Q & A with Ashwin and Dunphy

[Happy Fortune]

If you could ask La Salle’s new Athletic Director anything, what would you ask? Going to do an interview with him soon. Feel free to send your questions here and we will select the best ones to include.

Same with Fran. Ask away!

[JoeFedorowicz]

Does he have any concrete plans to improve the student experience and environment at home games?

[MisterD]

It’s un-askable because he couldn’t give an honest answer, but I’d love to know what he thinks our best realistic case scenario is ~5 years from now.

[giveansk1]

I don't really expect this to be answered but I'd be interested in knowing viability of some non-revenue sports going forward. How long is La Salle going to carry three more women's sports than men when they don't even have to for Title IX? Mostly I am still baffled that Women's Water Polo was added.

Where do they stand on NCAA Tournament expansion given the A10 is a one bid league most years in the current environment? How can the league improve its perception nationally?

[GlitterBro #2]

Sept 18, 2023 20:52:47 GMT -5 JoeFedorowicz said:

Does he have any concrete plans to improve the student experience OVERALL FAN EXPERIENCE (particularly for season ticket holders) and environment at home games?

FIFY

[MisterD]

Maybe something to increase engagement like an ugly christmas sweater contest?

[nyalum]

What steps are being taken to improve the quality of our ESPN+ broadcasts?

[GlitterBro #2]

Ask him the feasibility of bringing back baseball and starting men's lacrosse. While I understand the Title IX implications of such moves, both of those sports would generate significant tuition revenue that far outweighs their operating expenses.

I've had an accounting professor talk to me about the analysis of this for baseball and how it made no logical sense to eliminate the program based on number of scholarships and costs versus the number of players on the team mostly paying their own way and wanting to play D1 baseball.

[23won]

I have heard positive vibes that a baseball return could happen

[GlitterBro #2]

Elephant in the room that might not get answered...but it's worth asking. Fran will be 75 years old when the season starts. How long does he realistically envision coaching the team, and what is the school doing to groom or identify potential successors?

[MisterD]

Does anyone other than Duke actually do this?

[calsufan]

Sept 19, 2023 18:13:30 GMT -5 MisterD said:

Does anyone other than Duke actually do this?

North Carolina.

[belfieldhappyhour]

Sept 19, 2023 15:34:59 GMT -5 GlitterBro #2 said:

Ask him the feasibility of bringing back baseball and starting men's lacrosse. While I understand the Title IX implications of such moves, both of those sports would generate significant tuition revenue that far outweighs their operating expenses.

I've had an accounting professor talk to me about the analysis of this for baseball and how it made no logical sense to eliminate the program based on number of scholarships and costs versus the number of players on the team mostly paying their own way and wanting to play D1 baseball.

One of the guys that was trying save the team told me they were told that the school would have needed to add 75-85 women's sports participants to keep baseball. This was based on the Title IX formula for male/female student-athletes vs. male/female students. That's the key part of bringing baseball (or any sport) back, keeping that ratio where it needs to be.

[JoeFedorowicz]

Sept 19, 2023 15:34:59 GMT -5 GlitterBro #2 said:

I've had an accounting professor talk to me about the analysis of this for baseball and how it made no logical sense to eliminate the program based on number of scholarships and costs versus the number of players on the team mostly paying their own way and wanting to play D1 baseball.

I’m pretty sure he’s wrong. The way it was explained to me, the spring trip alone ensured that the program was a drain on the school. It’s an expensive sport. The team is big and traveling is costly. Umpires are expensive. The field we had was sub-standard. Good riddance.

[GlitterBro #2]

Max scholarships for a fully funded D1 baseball team is 11.7. Let's call it 12 (although I doubt the team was fully funded for scholarships) . If the team had 30 players, you're talking 18 paying tuition. That's about $600K in tuition revenue per year, not counting room and board and other revenue. That's also 30 kids who likely wouldn't be at La Salle otherwise. Did umpires (they make 200 to 400 a game depending on conference affiliation) and a spring trip via bus cost more than that a year?

[GlitterBro #2]

Sept 19, 2023 22:02:23 GMT -5 belfieldhappyhour said:

One of the guys that was trying save the team told me they were told that the school would have needed to add 75-85 women's sports participants to keep baseball. This was based on the Title IX formula for male/female student-athletes vs. male/female students. That's the key part of bringing baseball (or any sport) back, keeping that ratio where it needs to be.

That's the crux of it.  La Salle is about 35% male now in undergrad enrollment, and 65% female which means our athletic participation needs to be within that range as well to be Title IX compliant (there are exceptions if you offer a sport not widely available in your geographic area).

Last year the breakdown on male vs female participation on our roster was as follows (note...some athletes are rostered on both XC and track...not sure how that affects percentages, but this is close enough. I've made them separate sports since they are listed that way on our web site.):

• Men - 139 rostered athletes across 7 sports (~38% of the total athletes)
• Women - 228 rostered athletes across 10 sports (~62% of the total athletes)

Adding baseball AND softball would help, but the real kicker is the school needs to get more male undergrads to enroll and change the percentages. Getting male enrollment up to about 40% would allow adding baseball with no Title IX implications.

