Looks like Swarthmore is going the way of NESCAC, which means the Centennial conference is in trouble, baseball wise. This assumes that no athletics will happen if all students can't be on campus that would normally be on campus.
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Smoke, Northwestern did the same for the first two quarters (juniors and seniors on campus). Most of the learning is remote. They are Big 10 for athletics. So...after the football decision, so far some version of all seasons is on.
Hope these D3 folks can do the same. I'm not sure I can hold my breath that long.
They have lost their minds. Many schools are managing fine, they have learned how to do it, why can't these other schools learn and manage?
I think the HA D3s are not likely to have athletics if they can't have everyone on campus because it wouldn't be received as equitable (prioritizing athletes over others who desire to be on campus) and they don't have the argument that they need the revenue from athletics. But unfortunately, athletes at D3s do make up a significant chunk of the student enrollment so they risk losing them too. The highest academics will always have a waitlist to get in though so probably not their biggest concern.
I live in NESCAC-land (New England) in an area where there are very few cases but it's on the rise and we're about to get shut inside for 6 months due to weather. I can see the arguments from both sides. People are paying significant $ for their kids to get a high worth degree, and want their kids on campus, but the small towns don't want the problems and the kids can't be locked down on campus forever. 20 cases in ones of these small towns with small hospitals and the threat of community spread is a problem, while it's just a blip at some universities elsewhere.
I'm not saying I like the situation, and several kids I know are affected and it is heartbreaking. I am just hard pressed to find fault with how either the families, kids or administrations are feeling about things and the decisions they have to make.
Last I checked, 70K cases on college campuses and 3 hospitalizations total.
That is just terrible news about the NESCAC. I believe in precautions and all the protocols but I think schools have gone off the rails. I think it all comes down to insurance and lawsuits. My son has a few offers on the table with DIIIs and I'm wondering what this means for incoming NESCAC recruits and if DIIIs are going to see total chaos and a flood of available players come back into the recruit pool. This process has been crazy enough and now it might get even crazier. I saw Swathmore also announced no spring sports for the school.
Son just got the call confirming the above: No spring athletics at all for Swat.
Tried to talk to him about it.
"Not now, Dad. I'm discombobulated."
Daggummit Smoke, sorry to hear that. The boys deserve better. Keep him off the ledge.
I'm sorry Smoke, and truly bummed for him and his teammates. This whole situation stinks and we can't get to the other side of it fast enough.
That stinks. I'm sorry.
My condolences too, Smoke. Not happy to hear this and it’s so unnecessary. I didn’t realize that PA was such a mess of a state. Politics seems to be placed ahead of the best interests of student athletes there, and a number of other states too. I find it very disappointing and discouraging about where our country seems to be headed.
So sorry, that’s terrible news. This has got to end.
Wow. Sorry to hear that. That’s not encouraging news for us on the west either.
That sucks. Sorry, Smoke.
SoCal, I'm not hearing anything that would give me hope, but still, the calculus is different in a warmer climate with schools all located close to each other. My opinion is that if the govt allows SCIAC schools to open, most of them will, and if they're open, they'll have spring sports.
... but then again I still believe in Santa and the tooth fairy.
Smoke, I hope your sons at least have summer plans for baseball, if that's what they want. What's so disorienting is that last summer didn't happen the way it was supposed to, so this is the 2019s' second college summer - sort of - possibly with only half a year of actual college ball.
@baseballhs posted:Last I checked, 70K cases on college campuses and 3 hospitalizations total.
I don't know where you got those stats but I would bet it's going to get worse.
@smokeminside posted:Son just got the call confirming the above: No spring athletics at all for Swat.
Tried to talk to him about it.
"Not now, Dad. I'm discombobulated."
Sorry 😐
Oh man @smokeminside I am so sorry!
@TPM posted:I don't know where you got those stats but I would bet it's going to get worse.
Andrew Bostom
@andrewbostom
1/ Campus C19 update, 10/5/20: Despite ~70K C19+ tests at 50 major universities, barely any reported hospitalizations (i.e., 3), & no deaths. (Tabulated below, with explanation, & more refs following tweet thread)
Not sure why you expect it to get worse. Most schools have already had a spike in cases. My son’s school had 500 at one time, now only 15. This does not effect college students the way it does the elderly. Because as a society we want to be woke, fair and safe. This is one of the craziest things I have ever witnessed we have no basis except for fear and that apparently is a good enough reason. I don't feel bad for kids at Swarthmore, they should be pissed off, they should express themselves as pissed and then they should decide if they want to make a change. if you aren't willing to make a change then you have nothing to whine about it.
Put your money were your mouth is, if Swarthmore loses 50% of the student body they will change, you can bet your ass on it. The arrogance of schools and the lack courage by consumers is mind blowing.
