Breaking: La Salle Adds Four Varsity Sports

[JoeFedorowicz]

goexplorers.com/news/2024/4/16/general-la-salle-university-announces-addition-of-four-varsity-sport-programs.aspx


Women's rugby
Women's acrobatics and tumbling
Women's triathlon
Baseball

[golasalle]

La Salle announces addition of four varsity sports including return of baseball

[JoeFedorowicz]

I was for getting rid of baseball but word is that they crushed the data, got the donations and are bringing it back to boost enrollment. I hope they do something better with the field and make it not-multi-use. Doesn't need to seat 10k people.

[lasallejohn]

LFG

[thelasallelunatic]

Let's go

[Gnocchi]

Apr 17, 2024 10:22:55 GMT -5 JoeFedorowicz said:

I was for getting rid of baseball but word is that they crushed the data, got the donations and are bringing it back to boost enrollment. I hope they do something better with the field and make it not-multi-use. Doesn't need to seat 10k people.

With a 5th covid year, might there be a shot at a baseball attendance renaissance by reinstalling the DP combination of Dunphy and Bradshaw?

[explorer88]

Wow. I get the baseball program and glad to have it back. Are the women sports that attractive or is this a Title IX thing?

[coqui900]

I just looked up acrobatics and tumbling and WTF? Do your self a favor and go down a wormhole. I am going to go to home meets for those.

Only regret is I wish we had women’s
Volleyball back. If any sport is primed to become the next big thing, it’s that.

I am glad baseball is back. I love college baseball. Would love to go to a regional if we ever win the A-10.

[blueandgold]

Should also highlight the enhancements to cheer and dance programs and addition of band program. Love love love this.

[thelasallelunatic]

Apr 17, 2024 10:37:30 GMT -5 coqui900 said:

I just looked up acrobatics and tumbling and WTF? Do your self a favor and go down a wormhole. I am going to go to home meets for those.

Only regret is I wish we had women’s
Volleyball back. If any sport is primed to become the next big thing, it’s that.

I am glad baseball is back. I love college baseball. Would love to go to a regional if we ever win the A-10.

I agree with you on all accounts. My 7 year old daughter has been begging me to put her in tumbling and gymnastics, but between soccer and softball, the time is limited.

[big5explorer]

Love to see this.

Though I don’t quite get the addition of the 3 women’s sports specifically, I assume this is a well thought-out decision.

Of all of these, its great to see that some effort will be going into bolstering dance, cheer and the band.

Feels like forward movement for the University.

[sweat83]

Why would you add Women's Triathlon, and not Men's? I would think you can employ the same coaching staff for both (if you really actually need a coaching staff). And no additional training facility is needed for the sport. Would seem like a slam dunk to include both.

[coqui900]

All three women's sports are considered NCAA Emerging Sports for Women. Basically, these are women's sports the NCAA is considering making officially under the banner but they don't yet have an official NCAA Championship. They need to have a certain amount of teams playing in the sport before they become an officially recognized NCAA sport. A bunch of women's sports (water polo, ice hockey, bowling) started as emerging sports before they became official NCAA events.

I have no idea how it works with scholarships or Title IX or the like.

But man the tumbling stuff is incredible.

[las71]

I'm particularly glad about the Band. Certainly adds to the game day experience.

[1863]

This is unexpected, fantastic news!

I love what Dr. Allen has done so far. It's extremely rare that you get a level-headed administrator.

I'm particularly happy about baseball and the band.

"Allen emphasized the importance of building a vibrant campus life experience, which took a hit during the pandemic and has been slow to return.

“We have to bring that back,” he said."

He's absolutely correct. La Salle was begining to resemble a carcass.

[roaddog77]

I’m glad the baseball program is back. It nothing like watching us play and drinking a cold one. Most of my friends at LaSalle were baseball players. Hopefully in the future, the baseball field be renovated. I hope that not much to ask for.

