Evansville to cut scholarships for somesports, Considered dropping from D1


The actual news is under a pay wall.

Are you sure on that? Evansville board is pretty active and there's nothing on it.
https://purpleaceplace.freeforums.net/bo...basketball

"Evansville D1" twitter search doesn't give anything either.

The second paragraph on the president's bio brags about a new rebranding for athletics a couple years ago. That would be odd if he was anti-athletics.
https://www.evansville.edu/offices/presi...president.

Evansville drew 5,142 average attendance last year in an 0-19 season.

Do you have the quote from the article? You have to pay to read it - are you paying to read an Evansville newspaper? lol

This is from three weeks ago and it discusses the reduction of majors and saving of the Music Department and clearly, their decision to REMAIN in Division I, even with cuts to golf, swimming and T/F.

https://www.14news.com/2021/03/11/ue-ann...ewer-cuts/

Guys, let’s give David a chance. He may have an “ace” up his sleeve.

The headline for the article does say "UE considered dropping from D1, proud to remain in MVC"

From the article:
Everything was on the table when the University of Evansville began drafting its institutional alignment plan — even in athletics.

“We were all asked to do our part,” UE athletics director Mark Spencer said. “We really explored almost everything we could.

“We explored different conferences, different divisions. We literally put everything on the table. Cutting sports. Which sports could we cut? How do we address Title IX issues? There are always strings attached to everything we do.”

Ultimately, the Aces will be staying in NCAA Division I as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference.

Evansville weighed all options... and it will be held against them on the recruiting trail for sure. They aren't the first low to mid-major to participate in this way in a study done by the university on efficiencies and where monies could be saved.

They did apparently decide to make some scholarship reductions across Olympic sports which will save them some monies going forward. That is confirmed in the article. Curious what that "updated room and board policy" is though...

===
Instead, the school will reduce scholarships in golf, swimming and track & field over the next few years, yielding a projected $1.1M in savings. Another $300K in annual savings will be realized through an updated room and board policy for athletic scholarship recipients.

Evansville must have received a bailout from Bill Gates. I hope someone posts an article from 2009 about expanding their old football stadium from the 1940s.

Per Wikipedia, the University of Evansville has around 2500 students (2200 undergraduates) with an endowment of $93.4 million (2020). With their university profile, I can see where a move out of Division I would be on the table.

Evansville is definitely punching above its weight class. Not only are they playing in Division I, but they are playing in one of the top mid-major conferences in the MVC. They were a Division II powerhouse that moved up to D-I in 1977. During their first year in D-I, the men's basketball team's plane crashed in a field near the Evansville airport, killing all of the players and coaches. The program was resurrected and has since had a varying amount of success. It is well supported by the community, and plays in the 11,000 seat Ford Center in downtown Evansville. This is the same arena that hosts the OVC post-season tournament and the Division II national tournament.

Evansville is a small school that has good community support.

Their attendance in basketball has been above 10,000 in a number of individual games over the decades. Not now-- but still 5,142 recently with a terrible record.

(04-05-2021 02:33 PM)TOPSTRAIGHT Wrote:  Their attendance in basketball has been above 10,000 in a number of individual games over the decades. Not now-- but still 5,142 recently with a terrible record.

Yes, Evansville’s a great college basketball town. If UE dropped out of D1, I’d imagine their fans would just transfer to USI when they move up.

(04-05-2021 02:59 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  

(04-05-2021 02:33 PM)TOPSTRAIGHT Wrote:  Their attendance in basketball has been above 10,000 in a number of individual games over the decades. Not now-- but still 5,142 recently with a terrible record.

Yes, Evansville’s a great college basketball town. If UE dropped out of D1, I’d imagine their fans would just transfer to USI when they move up.

That was my thinking, as well.

for the sake of conversation...

is chicago state smacking it's lips & rubbing it's hands together right about now???

thinking...so you're saying there is a chance???

A better alternative for Evansville could be a move to the OVC where they could win more against lessor competition.

It would save on travel costs I believe too.

(04-05-2021 02:59 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  

(04-05-2021 02:33 PM)TOPSTRAIGHT Wrote:  Their attendance in basketball has been above 10,000 in a number of individual games over the decades. Not now-- but still 5,142 recently with a terrible record.

Yes, Evansville’s a great college basketball town. If UE dropped out of D1, I’d imagine their fans would just transfer to USI when they move up.

USI as I've toured their campus is in the middle of nowhere miles from downtown Evansville.

Evansville, IN is kind of like Huntington, WV where college sports draw well due to being really remote.

(04-06-2021 07:57 AM)Kit-Cat Wrote:  

(04-05-2021 02:59 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  Yes, Evansville’s a great college basketball town. If UE dropped out of D1, I’d imagine their fans would just transfer to USI when they move up.

USI as I've toured their campus is in the middle of nowhere miles from downtown Evansville.

Evansville, IN is kind of like Huntington, WV where college sports draw well due to being really remote.

That, and it sits in the middle of a basketball hotbed, on the border of Indiana and Kentucky.

(04-06-2021 07:57 AM)Kit-Cat Wrote:  

(04-05-2021 02:59 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  

(04-05-2021 02:33 PM)TOPSTRAIGHT Wrote:  Their attendance in basketball has been above 10,000 in a number of individual games over the decades. Not now-- but still 5,142 recently with a terrible record.

Yes, Evansville’s a great college basketball town. If UE dropped out of D1, I’d imagine their fans would just transfer to USI when they move up.

USI as I've toured their campus is in the middle of nowhere miles from downtown Evansville.

Evansville, IN is kind of like Huntington, WV where college sports draw well due to being really remote.

Ha, interesting you say that. Yesterday I typed out "Evansville basketball is like a smaller version of Marshall football where the community/team are an identity from the time you grow up" but left it out.

(04-06-2021 08:54 AM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  

(04-06-2021 07:57 AM)Kit-Cat Wrote:  

(04-05-2021 02:59 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  

(04-05-2021 02:33 PM)TOPSTRAIGHT Wrote:  Their attendance in basketball has been above 10,000 in a number of individual games over the decades. Not now-- but still 5,142 recently with a terrible record.

Yes, Evansville’s a great college basketball town. If UE dropped out of D1, I’d imagine their fans would just transfer to USI when they move up.

USI as I've toured their campus is in the middle of nowhere miles from downtown Evansville.

Evansville, IN is kind of like Huntington, WV where college sports draw well due to being really remote.

Ha, interesting you say that. Yesterday I typed out "Evansville basketball is like a smaller version of Marshall football where the community/team are an identity from the time you grow up" but left it out.

It also has a rep locally as an academic school. USI is an upstart.

If Evansville was thinking about leaving D1 because of money issues? What are the finances of the other small programs who have less resources than Evansville? We might see some of the smaller programs downgrade to D2 which could open up room for D2 schools who do have the money and resources to move up.