This from the stop whining, get better, the coach always knows what he is doing crowd - look in the damn mirror.
Old school, I agree with you but where are they gonna go if they want to play? I wouldn't be surprised if every other D3 school/conference makes the same decision, especially the so-called High Academic ones.
Actually I do feel bad for the kids at Swarthmore, but they should be pissed off. The truth is they made a choice to attend an awesome school but it is also an institution of liberal values that are not reasonable or real to the world we live in...they have some kind of utopia in the their little kingdom that allows them to act this way. It is sad that to some degree the kids are just pawns. My hope is that students become adults, they make millions and they shutdown the money flow to the school. You want change demand, alumni turn off the supply, new grads donate nothing...when they call and ask tell them grow up and establish normal operating methods and standards...there is nothing that changes systems faster then a unfunded budget! if you won't shut off the supply nothing will change.
With the cost of college some real consideration has to be given to development over four years of work versus college. You don’t have to go to college to be a programmer. You just have to be good.
We (had a software company with partners) hired a kid who walked into our office explaining computer science at UCLA was too damn easy and boring. He was a VP of development of a product line by the time he was twenty-three.
Sorry Smoke. I fear my son's school will follow suit shortly. With both our kids being seniors -- just so unfair the final two years of their baseball careers were stolen from them. Its hard for me to get my head around the fact that I may have seen my kid's last game .... 18 months ago.
Big, painful lesson in not taking anything for granted.
I feel really bad for the Swarthmore kids and everybody else that is missing out on college sports & competition. It is hard for me to think back 40 years ago, but I loved being a college athlete. I absolutely loved practices and I loved working out and partying with my teammates. I know my oldest son felt the same way about his college teammates although I know he did far less partying than his old man. Our college lineup was made up of a rag-tag bunch guys that were so different from each other, but enjoyed each others company. I still stay in touch with many of them. While the college baseball competition may have come to a halt or pause due to Covid, I hope there is a silver lining somewhere within the team that they can enjoy each other's company going through this together.
Best of luck to all, and stay safe.
@baseballhs posted:Andrew Bostom@andrewbostom1/ Campus C19 update, 10/5/20: Despite ~70K C19+ tests at 50 major universities, barely any reported hospitalizations (i.e., 3), & no deaths. (Tabulated below, with explanation, & more refs following tweet thread)
@TPM, you will find Dr Bostom's completely objective COVID research next to his scholarly tweets about Hunter Biden. His extensive survey of 50 colleges (of the 5,300 in the U.S.) counted all hospitalizations from college dashboards... where many don't even report hospitalizations, plus those that report as a percentage (1 in 300 = 0%).
Yes, every rational person knows that 20 year-olds are very unlikely to be hospitalized or die from COVID-19. But these schools also have employees to consider; around 1 for every 4-6 students. They are also partners in their communities where those students live, shop, eat, etc. It would be wonderful if there were easy answers to this problem but there aren't any. Losing a year of sports will be personally devastating for many students, but most people who work in higher academics don't hold athletics in that same high regard.
@MidAtlanticDad posted:@TPM, you will find Dr Bostom's completely objective COVID research next to his scholarly tweets about Hunter Biden. His extensive survey of 50 colleges (of the 5,300 in the U.S.) counted all hospitalizations from college dashboards... where many don't even report hospitalizations, plus those that report as a percentage (1 in 300 = 0%).
Yes, every rational person knows that 20 year-olds are very unlikely to be hospitalized or die from COVID-19. But these schools also have employees to consider; around 1 for every 4-6 students. They are also partners in their communities where those students live, shop, eat, etc. It would be wonderful if there were easy answers to this problem but there aren't any. Losing a year of sports will be personally devastating for many students, but most people who work in higher academics don't hold athletics in that same high regard.
I believe all these dashboards include faculty and staff. All the ones I look at have that information. My son's school is not on the list you referenced, 8 positive test out of 20k given, no professors or staff. The partners in the community could be impacted, it's possible but they could also be out of business. If colleges and universities are testing weekly and isolating those with Covid isn't that good for the community? I guess they could be in other communities not testing and infecting people. Trying to impune someone by mentioning they are commenting on Hunter Biden is weak. Data is data, go refute the data, not the compiler. Go to those sites and point out where the sites don't list hospitalizations and then attack the data as incomplete.
This isn’t the only report with this info. We have zero hospitalizations at my sons school and all staff have gotten it off campus. Hold tightly to fear if you choose. I’m also surprised the Hunter tweets made it... I thought Twitter was censoring any negative Biden press.
3 is a ridiculous number. I know of two and I don't know that many college kids. One of my kid's teammates has had a really bad time with it and has been hospitalized twice. Once during his bout with covid and then he was in the ICU with bacterial pneumonia. The other was in and out.
