me your last line is a joke. We fund football (the sport we're talking about here) as high as any other school in FCS and higher than any other PL sport. Our committment has without question been strong enough when it comes to football. You just seem to always want to muddle in hoops and other sports to the conversation.

Lehigh Football Nation
March 9th, 2009, 10:08 AM
I'm not one to comment on the commitment to athletics on any school - especially one that already spends $4 mil on equivalencies in football and is willing to "double down", even during Depression 2.0.

But that stadium could really use an upgrade. Can't baseball play somewhere else, like in the NY Botanical Gardens? xsmiley_wix

TheValleyRaider
March 9th, 2009, 11:30 AM
I'm not one to comment on the commitment to athletics on any school - especially one that already spends $4 mil on equivalencies in football and is willing to "double down", even during Depression 2.0.

But that stadium could really use an upgrade. Can't baseball play somewhere else, like in the NY Botanical Gardens? xsmiley_wix

I hear there's an older ballpark in the Bronx. Bit used, might have a few seats. Probably would have plenty of open dates for the Rams this spring ;)

PLLB
March 9th, 2009, 12:42 PM
But that stadium could really use an upgrade. Can't baseball play somewhere else, like in the NY Botanical Gardens


THAT staduim was not too much of a hinderance in 2002 and 2007?

Go Lehigh TU owl
March 9th, 2009, 12:45 PM
Fordham you're acknowledging the fact the school for the most part does not support their athletic program. My point is Fordham has failed in their move to the A10. They have underfunded programs and poor facilities after what 15 years? Wouldn't it make sense to get those programs on their feet before they tackle football scholarships? You're assuming that because Fordham is getting scholarships that things are going to change which flat out wrong. Fordham has what 4 winning seasons in 20 years of PL of play? If you are indeed funding football "through the roof" then you're getting a poor return on your investement. Ever consider there other factors as to why Fordham hasn't been very good in football?

Fordham
March 9th, 2009, 12:48 PM
Fordham you're acknowledging the fact the school for the most part does not support their athletic program. My point is Fordham has failed in their move to the A10. They have underfunded programs and poor facilities after what 15 years? Wouldn't it make sense to get those programs on their feet before they tackle football scholarships? You're assuming that because Fordham is getting scholarships that things are going to change which flat out wrong. Fordham has what 4 winning seasons in 20 years of PL of play? If you are indeed funding football "through the roof" then you're getting a poor return on your investement.

What is there to "tackle" in moving to football scholarships? We're currently funding 58 equivalencies and we're simply converting those to scholarship. No more dollars involved but yet we get to recruit a larger % of the overall recruiting market. Again, no more dollars involved that could be spent elsewhere unless your point is that we should be REDUCING our budget and putting it into the other sports.

What part of this are you not getting?

Go Lehigh TU owl
March 9th, 2009, 12:50 PM
What is there to "tackle" in moving to football scholarships? We're currently funding 58 equivalencies and we're simply converting those to scholarship. No more dollars involved but yet we get to recruit a larger % of the overall recruiting market.

What part of this are you not getting?

That is't not going to make a difference to Fordham unless the overall culture of athletics changes. How are those scholarships in bball doing with subpar facilities? What are you not getting?

Fordham
March 9th, 2009, 01:00 PM
That is't not going to make a difference to Fordham unless the overall culture of athletics changes. What are you not getting?
xconfusedxxconfusedx

The only thing I'm not getting why you're so slow on the uptick.

You're referring to us waiting to "tackle" scholarships but yet it's not going to cost us anything to make that move. Now you're saying that we should wait on something that opens up our recruiting without costing the program an extra dime but we should put that on hold until we overhaul our Athletic Department.

xconfusedxxrotatehx

... and you wanted to be my latex salesman. xsmhx

Fordham
March 9th, 2009, 01:03 PM
That is't not going to make a difference to Fordham unless the overall culture of athletics changes. How are those scholarships in bball doing with subpar facilities? What are you not getting?
Nice edit in the meantime -

... and for the umpteenth time, we fund hoops in the lower half of our conference ... we fund football in the top 5 in our subdivision. I'll get ready to cut and paste this for the next time you bring up hoops as though you've never heard a response to it before. xrolleyesx

Anyting else you'd recommend that we spend our money on before we take the option that isn't going to cost our program a dime?

Go Lehigh TU owl
March 9th, 2009, 01:35 PM
xconfusedxxconfusedx

The only thing I'm not getting why you're so slow on the uptick.