[explorer88]

The male to female ratio is astounding to me. What is the reason the men's student population has dropped so much and the women's has increased?

I truly don't know that answer.

[weston2]

Sept 18, 2023 20:52:47 GMT -5 JoeFedorowicz said:

Does he have any concrete plans to improve the student experience and environment at home games?

So if LaSalle is 2:1 women......how do you improve that experience. Hmmm, halftime, postgame shows.....Interesting.

[giveansk1]

Sept 20, 2023 7:49:11 GMT -5 explorer88 said:

The male to female ratio is astounding to me. What is the reason the men's student population has dropped so much and the women's has increased?

I truly don't know that answer.

I'd argue one factor is Title IX has caused less men to attend college. Another is women are typically more incentivized to go to college than men, because men have been have been shifting to jobs that don't require college. Women can make up more ground in wage gap by attending college.

[explorerburger]

It's a national trend that's been building for several years. I have a feeling I posted an article about it a year or so ago when we last had this discussion.

I have zero insight on the impact on Title IX, but there is a fair amount of analysis supporting the latter part of what giveansk1 says above.

EDIT: found the articles:

www.wsj.com/articles/college-university-fall-higher-education-men-women-enrollment-admissions-back-to-school-11630948233

www.brookings.edu/articles/the-male-college-crisis-is-not-just-in-enrollment-but-completion/#:~:text=Over%201.1%20million%20women%20received

[nyalum]

I would also ask what La Salle is doing to become more competitive with NIL compensation packages. In the meantime, I think we are doing the smart thing by utilizing the international route to complement domestic players.

[explorer88]

More of a question for Dunphy:

How do we become more of a factor in Philly recruiting? We no longer seem to be recruiting the city hard.

[glorydays]

Sept 20, 2023 7:49:11 GMT -5 explorer88 said:

The male to female ratio is astounding to me. What is the reason the men's student population has dropped so much and the women's has increased?

I truly don't know that answer.

If my old man were still alive, he would say “bring back the military draft and that would take care of the problem.” I wouldn’t agree with him but he would use that line to address almost every problem.

[hoopsguest]

Sept 20, 2023 10:53:51 GMT -5 explorer88 said:

More of a question for Dunphy:

How do we become more of a factor in Philly recruiting? We no longer seem to be recruiting the city hard.

A lot of kids want to get out of the city. Plus international kids probably less likely to transfer and also less NIL issues

[explorer88]

Sept 20, 2023 11:52:36 GMT -5 hoopsguest said:

Sept 20, 2023 10:53:51 GMT -5 explorer88 said:

More of a question for Dunphy:

How do we become more of a factor in Philly recruiting? We no longer seem to be recruiting the city hard.

A lot of kids want to get out of the city. Plus international kids probably less likely to transfer and also less NIL issues

Yes, should have extended it to local recruiting which would include the suburbs and South Jersey.

[JoeFedorowicz]

Sept 20, 2023 5:39:05 GMT -5 GlitterBro #2 said:

Did umpires (they make 200 to 400 a game depending on conference affiliation) and a spring trip via bus cost more than that a year?

bingo. And its not just this its jerseys and equipment and rides to all the games. But yes, this is why. Its cheaper to have women's water polo playing in the MAAC which doesn't have men's water polo.

[GlitterBro #2]

Sept 20, 2023 13:12:50 GMT -5 JoeFedorowicz said:

Sept 20, 2023 5:39:05 GMT -5 GlitterBro #2 said:

Did umpires (they make 200 to 400 a game depending on conference affiliation) and a spring trip via bus cost more than that a year?

bingo. And its not just this its jerseys and equipment and rides to all the games. But yes, this is why. Its cheaper to have women's water polo playing in the MAAC which doesn't have men's water polo.

OK. 

- Let's take a 50 game baseball schedule where La Salle pays half the umpire cost.  I'll go max rate of $400 with a full 4-umpire crew (doesn't always happen). That costs La Salle $40K for umpires.

- Uniforms and equipment- Let's go high end and say $2000 per player with a 30-man roster - adds another $60K. So we are up to $100K on equipment and umpires.

- Add another $100K for coaching staff (high figure for La Salle),  but we are ballparking this.

- If travel is below $400K...which I'm sure it is.... it's a money maker for the school, not to mention donations and fundraising on behalf of baseball and the affinity it brings for players to have "worn the jersey".

Would be curious to see your math that refutes baseball as a money maker.

[MisterD]

Field maintenance, coaching salaries, recruiting budget, etc, etc and that revenue number assumes all the non-scholarship players aren't getting any money and that there are no expenses associated with each student and its just all profit. I can't see any way we'd be even a break-even program.

[MisterD]

I imagine insurance too.

(We posted at the same time so some of it was said by both of us.)

[GlitterBro #2]

Add another $300K in revenue for room and board ($15K per player) for 2/3 of the players (assuming 1/3 live off campus). I'm sure the field maintenance and recruiting budgets are minor compared to this and other non-university sources of funding still are revenue to the university.