What the colleges do is not "political" at all, in the sense that they are doing what they are doing to make some kind of political point. They are responding to their employees and their customers, and trying to make decisions that are in their best financial interests. In this, they are no different from any other business. The schools that are cancelling spring sports are either (a) public schools (as in the Pennsylvania and Georgia threads) that can barely afford them anyway and don't need them to recruit students, and (b) the ultra-selective schools with 10 applicants for every spot and huge endowments, who will fill their classes no matter what the athletes think. I can understand what they are doing, while at the same time thinking they are wrong and bitterly resenting it for the impact it has on my son.
Students coming home for the holidays can cause further outbreaks as well.
Let’s think about all people here.
@Gunner Mack Jr. posted:I believe all these dashboards include faculty and staff. All the ones I look at have that information. My son's school is not on the list you referenced, 8 positive test out of 20k given, no professors or staff. The partners in the community could be impacted, it's possible but they could also be out of business. If colleges and universities are testing weekly and isolating those with Covid isn't that good for the community? I guess they could be in other communities not testing and infecting people. Trying to impune someone by mentioning they are commenting on Hunter Biden is weak. Data is data, go refute the data, not the compiler. Go to those sites and point out where the sites don't list hospitalizations and then attack the data as incomplete.
It's not weak when both are true. Dr Bostom has an agenda, and his analysis is flawed. The first school on his list (U of Alabama) doesn't report hospitalizations. And is every student who gets sick and goes home to a hospital reporting that to the school? We don't know if that number is zero or non-zero, because there's no reporting system for any of this. The post here said, "70K cases on college campuses and 3 hospitalizations total." That's not even accurately representing Dr Bostom's data, but that's how this type of information gets whispered down the lane when the source attracts confirmation bias.
But again, I am not disputing that the majority of college students are at extremely low risk of hospitalization and death from COVID-19. But you can't have it both ways.. you can't say that colleges are overreacting but also reacting properly. I think most are managing this pretty well, but in no small part due to restrictions that so many people think should be removed. There's no simple way to mitigate the impact of this pandemic on businesses, including the universities. There is a trade-off between college students having a "normal" college experience (including supporting the local economy), and how many people get infected (and how sick they get). That's a very difficult balancing act.
The political part isn’t necessarily the universities themselves, but the professors pushing for virtual only, are for the most part very vocal and very political.
Would small liberal arts D3 colleges have sports if the market didn't force them to? It costs them money, it goes against the grain of what they are about academically, and many NARP students resent seeing athletes get preferred admissions.
If they had a chance to flip the question to "Should we add sports next year?", as they do now, would they? Could this be the beginning of the end of D3 sports?
@MidAtlanticDad posted:It's not weak when both are true. Dr Bostom has an agenda, and his analysis is flawed. The first school on his list (U of Alabama) doesn't report hospitalizations. And is every student who gets sick and goes home to a hospital reporting that to the school? We don't know if that number is zero or non-zero, because there's no reporting system for any of this. The post here said, "70K cases on college campuses and 3 hospitalizations total." That's not even accurately representing Dr Bostom's data, but that's how this type of information gets whispered down the lane when the source attracts confirmation bias.
But again, I am not disputing that the majority of college students are at extremely low risk of hospitalization and death from COVID-19. But you can't have it both ways.. you can't say that colleges are overreacting but also reacting properly. I think most are managing this pretty well, but in no small part due to restrictions that so many people think should be removed. There's no simple way to mitigate the impact of this pandemic on businesses, including the universities. There is a trade-off between college students having a "normal" college experience (including supporting the local economy), and how many people get infected (and how sick they get). That's a very difficult balancing act.
To be fair it is still weak to impune data because you say someone has an agenda. At least in this reply, you point out what you believe are flaws in the data with examples, IE Alabama. If your first reply focused on data inaccuracies vs attacking the person who compiled the data I think most people would have been enlightened. I agree with you on confirmation bias, people seek out data that supports their view all the time.
@PTWood posted:Smoke, Northwestern did the same for the first two quarters (juniors and seniors on campus). Most of the learning is remote. They are Big 10 for athletics. So...after the football decision, so far some version of all seasons is on.
PT....true, except for: Freshman and Soph athletes ... I have a friend whose son is Freshman Ballplayer; he is on campus at the school.
@baseballhs posted:Andrew Bostom@andrewbostom1/ Campus C19 update, 10/5/20: Despite ~70K C19+ tests at 50 major universities, barely any reported hospitalizations (i.e., 3), & no deaths. (Tabulated below, with explanation, & more refs following tweet thread)
There are only 50 schools. UF had about 3k cases reported in March. Schools now are having to close down football schedules, with staff and athletes infected. This poses an issue with staff bringing home covid. UF just cancelled with LSU. It's not just players anymore but staff. Nick Saban a good exmple COVID. These programs have the best care, they have facilities to quarantine players in, if a school has a medical program, guess where they go, and it's not reported.
