WIAC adds Northland

[Sir Nubs]

Northland - Trine = 625 Miles
Northland - Adrian = 670 Miles

Enough said

If Northland thinks it's a good move for them, fine. That doesn't mean anyone else thinks their school moving is a good idea, travel or not.

[d3hockey57]

Re: WIAC adds Northland

Northland - Trine = 625 Miles
Northland - Adrian = 670 Miles

Enough said

St. Scholastica - Adrian = 703
St. Scholastica - Trine = 644

It's apparently worth the travel for St. Scholastica to play in the best conference in DIII hockey. Northland not so much, therefore they decided less travel outweighed "trying" to compete in the NCHA.

[net presence]

Re: WIAC adds Northland

It's also possible your source was feeding you a big pile of road apples, or was giving you incorrect information to try and make their own position/move look better. Anyone involved with a clue would know better than to ask SNC in the first place. Then again, there are a lot of clueless people out there these days...

Sir Nubs -- Again, you're welcome to believe what you want about what I've offered here but, I assure you that my souces (more than one) are solid. That doesn't mean your contention that whoever reached out to SNC was "clueless", may not be true. They may very well have been. However, I'm confident that they were approached. You're also correct in your assertion that, at the moment, the WIAC schools probably need the NCHA schools more than vice versa. Although, the WIAC schools probably play just as many non-conference games versus MIAC schools then they do versus NCHA schools. The other piece to consider is IF the WIAC can convince one more team to join, that puts them at 7 teams and, if I recall correctly, returns their automatic NCAA birth? If not, I'm sure someone can correct me on that.

Finally, Northland's decision to move is very much about reducing costs as the school is facing very significant budget issues. Last spring the school dropped both the men's and women's cross country and golf programs, as well as closed the campus radio station. They also forced all staff and faculty to take a 7.5% pay cut while the vice-presidents took a 10% cut and the school president took a 12.5% cut. They have a much smaller endowment than the average private school and, in talking to some of the people involved, there is a real concern about the long term future of the school if they can't improve their ability to raise funds in a significant manner. Whereas Scholastica has recently added football and doesn't seem to have any issues with whatever travel expenses are incurred being in the NCHA. Here is a link to the Duluth News Tribune article from last may that outlines the concerns:

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/new...aking-big-cuts

[Sir Nubs]

Re: WIAC adds Northland

Sir Nubs -- Again, you're welcome to believe what you want about what I've offered here but, I assure you that my souces (more than one) are solid. That doesn't mean your contention that whoever reached out to SNC was "clueless", may not be true. They may very well have been. However, I'm confident that they were approached. You're also correct in your assertion that, at the moment, the WIAC schools probably need the NCHA schools more than vice versa. Although, the WIAC schools probably play just as many non-conference games versus MIAC schools then they do versus NCHA schools. The other piece to consider is IF the WIAC can convince one more team to join, that puts them at 7 teams and, if I recall correctly, returns their automatic NCAA birth? If not, I'm sure someone can correct me on that.

Finally, Northland's decision to move is very much about reducing costs as the school is facing very significant budget issues. Last spring the school dropped both the men's and women's cross country and golf programs, as well as closed the campus radio station. They also forced all staff and faculty to take a 7.5% pay cut while the vice-presidents took a 10% cut and the school president took a 12.5% cut. They have a much smaller endowment than the average private school and, in talking to some of the people involved, there is a real concern about the long term future of the school if they can't improve their ability to raise funds in a significant manner. Whereas Scholastica has recently added football and doesn't seem to have any issues with whatever travel expenses are incurred being in the NCHA. Here is a link to the Duluth News Tribune article from last may that outlines the concerns:

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/new...aking-big-cuts

If St. Norbert was approached at all it was probably done in a very informal manner, probably by another school looking to leave. Like Northland. If that qualifies, I guess you're technically correct. No one in an official capacity from the WIAC asked SNC formally. My sources have told me so. Northland leaving was probably indeed a good decision for Northland. My point all along is that for CSS, Finlandia, SNC or anyone else it's probably not a good idea. If CSS is trying to get into the MIAC, it's not a good move. If Finlandia had a bad experience (I emphasize IF) when they were an affiliate member of the WIAC in soccer, they won't think it's a good idea either. Just because the folks at Northland think it's a good idea for someone else to leave with them doesn't mean the people at the other schools think it's a good plan.

[jcase]

Re: WIAC adds Northland

The other piece to consider is IF the WIAC can convince one more team to join, that puts them at 7 teams and, if I recall correctly, returns their automatic NCAA birth? If not, I'm sure someone can correct me on that.

The WIAC never had an AQ berth to begin with so I'm fairly certain they'd need to be at 7 for two full seasons before getting an AQ in the same fashion that the UCHC (nee ECAC-W) is going through now.