You're referring to us waiting to "tackle" scholarships but yet it's not going to cost us anything to make that move. Now you're saying that we should wait on something that opens up our recruiting without costing the program an extra dime but we should put that on hold until we overhaul our Athletic Department.

xconfusedxxrotatehx

... and you wanted to be my latex salesman. xsmhx

If it's not going to cost Fordham any money then why not do it right and completely upgrade the program! Just adding scholarships is not going to do it, especially if the PL does. If the PL does add scholarships Fordham is in the same spot they are in now.

I know Fordham spends a ton on football which is mind boggling given their facilties and team performance in relation to its peers. Has anyone ever questioned that return on investment?

Why don't you get the fact that funding for Fordham hoops HAS something to do with football. It shows Fordhams lack overall commitment to their athletic programs!! Doesn't an outdated gym and poor performing team reflect upon Fordham athletics? Doesn't a subpar football stadium reflect on the overall athletic program? If Fordham was serious about their athletic programs they would fund them all appropiately, especially basketball and football. You guys are the dregs the of the A10, you know it, Fordham's admin. knows it and so does the A10. But Fordham refuses to do anything about it. THAT is a reflection of commitment to the athletic program.

Can you say that Fordhams administration funds and supports athletics properly? Can you say that Fordhams athletic programs are successful?

Fordham
March 9th, 2009, 02:03 PM
If it's not going to cost Fordham any money then why not do it right and completely upgrade the program! Just adding scholarships is not going to do it, especially if the PL does. If the PL does add scholarships Fordham is in the same spot they are in now. Why not completely upgrade the program now? Are you serious? What you're proposing costs ALOT OF MONEY. Moving to scholarships costs nothing. Do you realize that you are actually arguing that we shouldn't take the zero-cost option now and should wait until we raise enough money to do other things before doing it? How does that ever make any sense whatsoever? In what world would any rationale human ever do that?

Imagine the conversations that Masella has been having in order to get administrative support for moving to scholarships. In this economy do you think he would have gotten very far if the no-additional-cost scholarship item was buried at #3 on the depth chart behind firing everyone he works for and raising enough money for a new stadium?


I know Fordham spends a ton on football which is mind boggling given their facilties and team performance in relation to its peers. Has anyone ever questioned that return on investment? 1. They haven't questioned it when some of the largest donors to the university have been loyal football supporters.

2. I'd actually take our results over yours since '02, which is a decent stretch of time. Although you guys have the better record, we at least have a winning record, more championships (sole and co), more playoff appearances and more playoff wins than you guys. If you take a look at that on a year-by-year basis as well, you'd be hard pressed to not see that who the coach was played what appears to be the biggest role. The fallout from our Foley years was pretty brutal but the Clawson/Masella combo has been great overall.

And I don't put that up there to denigrate Lehigh and I could also see why some Lehigh fans wouldn't swap results. Nonetheless, let's not act like we've been funding our program at these levels and have nothing but futulity to show for it. The futulity part is what would happen if we stayed in a league with no-schollies and a league-wide AI (imo).


Why don't you get the fact that funding for Fordham hoops HAS something to do with football. It shows Fordhams lack overall commitment to their athletic programs!! Doesn't an outdated gym and poor performing team reflect upon Fordham athletics? Doesn't a subpar football stadium reflect on the overall athletic program? If Fordham was serious about their athletic programs they would fund them all appropiately, especially basketball and football. You guys are the dregs the of the A10, you know it, Fordham's admin. knows it and so does the A10. But Fordham refuses to do anything about it. THAT is a reflection of commitment to the athletic program.

Can you say that Fordhams administration funds and supports athletics properly?Yikes, tell me you're not serious. I've continually indicated to you here and elsewhere that football is the ONLY sport that gets funded at a level to compete. Grab your crayons or hand me some finger puppets and I'll try to explain this in a way that gets through. "no!" the university doesn't fund and support athletics properly (imo) with the exception of football.

The part that is staggering to me is that you're seriously telling us that instead of taking the slam dunk incremental improvement that the benefits of scholarships bring AT NO ADDITIONAL COST TO THE UNIVERSITY ... we should wait on that and instead get to work on a) a complete overhaul of our athletic adminstration and b) facilitiy upgrades. Please tell me you understand that the university didn't come to the football program and ask us to pick one out of the three. No, we simply feel fortunate that they supported this move rather than coming back and telling them to hold off on implementing them because we have much bigger problems we need to deal with. xrotatehxxsmhx

jimbo65
March 9th, 2009, 02:48 PM
Just my opinion but the stadium is okay. Apparently what is really needing improvement are facilities such as visitor locker room, weight room etc. The stadium itself provides excellent views of the game, has snack and bathroom availability.