If they are having trouble how does a program that has limited funds handle this virus?
Yes we know that younger folks don't get as sick but they still pass on the virus.
In a few weeks won't students be heading home to family for the holidays?
Also, it is with my understanding that reported cases in college gets reported to their state of residence.
@MidAtlanticDad posted:@TPM, you will find Dr Bostom's completely objective COVID research next to his scholarly tweets about Hunter Biden. His extensive survey of 50 colleges (of the 5,300 in the U.S.) counted all hospitalizations from college dashboards... where many don't even report hospitalizations, plus those that report as a percentage (1 in 300 = 0%).
Yes, every rational person knows that 20 year-olds are very unlikely to be hospitalized or die from COVID-19. But these schools also have employees to consider; around 1 for every 4-6 students. They are also partners in their communities where those students live, shop, eat, etc. It would be wonderful if there were easy answers to this problem but there aren't any. Losing a year of sports will be personally devastating for many students, but most people who work in higher academics don't hold athletics in that same high regard.
Haven't seen any reports of students or staff overwhelming hospitals or having any significant issues other than the initial positives. Can you post some?
The study citing only 3 hospitalizations and 0 deaths is obviously incomplete:
@Smitty28 posted:Would small liberal arts D3 colleges have sports if the market didn't force them to? It costs them money, it goes against the grain of what they are about academically, and many NARP students resent seeing athletes get preferred admissions.
If they had a chance to flip the question to "Should we add sports next year?", as they do now, would they? Could this be the beginning of the end of D3 sports?
NYTimes had an article about this just a few days ago:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/1...archResultPosition=1
It seems to go against the cutthroat recruit-and-play ethos that we all espouse on here. My older son played club ultimate frisbee at college. Now, those guys are athletes, they run for 4 straight hours a day during tournaments. Took fall and spring trips, got to beat Arizona State (how many baseball sons have done that?!), trained all year. He managed their money for one year, learned a lot about budgets, planning, etc. Their main problem was getting field access, as the varsity teams had priority.
https://www.nytimes.com/intera...e-cases-tracker.html
Let it completely load.
AP, you beat me to it on the other article.
@TerribleBPthrower posted:Haven't seen any reports of students or staff overwhelming hospitals or having any significant issues other than the initial positives. Can you post some?
Why are you asking me for supporting documentation of a statement I didn't make?
If you'd like read about major universities sending kids home, closing dorms, quarantining students, etc. in response to outbreaks in order to prevent those significant issues, you can easily find many examples of that.
@MidAtlanticDad posted:Yes, every rational person knows that 20 year-olds are very unlikely to be hospitalized or die from COVID-19. But these schools also have employees to consider; around 1 for every 4-6 students. They are also partners in their communities where those students live, shop, eat, etc. It would be wonderful if there were easy answers to this problem but there aren't any. Losing a year of sports will be personally devastating for many students, but most people who work in higher academics don't hold athletics in that same high regard.
Appalachian State just recently had a healthy basketball player die of Covid, so that CAN happen, too.
ETA: link to an article about the Appalachian State athlete's death that also reported two other college student deaths linked to Covid, including one football player:
https://www.insidehighered.com...rsity-call-adherence
Not saying it's going to happen often. Just saying it can happen, and has.
@Smitty28 posted:Would small liberal arts D3 colleges have sports if the market didn't force them to? It costs them money, it goes against the grain of what they are about academically, and many NARP students resent seeing athletes get preferred admissions.
This is a good question that doesn't get talked about enough. Heres my take...
I don't think it actually sets them back at all. Let's take Swarthmore for example, hovering around 70k a year in tuition. 37 rostered players last year + what I would assume is a few more who were cut. The baseball team alone is bringing in over 2.5 million to the school. They're probably operating on a budget of less than $250k.
The thing is it's almost necessary. There is some academic leeway for the best athletes, but the athletes at these schools are top students as well. If they were to cancel sports and Tufts doesn't, now you have good students who will choose another option. The goal is to make the school as attractive as possible to lure top students in. Certain extracurriculars make the school appealing. Radio club, LGBT, frats, philanthropy, etc. Baseball is no different. The idea is that if School A has a better reputation than school B, but school B has better sports. School B can lure the better student away from school A.
Now the argument against is that those student athlete spots would be filled by regular students and that is probably true. But they are regular students who probably would not have been accepted to the school, making them their second rate students taking away from the academic reputation of the school.
Regular students complaining about admissions when it comes to D2/3 schools have a leg to stand on. But at selective schools there may only be 3 or 4 kids who get thru admissions. At non selective schools, they can't complain because the school isn't selective to begin with. It's not an argument they're going to win and the argument has more to do with their disdain for athletes than it does the admission slots.
