La Salle is in serious financial jeopardy. Prior to the current academic year enrollment has been in steady decline and competition for students is gettting more challenging as high school enrollment in La Salle’s primary recruitment geography is stagnant (public schools) to declining (Catholic schools). They’re selling off art and closing their museum to raise money. However, I know for a fact that La Salle is not contemplating dropping to D3. That option was the result of the consultants making sure all options are reviewed.

La Salle is really caught in a bind. They don’t have the money to have A10 level facilities or coaching salaries which means that they are generally not competitive. That’s especially true in men’s basketball where they’ve had one NCCA bid in 22 years in the A10. Moving back to the MAAC would save them some money and they’d be more competitive. However, it would hinder their ability to increase the number of students enrolling from Mid-Atlantic states which the administration sees as crucial to the university’s survival.

I think sticking it out in the A10 is the most likely outcome for now, but this is an issue that isn’t going to go away for La Salle absent tens of millions of dollars in donations that are extremely unlikely to materialize in the near future.