Though it was 60 or 70 years ago or so, how many FCS conferences have programs that competed in the Sugar & Cotton Bowls. That plus the NYC location, albeit the Bx, should be facilitators in finding a new home if we must leave.

Total conjecture on my part but what if another PL school or two suggested FU take this route as we are a fball only member. If there is a vote I bet we have two on our side so far. Colgate and either LU or LC. HC & Gtown are likely nos so the Bisons are an important vote.

danefan
March 9th, 2009, 03:18 PM
Just my opinion but the stadium is okay. Apparently what is really needing improvement are facilities such as visitor locker room, weight room etc. The stadium itself provides excellent views of the game, has snack and bathroom availability.

Though it was 60 or 70 years ago or so, how many FCS conferences have programs that competed in the Sugar & Cotton Bowls. That plus the NYC location, albeit the Bx, should be facilitators in finding a new home if we must leave.

Total conjecture on my part but what if another PL school or two suggested FU take this route as we are a fball only member. If there is a vote I bet we have two on our side so far. Colgate and either LU or LC. HC & Gtown are likely nos so the Bisons are an important vote.

You'd think that a school like Fordham (history, location, etc..) would have no problem finding a new conference if it wanted to. The problem is that there aren't any conferences out there except the Big South.

Is Fordham any better with 63 scholasrhips in the Big South then it is at 58 equivalencies in the PL? I don't know the answer to that.

And, BTW, I agree about Fordham's stadium. The home side is fine. The away side is not, but until the baseball field is moved, what other choice does Fordham have?

And there really isn't any room on campus to move the baseball field, without losing the little open green student space that exists.

OLPOP
March 9th, 2009, 03:54 PM
Jack Coffey Field had temporary stands on the visitors side for years. They could be brought back.

FUrams7
March 9th, 2009, 04:35 PM
I do think scholly's play an important role.

it will allow Fordham to schedule a 1A team each year. 1A's are more willing to play a 63 scholly team..

Fordham will be able to compete for more talented players (with CAA and lower level 1A's--the 1A's where academics are poor)..

more exposure for the school..

a better chance at 1aa national championship (of course extremely difficult but we'll be playing-competing with scholly athletes as well).


this is at no additional cost to the school. we currently fund 58 equivalencies.. but the problem lies within trying to fit pegs into every hole.. frustrating to coach.. AI academic bands.. and you cant offer full equivalency currently if kids parents make x amount of dollars. etc..

i was friendly with two recent HC's in the PL, one at Fordham and one at Lehigh. both mentioned it was very difficult to say the least to recruit..
u had to find an essentially poor kid, with good grades and talented enough to play at the 1aa level..
then hope no 1aa offered a full ride (CAA, SoCon).. or an no Ivy came in either.. then NEC went scholly as well.. so if a kid was middle class think avg american.. he would have to pay 20k to go to PL.. or choose one of the other options.. lets just say he wasnt picking the PL..

colorless raider
March 9th, 2009, 05:47 PM
If it's not going to cost Fordham any money then why not do it right and completely upgrade the program! Just adding scholarships is not going to do it, especially if the PL does. If the PL does add scholarships Fordham is in the same spot they are in now.

I know Fordham spends a ton on football which is mind boggling given their facilties and team performance in relation to its peers. Has anyone ever questioned that return on investment?

Why don't you get the fact that funding for Fordham hoops HAS something to do with football. It shows Fordhams lack overall commitment to their athletic programs!! Doesn't an outdated gym and poor performing team reflect upon Fordham athletics? Doesn't a subpar football stadium reflect on the overall athletic program? If Fordham was serious about their athletic programs they would fund them all appropiately, especially basketball and football. You guys are the dregs the of the A10, you know it, Fordham's admin. knows it and so does the A10. But Fordham refuses to do anything about it. THAT is a reflection of commitment to the athletic program.

Can you say that Fordhams administration funds and supports athletics properly? Can you say that Fordhams athletic programs are successful?

Stop whininxnonoxg about Fordham, they are doing what's right for them. Spend your energy trying to convince Alice to vote for scholarships.

Go...gate
March 9th, 2009, 06:14 PM
1. Despite using such language as "firmly believe" to support your points, you're dead wrong. As a very active member of the Gridiron Club and someone who was actually there when Masella made the announcement, there wasn't one person in the room who expressed anything close to what you claim above. The over-riding sense when he made the announcement was one of relief since a move to scholarships was reinforcing our commitment to the sport. The greatest fear Fordham fans have is that a school that spends among the most in all of FCS then goes out and produces mediocre (or worse) results. It won't be long until the administration comes looking for that money and either downgrades or kills the program altogether. THAT's what most Fordham fans believe scholarships do for us.