I don't think cutting sports is the way to go. I think saying - we're not going to travel more than X miles and only do 3 hotel stays a year - has to be the new way to go for schools with budget problems.
Many of the athletes at “non selective” schools would be at other places without...by the Way “non selective” is about as arrogant as it gets. Reference D1 bottom feeders referring to D3 players as rec level guys.
What other word do you want to use than "selective"? You yourself have said that many schools need sports to attract students. There's a big difference between that, and schools that admit 10% of their applicants - they don't need the athletes to fill their classes, they choose (select) to have them.
PA,
I agree with your logic and hope you are right. I think sports adds a great dimension to the college experience, whether you play or just walk past the field, court, pool or whatever. Sport brings life to a campus.
However, we're seeing a strange race to shut down that started in March with Patriot and Ivy spring sports, then spread all the way to P5 football (thank heavens for the SEC and ACC for taking a stand and saying "enough"), and is continuing to spread to various D3 baseball leagues for next year. Then Lasalle eliminates baseball. It seems like the smaller schools in particular are falling all over themselves to shed sports. I can only imagine that the conversations going on in college presidents' offices are more focused on "why keep sports" rather than "why cancel sports".
I don't mean to belabor the thoughts re: athletes getting preferential admissions treatment at some of the HA schools, but since there's gonna be no collegiate baseball for my two guys this spring, what the hell.
I just want to confirm PA Baseballs thoughts on athletes who actually get in to these schools and add some details.
Even if the coach gets 5-7 slots each year the fact is only ONE of them is going to be in the 25%tile or lower statistically (for grades and test scores). The rest are all just as qualified, in the school's eyes, as any other top end admit. These schools could fill their classes by admitting only 1600 SATs and 4.0 students. But they don't just go after those kids because they're trying to appeal to a broader range of students. And those admitted kids-- athletes, musicians, theater kids, bonsai tree experts, and daughters of food truck vendors--are pretty sharp in their own right.
I am amazed at how talented my sons' teammates are when it comes to their academics. My older boy's fellow senior ball players include two future NASA scientists (one of whom is the team's leading hitter), a molecular spectroscopy and quantum chemistry scientist (starting pitcher), two guys landing positions with NYC financial firms older than the school (another starting pitcher and his battery mate) , and two other guys (both starters) ending up at top end private equity firms in Boston. They're a very tight group of guys all living in a big house two hours from campus, studying remotely and working out in the basement gym. Grinders all.
These guys were not admitted to Amherst (nor were players at any other school like it) just because of baseball.
I've been trying to understand why losing baseball is painful beyond its proportion. I'll get back to you on that.
@old_school posted:Many of the athletes at “non selective” schools would be at other places without...by the Way “non selective” is about as arrogant as it gets. Reference D1 bottom feeders referring to D3 players as rec level guys.
There's nothing wrong with saying schools are more selective than others. Maybe instead of non selective I should have said less selective, but I thought my point would get across either way.
I don't care what the acceptance rate of your college is, you're either a competent functioning member of society or you're not. Arrogance not intended, I don't care if you go to Harvard or Southeast Northwest State. I resent the looking down on schools from both a baseball and academic perspective.
The reason that HA D3 schools have athletics in the first place is because it rounds a person out and makes them more attractive to potential employers. I was with my son during the process of picking a school and we visited CalTech. They were not a good team at the time and I asked the coach -- why does the school keep investing in baseball? The feedback was then echoed elsewhere... Job recruiters like the athletes coming out of these high academic schools far better than other students because they knew how to work together with other people. They understood how to compete, how to fail and how to win. HA school compete on their ability to place students into jobs or grad school.
Except for the .05% of baseball players on this board -- the rest are going to stop playing after 4 years of college. The entire point point is to have fun, to grow as an adult and be better prepared for the next 40 years of their life in the working world. Which in my opinion (I have a senior ballplayer at a HA D3) -- baseball has been wonderful at helping him get ready for the real world.
What I don't get is if colleges can justify football -- where players get up close and personal every 30 seconds for three hours... how can they say baseball isn't safe. Granted, I get that its about $$ to the P5 schools.
Im just super pissed that we are in October and making decisions about what's going to happen in March and I am really worried fear is the reason he may be robbed of his last year playing ball. I hope his school administration doesn't follow Swarthmore's lead.
Just my opinion.
Very sorry to hear that, Smoke.
@MAM posted:What I don't get is if colleges can justify football -- where players get up close and personal every 30 seconds for three hours... how can they say baseball isn't safe. Granted, I get that its about $$ to the P5 schools.
This is just my observation, something I have said before.
