(10-16-2023 11:51 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(10-16-2023 11:34 AM)e-parade Wrote:  Now that USC, UCLA, Washington, and Oregon are headed to the B1G...any chance they're heavily encouraged to upgrade their teams to division 1 in order to actually get a major west coast presence for college hockey?

P4 programs adding Division I hockey is the Great White Whale.

The only two that have done it in the past generation have been Arizona State and Penn State. That required the largest donation in the history of the athletic department for ASU and the largest donation in the history of the entire school for *anything* for PSU.

If Illinois couldn’t create a Division I hockey program that’s actually funded to compete at the highest levels in the Big Ten (as opposed to being a shoestring budget or even non-scholarship sport) even with every off-the-ice metric otherwise being exceeded, then I’m pretty convinced that no one can short of a massive school record-level donation falling from the sky. In essence, there’s no real plan to encourage to move up in hockey at the P4 level. Basically, the “plan” is to hope that a benefactor that cares about hockey writes a big enough check to fund everything or else it won’t happen.

UW might have the best shot with the Kraken in town (practice facilities) and the Kraken head coach coming from the college ranks (Dave Hakstol, North Dakota).

The Kings and Ducks would really have to engage down in LA.