[giveansk1]

I would really love to know how the math works to bring these sports on. Presumably you aren't handing out much in the way of scholarships and you are bringing up enrollments and this somehow outpaces the costs of carrying non revenue sports. I assume La Salle leadership sees an opportunity while other competing colleges are contracting sports.

Baseball was finally good when they cut them, but happy for those involved that its back. The band would be a nice add to basketball games.

[GlitterBro #2]

Apr 17, 2024 11:58:36 GMT -5 giveansk1 said:

I would really love to know how the math works to bring these sports on. Presumably you aren't handing out much in the way of scholarships and you are bringing up enrollments and this somehow outpaces the costs of carrying non revenue sports. I assume La Salle leadership sees an opportunity while other competing colleges are contracting sports.

Baseball was finally good when they cut them, but happy for those involved that its back. The band would be a nice add to basketball games.

Read this thread where Joe and MisterD told me I was wrong about baseball finances and I wrote about a conversation with an accounting professor who was tasked last summer with looking at the finances of baseball. 

explorertown.proboards.com/thread/4541/ashwin-dunphy?page=1

[MisterD]

I said I wanted to see the numbers rather than just "trust me" and I'd still stand by that.



(Semi-related, you're on a real hot streak of "how can I make this about me" posts. Kudos.)

[JoeFedorowicz]

Apr 17, 2024 12:56:54 GMT -5 GlitterBro #2 said:

Apr 17, 2024 11:58:36 GMT -5 giveansk1 said:

I would really love to know how the math works to bring these sports on. Presumably you aren't handing out much in the way of scholarships and you are bringing up enrollments and this somehow outpaces the costs of carrying non revenue sports. I assume La Salle leadership sees an opportunity while other competing colleges are contracting sports.

Baseball was finally good when they cut them, but happy for those involved that its back. The band would be a nice add to basketball games.

Read this thread where Joe and MisterD told me I was wrong about baseball finances and I wrote about a conversation with an accounting professor who was tasked last summer with looking at the finances of baseball. 

explorertown.proboards.com/thread/4541/ashwin-dunphy?page=1

Pretty sure that a donation made the money work. I'd love to see the data behind the decision because the response to my question about it was a shrug. Trust the team up there though.

[1801olney]

Holy Family added baseball recently and was told that interest was very high. Not sure about the scholarship money available, etc. but there was more than enough interest for it to be a no brainer for them.

[lasallejohn]

Absolutely love it. Have been going to a lot of Penn games the past two years and it’s a great atmosphere and they’ve been pretty good too. College baseball rocks.

[explorerman]

Apr 17, 2024 13:34:21 GMT -5 JoeFedorowicz said:

Apr 17, 2024 12:56:54 GMT -5 GlitterBro #2 said:

Read this thread where Joe and MisterD told me I was wrong about baseball finances and I wrote about a conversation with an accounting professor who was tasked last summer with looking at the finances of baseball. 

explorertown.proboards.com/thread/4541/ashwin-dunphy?page=1

Pretty sure that a donation made the money work. I'd love to see the data behind the decision because the response to my question about it was a shrug. Trust the team up there though.

This is certainly a major variable. I would question when the option was presented a couple of years ago to save the program and why the donation was not made. I have theories but this did happen.

Overall, both parties can be correct here. Baseball is a relatively expensive sport to run and, with some schollies, was a material money loser. There is a way to make baseball work from a financial perspective. La Salle Baseball 2.0 will be done this way.

Dr Allen did not like the sports cutting. It decreased enrollment, which is the primary focus here. Students and their families will be willing to pay to go to school AND play varsity sports. Say you are a fringe prospect, and you have talked to the coach and have the opportunity to play college sports at one school vs. the other, who won't give you the time of day. Which one would you choose?

I have said this before Dr. Allen is an assassin. He gets it.

[GlitterBro #2]

Apr 17, 2024 15:21:22 GMT -5 explorerman said:

Apr 17, 2024 13:34:21 GMT -5 JoeFedorowicz said:

Pretty sure that a donation made the money work. I'd love to see the data behind the decision because the response to my question about it was a shrug. Trust the team up there though.