In these times, it's not just about putting players on a field. It takes a lot of planning day in and day out to keep players safe and a LOT of continuous testing. And players have to be seperated from the general school population. I think that a lot of baseball programs have learned from football programs but that isn't always going to work out. Once the masks come off, in any sport, cases rise. And then you have to make a plan for quarantine. You can test and come out negative and feel sick that day. Plans and schedules change daily due to who is positive and who is negative.
If schools have not taken the time to work out a viable plan this fall, they can't send out the players on the field in spring. It's not that simple. If you have less than 30 players on a team and half are sick you can't practice, you can't play. It's frustrating.
Look how crazy football has become, hard to get games in.
So if schools have not gotten in full practice or games, how can you play in the spring?
I might be wrong, are HA D3 practicing? Are D3 schools in session practicing, testing?
@MAM posted:The reason that HA D3 schools have athletics in the first place is because it rounds a person out and makes them more attractive to potential employers.
I hear what you're saying, but I don't buy that for a second. A lot of programs have had sports since the early 1900s, I would say it's more rooted in tradition for many and that it is an extracurricular provided to potential students.
CalTech would also be the extreme example. They barely have enough kids to field a team
Hey TPM -- Can't say for certain but at least at my son's school in Iowa -- they are doing small group practices/bullpens/scrimmages.
PA, personally I'd rather see a well round kid from a HA than a super book smart kid only when I am hiring. I don't care if they are from clubs, ultimate, or sports. The point is the same. HAs know that today's hiring managers want more well rounded kids.
Amherst is practicing in small groups. I think Middlebury is the same. Gov? Swarthmore is not, but Coach Midkiff has managed to schedule a camp this weekend for prospective players. In Delaware. He gets most of his recruits through his two fall camps so it's encouraging, in the long run, that he's keeping them going.
@TPM posted:I might be wrong, are HA D3 practicing? Are D3 schools in session practicing, testing?
My sons HA D3 is not practicing. There are no students on campus and everyone is online.
The coaches sent workout plans for the players to follow as best they can while at home. They also sent out one of those bat swing gizmo's to all the hitters that tracks your swing. They have weekly zoom calls and discuss how their swings look and what to possibly try working on.
@smokeminside posted:Amherst is practicing in small groups. I think Middlebury is the same. Gov? Swarthmore is not, but Coach Midkiff has managed to schedule a camp this weekend for prospective players. In Delaware. He gets most of his recruits through his two fall camps so it's encouraging, in the long run, that he's keeping them going.
Doesn't Amherst have a bubble attached to one dorm that is housing those on campus?
Quick clarifying update -- At Grinnell -- there are 10+ seniors living right off campus in two houses. They are the only one practicing together and are self-organizing their practices with direction/plans given remotely from the coaching staff. The campus is still closed with no one in the dorms.
@MAM posted:PA, personally I'd rather see a well round kid from a HA than a super book smart kid only when I am hiring. I don't care if they are from clubs, ultimate, or sports. The point is the same. HAs know that today's hiring managers want more well rounded kids.
A cousin of mine graduated PBK from (as she calls it) one of the more prestigious Ivies. Her brother, his wife and my daughter each graduated from one of those “less prestigious” Ivies. She’s incredibly book smart. But she couldn’t find her way of a paper bag if pointed towards the daylight. She’s also the least successful professionally of all of us.
Holy Cross just now from President: I want to reiterate that only serious community and state public health concerns will prevent us from being together on campus this spring. To understand any such concerns, we are monitoring the following metrics and trends, and how they relate to each other.
Holy Cross pulled the bait and switch in August (last minute) and the President has decided to retire after the school year perhaps from pressure. I know he got a flood of negative emails (and yes some support). This is such welcome news. What about Patriot League baseball? I hope they play but this is my daughter's school. I will come up to watch some stud Sophomore pitchers however and then head about 40 minutes east to watch my son play for his D3 if his shoulder improves....
If Holy Cross goes back everyone should. They are super conservative.
@Gunner Mack Jr. posted:Holy Cross just now from President: I want to reiterate that only serious community and state public health concerns will prevent us from being together on campus this spring. To understand any such concerns, we are monitoring the following metrics and trends, and how they relate to each other.
Holy Cross pulled the bait and switch in August (last minute) and the President has decided to retire after the school year perhaps from pressure. I know he got a flood of negative emails (and yes some support). This is such welcome news. What about Patriot League baseball? I hope they play but this is my daughter's school. I will come up to watch some stud Sophomore pitchers however and then head about 40 minutes east to watch my son play for his D3 if his shoulder improves....
If Holy Cross goes back everyone should. They are super conservative.
I have a feeling that the NCAA will change practice and start dates for all spring sports, if all goes well in the upcoming months, with infection rates.
JMO
@TPM posted:I have a feeling that the NCAA will change practice and start dates for all spring sports, if all goes well in the upcoming months, with infection rates.
