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Due to financial woes, Dowling is closing its doors for good this Friday. According to a New York Board of Regents official, the college was roughly $54 million in debt and enrollment had dropped by half since 2009. Prez Inserra: "As painful as this announcement is, we want the student body, faculty, and alumni to know that we made every effort to form a suitable academic affiliation so that we could keep the college open. Unfortunately, despite months of lengthy negotiations we were unable to form such an affiliation, and our only option is to cease operations." - link
Salem International has hired West Virginia Wesleyan WBB HC Bari to the same position. Bari was also the HC at Louisiana State-Eunice (NJCAA) for nine years where his teams went 154-113 and participated in the NJCAA Final Four in 2007. AD Shoemaker: "I'm excited to see the program rebound back to respectability under Coach Bari's guidance. His experience will help our athletes on and off the court and I'm eager to see the student-athletes grow into their potential." - link
A report indicates that California (PA) has hired Concord MBB HC McBride to lead their men's program. McBride was with the Mountain Lions for five years, highlighted by a 21-8 record and a Mountain East Conference tournament championship this past season and a MEC Coach of the Year honor in 2015. - link
More details on West Florida's deal with the Pensacola Blue Wahoos for the minor league baseball club to sell corporate and commercial sponsorships throughout UWF's upcoming inaugural football season. The Argos football team will be playing their home games at Blue Wahoos Stadium. UWF AD Scott on the deal: "There's opportunities to sell on field signage, There's opportunities for corporate boxes and suites, there's opportunities for sponsoring half time, sponsoring breaks (in the action). (The Blue Wahoos) do a tremendous job looking for opportunities within the game to help people promote their business, at the same time it helps us with providing a great experience for the fans. A lot of major colleges and universities work with companies like IMG or Learfield and do the same thing on a corporate level. We're just doing it on a local level with a local organization." - link
The South Atlantic Conference has announced a first-time corporate partner sponsorship deal with the EnVeritas Group. The international content marketing agency based in Greenville, SC will be the co-presenting sponsor of the South Atlantic Conference’s annual Hall of Fame celebration. - link
Missouri Southern has announced a deal for UniversityTickets to become the athletic department's official box office software solution. UniversityTickets has guided over 350 higher education organizations through the selection, implementation and use of their box office software solutions since being founded in 1999. Director of Ticketing Operations and Event Management Bramwell: "UniversityTickets blew us away with their capabilities and available features. After a few meetings and demos, it was clear to our panel that UniversityTickets made the most sense for Missouri Southern on multiple levels. We are very excited about our new direction and can't wait to get started using UniversityTickets." - link
And then there were six. Updated baseball bracket highlighted by Millersville and Nova Southeastern as the two remaining teams in the winner’s bracket. Round two had less drama than round one, but still had a Southern Indiana walk-off win over Angelo State, which lost both its games 1-0. - link
Lincoln Memorial will implement a sports podcast network called Splitter Sound Bites this coming year, which will provide weekly audio content for all 21 varsity sports. Director of Sports Communication Erland: "We are thrilled to launch our podcast network this fall. In this content-driven era of sports media, it's of paramount importance to provide our fans with coverage that is high in both quality and quantity. Splitter Sound Bites will do just that, allowing fans and media a level of access that they've never had before, while lending a voice to the names and faces that make up the LMU athletic department." - link
Ohio Dominican has begun construction on a new press box at their baseball facility Frank Damian Field at Panther Valley after receiving an estate gift from a longtime university supporter. The school partnered with Thomas & Marker Construction on the project with completion anticipated sometime in the middle of July. - link
Columbus State has won the 2015-16 Peach Belt Conference Commissioner's Cup. It is CSU's first Commissioner's Cup since 2010-11 and its fifth overall, tying North Florida(now DI) for the most in conference history. The award caps off a successful year for CSU athletics, as Columbus State teams won PBC regular season championships in WSOC, WBB, MBB, men's golf and baseball while also winning the PBC tournament in WSOC and baseball and also taking the all-girl cheerleading title. - link
With UCSD joining as an associate member, the Big West announced that the conference has become the first NCAA Division I league to sponsor competition in Men's Volleyball. Big West Commish Farrell on the competition set to start in 2018: "The Big West Conference is thrilled to add a sport that is so popular in our region and is growing on the national level. Because the NCAA championship is conducted across Divisions I and II, UC San Diego despite its Division II status in its other sports, is eligible to compete in the Big West in this sport. ... It should be noted that the creation of this championship is the culmination of a year’s worth of work within the conference that has engaged both the sport’s coaches and administrators. UC San Diego’s consideration as a member in men’s volleyball has been discussed throughout that process and has no relation to its current consideration of Division I membership." - link
Nice pub for the Saint Augustine T&F program, as the new ESPN website The Undefeated ran two feature articles on the men's team capturing their fourth straight national title and the women's team finishing as national runner-ups. The Undefeated explores race, sports and culture from an African-American perspective. - link
Valdosta State is hosting their youth football camp this week. First-year HC Bell on the significance of connecting with the community: "For us, it’s just to give back to the community. Every time we can get the kids around and the community involved in our program, it’s really good. Just to interact with the kids and get them to hear about VSU and about our football program, maybe they’ll want to get out to the games and we need to start that at an early age." - link
Recently released facility pics include:
+ Hoops court redone at Goldey Beacom. - link
+ New turf being laid for Bentley FB. - link
In general academia news:
+ Council on Postsecondary Education Executive VP Thompson has agreed to be the interim president at Kentucky State until a permanent president is found. - link
+ Through the first 23 months of Valdosta State's first-ever comprehensive capital campaign, Invest. Ignite. Inspire. The Campaign for Valdosta State University, the school has secured more than $46.6M in gifts and pledges. The university's working five-year campaign goal is to raise $53.25M on or before June 30, 2019. - link
+ Muhammadu Indimi, a Nigerian oil and gas industry billionaire, has released a statement clarifying that he has donated $900K to Lynn and not the $14M reported by the Nigerian press, which has criticized him for donating to an American university when his native Nigeria has many educational needs. - link