This is certainly a major variable. I would question when the option was presented a couple of years ago to save the program and why the donation was not made. I have theories but this did happen.

Overall, both parties can be correct here. Baseball is a relatively expensive sport to run and, with some schollies, was a material money loser. There is a way to make baseball work from a financial perspective. La Salle Baseball 2.0 will be done this way.

Dr Allen did not like the sports cutting. It decreased enrollment, which is the primary focus here. Students and their families will be willing to pay to go to school AND play varsity sports. Say you are a fringe prospect, and you have talked to the coach and have the opportunity to play college sports at one school vs. the other, who won't give you the time of day. Which one would you choose?

I have said this before Dr. Allen is an assassin. He gets it.

this was my exact argument in the other thread. The fundraising target they were given a few years ago was unattainable. It basically required them to raise enough of an endowment to cover operating expenses. Rules regarding endowment distributions made that number more than the Glaser donation.

[calsufan]

Apr 17, 2024 13:11:32 GMT -5 MisterD said:

I said I wanted to see the numbers rather than just "trust me" and I'd still stand by that.



(Semi-related, you're on a real hot streak of "how can I make this about me" posts. Kudos.)

This!

[hykos1045]

Ashwin tipped off to me at a soccer tourney game that they were seriously considering bringing back baseball but I hadn't posted it here because I didn't want to take his Thunder. I also thought it sounded like a pipe dream and I wanted to reserve my excitement for if it really happened. He seems like he did his homework and I am very grateful that the schools president board and athletic staff is getting behind this plan. For those who have said La Salle needs to cut Sports, we have seen in real life what a negative impact that has had on our enrollment. and it is not going to be a magic pill but I'm hopeful that as we move into the next era with these new avenues that they continue to springboard us into more successful ventures.

As for which sports, men's lacrosse (St Joes beat us to the punch) and women's volleyball (although we'll never be able to keep up with the Daytons) were both higher on my list than baseball but I'll be satisfied with this news as clearly baseball had left a huge void in its wake in terms of campus enrollment. Especially because they coupled it with an investment in the band which is near and dear to my heart, I'm over the moon excited by the news.

[explorers2010]

The baseball team was always 50% of the men’s basketball attendance. Sellout now.

[louth]

Kudos to administration for recognizing that college sports is an enrollment building block. It’s my belief that many administrators do not recognize that butts in the seats can be filled by quality student tuition paying athletes. Vast majority of student athletes in this country do not get full scholarships! I am the proud father of 4 division 1 athletes who did receive partial scholarships, however we paid more than half the tuition and board. Is it not better to have extra athletes filling sits and paying some tuition for revenue? Additionally, this school needs to build school and student spirit and athletics play an important role, see St Joe’s and Villanova locally as examples; they have built endowments and spirit through sports identities. How’s Norte Dame, Gonzaga, St Mary’s doing? Far better than La Salle.

[hykos1045]

Ok with your point but our comparables are St Joe's and Fordham, not Gonzaga and Notre Dame.

I also think having the baseball alumni bloc back in good with the current admin pays dividends. Those are guys you want coming to events like homecoming and alumni night at DeVincent.

[belfieldhappyhour]

First time on the board in a few days, and have a couple thoughts here. A) Love that baseball is back. worked with the team in my student days and still friends with a bunch of old players. B) Yes, adding those women's sports was likely done for Title IX purposes and what other (female) sports would they add to have comparable numbers to baseball? C) The donation wasn't going to be the issue when it was dropped. I was told by someone who was in the meetings that they could have had the amount the school told them, and then some, but it wouldn't have mattered because the Title IX numbers were out of whack and that's the main reason baseball was dropped before.
D) Here's my debbie downer view of this. I hope the university administration is 'dumping' this on Ash and the athletic department. What I mean is, I hope they're not forcing him to add teams just to help enrollment, and if it doesn't work, he becomes the fall guy. Cynical view, I know.