JMO
Do you think they will push back the entire season, including conference tournaments and CWS? Or start later but end on time with a shortened season? It would seem pretty disruptive to push the season into June or even July - summer ball, internships, etc would be impacted.
@Gunner Mack Jr. posted:Holy Cross just now from President: I want to reiterate that only serious community and state public health concerns will prevent us from being together on campus this spring. To understand any such concerns, we are monitoring the following metrics and trends, and how they relate to each other.
Holy Cross pulled the bait and switch in August (last minute) and the President has decided to retire after the school year perhaps from pressure. I know he got a flood of negative emails (and yes some support). This is such welcome news. What about Patriot League baseball? I hope they play but this is my daughter's school. I will come up to watch some stud Sophomore pitchers however and then head about 40 minutes east to watch my son play for his D3 if his shoulder improves....
If Holy Cross goes back everyone should. They are super conservative.
I actually give HC a pass on the August audible. I think they earnestly wanted the kids back on campus then were over-ruled by data or "authorities". It is easier to justify the cost when the kids are there. They could have been more forthright by acknowledging that Zoom classes are inferior. I was one of those who emailed the President pointing out that if online learning is so good, there is no reason to ever come back to campus. But as far as the switcheroo, the decision is a thankless one, damned if you do, damned if you don't.
The baseball team has canceled its UNC Wilmington and Florida pre-season series and will likely cancel University of Houston. They hope to play some non-conference games against other nearby teams. If there are no non-conference games, Patriot League coaches have discussed the possibility of two four-game series against each other for a total of 40 games.
I am very hopeful that at least the baseball team and other spring teams are on campus. Basketball and other winter teams are on campus and it seems to have gone ok. The plan is for basketball games begin in January, I think only league games.
@Texas1836 posted:I actually give HC a pass on the August audible. I think they earnestly wanted the kids back on campus then were over-ruled by data or "authorities". It is easier to justify the cost when the kids are there. They could have been more forthright by acknowledging that Zoom classes are inferior. I was one of those who emailed the President pointing out that if online learning is so good, there is no reason to ever come back to campus. But as far as the switcheroo, the decision is a thankless one, damned if you do, damned if you don't.
I give them an F+ for August bait and switch. The plus is for what you point out, damned if you do and damned if you don't. Let's we just agree we will give them a low pass grade..... I hope they play in spring sports too.
@Smitty28 posted:Do you think they will push back the entire season, including conference tournaments and CWS? Or start later but end on time with a shortened season? It would seem pretty disruptive to push the season into June or even July - summer ball, internships, etc would be impacted.
I had this discussion with a friend of mine whose son is also a coach, but in Ohio. We both agreed that the season may cut out the first month, as that is when cold weather programs fly out every weekend. That would shorten the season games. I am assuming it's a discussion that's already happening. We were having fun putting teams together...lol. Boredom.
I think that conference schedules will also be aligned as to geographical locations. For example, FAU would play FIU twice, UNC Charlotte might play OD twice. UTSA might play Rice twice, Southern Miss, La Tech, just some possibilities. I believe that other conferences are working on the same premise. They HAVE to have a plan, not just business as usual. Probably would be a minimum to play conference championship.
Regardless, things will change, and it might not be just for next year.
JMO
I had to go into the city (Boston) yesterday for a doctor appointment. Massachusetts a very deep blue state. Boston is an even deeper blue city. The Boston Globe provides nothing but doom, gloom and death every day in the paper.
I decided to hang out in the city walking around. I hadn’t walked around since March. I walked from the North End to Mass Ave (almost to Kenmore Square) and back. In total I probably walked seven or eight miles.
Just so you know the mindset of the city in four hours of walking around I only saw four people without masks. Three or four times people yelled at me for not wearing a mask even though I wasn’t within ten feet of anyone.
I laugh when I think I live in the most Republican congressional district (North Shore/Cape Ann) in the state. It’s only D+6. The D+6 doesn’t count all the registered Independents who consistently vote Democrat. Seth Mouton won in 2018 D+34.
I could register in District One in North Massachusetts, err Maine where the incumbent Democrat only won D+26.
Nescac HC saying 90% spring canceled. Majority of 2022 and 2023’s plan to gap year and reclassify. They’ll play ball in the summer and intern in the fall.
The majority of these boys hope to play as graduate transfers.
I’m encouraging snowboarding skiing in March.
live life once.
next
What I am hearing is that IF (a big IF) we play a season -- we will not have our typical Midwest D3 spring break trip to Florida or AZ. We will also only play teams that are within driving range -- so no overnights. I wonder what this will do to NCAA qualifying (if that even happens at D3 level this year) and the tournament.
Look -- If I could have one answered prayer... its that my senior son gets to play something that looks and/or feels close to a season one more time. Heck, even one more competitive game. The ending of last season was so sudden, so abrupt that is it feels wildly unfair. Yes, life at time is unfair... still. And if they need to cancel the season -- I hope they wait until the 11th hour to cancel anything.