2. Masella addressed facilities directly when asked. As has been posted elsewhere he indicated that he'd love a facilities upgrade but it's not nearly as important as scholarships. He and his team have shown they can recruit and I think it will be very interesting to see what they can do when they can recruit with scholarships. I do agree with you that our facilities are pathetic but I'll take Masella's word for it that he can without that piece of the puzzle.

3. Good for you for already competing against JMU, Delaware, etc. when it came to recruits. Have trouble realizing what your point is there, though. We would pretty much never win those battles before ... if scholarships at least puts us in the mix for kids who would have never even considered us before, aren't they doing their job?

4. You keep making the A10 reference but as we've already gone back and forth on (ad nauseum), it's irrelvant in this situation. Football is the one sport where we fund the sport on par with the best in our (sub)division. In hoops or pretty much any other sport you may bring up, we don't even fund it in the upper half of our conference, let alone division. The money shows our commitment ... and the results, for the most part, follow the money.

5. Tell me your last line is a joke. We fund football (the sport we're talking about here) as high as any other school in FCS and higher than any other PL sport. Our committment has without question been strong enough when it comes to football. You just seem to always want to muddle in hoops and other sports to the conversation.

I agree with the Fordham point of view on this. No question they are going to be much better. Anybody remember Holy Cross in the early years of the PL? They were damn near unbeatable within and outside the conference. Fordham could get there as well. They have a lot going for them, not the least of which is the quality of the school itself.

Point is, the benefits Fordham will obtain are there for all of us, potentially. I have to tell you that the concept of 63 - scholarship football at Colgate is certainly intriguing. I think of all the years before the mid 1970's when we played competitively against several teams a year having over 85 scholarships and we had, I believe, fewer equivalencies than we do now. IMO, with our program and tradition, with 63 scholarships, we have a great chance to compete at the very top of 1-AA.

WMTribe90
March 10th, 2009, 11:50 AM
I do think scholly's play an important role.

it will allow Fordham to schedule a 1A team each year. 1A's are more willing to play a 63 scholly team..

Fordham will be able to compete for more talented players (with CAA and lower level 1A's--the 1A's where academics are poor)..

more exposure for the school..

a better chance at 1aa national championship (of course extremely difficult but we'll be playing-competing with scholly athletes as well).


this is at no additional cost to the school. we currently fund 58 equivalencies.. but the problem lies within trying to fit pegs into every hole.. frustrating to coach.. AI academic bands.. and you cant offer full equivalency currently if kids parents make x amount of dollars. etc..

i was friendly with two recent HC's in the PL, one at Fordham and one at Lehigh. both mentioned it was very difficult to say the least to recruit..
u had to find an essentially poor kid, with good grades and talented enough to play at the 1aa level..
then hope no 1aa offered a full ride (CAA, SoCon).. or an no Ivy came in either.. then NEC went scholly as well.. so if a kid was middle class think avg american.. he would have to pay 20k to go to PL.. or choose one of the other options.. lets just say he wasnt picking the PL..

Good post, I think you summed up the advantages of scholarships and the disadvantages of need-based equivalencies very well. For selfish reasons I hope the PL and Ivies never offer athletic scholarships because WM fills a nice little niche in the current FCS world. Outside of the Ivies and some of the PL schools we are probably the highest ranked school academically that also offers football scholarships at the FCS level (at least east of the Mississippi). Schools like Richmond, Villanova and Furman would also be affected IMO.

LUHawker
March 10th, 2009, 12:21 PM
For selfish reasons I hope the PL and Ivies never offer athletic scholarships because WM fills a nice little niche in the current FCS world. Outside of the Ivies and some of the PL schools we are probably the highest ranked school academically that also offers football scholarships at the FCS level (at least east of the Mississippi). Schools like Richmond, Villanova and Furman would also be affected IMO.

I think this is one reason why Andy Talley (HC at Nova) is always talking downn the PL. If the PL goes scholly, his pitch of best academics and scholarships around gets blown up. Lehigh, Lafayette and Bucknell all within 2+ hours of Nova will make that a much tougher pitch.

RichH2
March 11th, 2009, 09:12 PM
Talley will no doubt want to lobby against a scholarship Pl in his neighborhood. Another valid reason to go scholiie haven't liked the man since he dissed LU merely because we played better than his kids. He could not even say nice game Lehigh. Just how badly his team played