@MAM posted:What I am hearing is that IF (a big IF) we play a season -- we will not have our typical Midwest D3 spring break trip to Florida or AZ. We will also only play teams that are within driving range -- so no overnights. I wonder what this will do to NCAA qualifying (if that even happens at D3 level this year) and the tournament.
Look -- If I could have one answered prayer... its that my senior son gets to play something that looks and/or feels close to a season one more time. Heck, even one more competitive game. The ending of last season was so sudden, so abrupt that is it feels wildly unfair. Yes, life at time is unfair... still. And if they need to cancel the season -- I hope they wait until the 11th hour to cancel anything.
The school as well as conference more than likely are submitting plans which would include post season.
Students hate online classes. My guess is that if colleges don't provide things that make being a student worthwhile, large numbers will not enroll in the spring - and not just the athletes. Unless you're about to graduate, or you have financial aid that is better than a job (and maybe many do), why pay money for more online classes?
MAM, I really hope your son gets to play some baseball, even if it's not a normal season.
@TPM posted:The school as well as conference more than likely are submitting plans which would include post season.
Plans are great. I know that my son's school has plans for the Spring. I also know that the AD and the league have plans. They had them for the fall too. The question is will the county(s) allow them to implement their plans in the spring. It's up to them, or, as permission is based on metrics like the daily rate of new infections, arguably it's up to the residents of the county and the everyday choices they make.
@JCG posted:Plans are great. I know that my son's school has plans for the Spring. I also know that the AD and the league have plans. They had them for the fall too. The question is will the county(s) allow them to implement their plans in the spring. It's up to them, or, as permission is based on metrics like the daily rate of new infections, arguably it's up to the residents of the county and the everyday choices they make.
So from doing my homework, I found a plan FAU submitted to the state of Florida to reopen in August. Then I heard that each sport had to submit plans to the AD and President.
Then I suppose that plans went to the city and county, which just recently recently went into phase 2 (Palm Beach County). The 3 South Florida counties are still very strict about wearing masks almost everywhere due to our senior population, even outside when not within 6 feet.
Despite what you hear about out Governor, cities and counties determine what's best for each. So not sure what your schools community would require.
I heard a podcast that Head Coach gave in the spring about the plans that were submitted to conference.
@MAM posted:What I am hearing is that IF (a big IF) we play a season -- we will not have our typical Midwest D3 spring break trip to Florida or AZ. We will also only play teams that are within driving range -- so no overnights. I wonder what this will do to NCAA qualifying (if that even happens at D3 level this year) and the tournament.
I think TPM is correct that the school / conference likely submitting plans for the postseason. My son's school, D3 too, was telling the kids that outside of playing conference games they will look to add other local D3's for NCAA qualifying purposes.
@Gunner Mack Jr. posted:I think TPM is correct that the school / conference likely submitting plans for the postseason. My son's school, D3 too, was telling the kids that outside of playing conference games they will look to add other local D3's for NCAA qualifying purposes.
The coaches have to submit to their conference for approval who submits it to their NCAA division chair. I would bet it's already done by most.
Swarthmore's athletics news just keeps getting worse and worse. Women's basketball coach (female) accused of abusive behavior, both sexual and otherwise. Athletic Director resigns abruptly. Baseball coach sends families note reassuring them about cutting sports (none anticipated) but also acknowledging that that 21-22 baseball roster will be bigger than usual.
Ugh, Ugh, Ugh.
@Smitty28 posted:PA,
I agree with your logic and hope you are right. I think sports adds a great dimension to the college experience, whether you play or just walk past the field, court, pool or whatever. Sport brings life to a campus.
However, we're seeing a strange race to shut down that started in March with Patriot and Ivy spring sports, then spread all the way to P5 football (thank heavens for the SEC and ACC for taking a stand and saying "enough"), and is continuing to spread to various D3 baseball leagues for next year. Then Lasalle eliminates baseball. It seems like the smaller schools in particular are falling all over themselves to shed sports. I can only imagine that the conversations going on in college presidents' offices are more focused on "why keep sports" rather than "why cancel sports".
SEC wasn't going to leave the $$$ on the table.
https://www.cbssports.com/coll...r-school-in-2018-19/
Alabama 2019 Budget
La Salle 2019
@smokeminside posted:Swarthmore's athletics news just keeps getting worse and worse. Women's basketball coach (female) accused of abusive behavior, both sexual and otherwise. Athletic Director resigns abruptly. Baseball coach sends families note reassuring them about cutting sports (none anticipated) but also acknowledging that that 21-22 baseball roster will be bigger than usual.
Ugh, Ugh, Ugh.
Wow!