RIT, Union can now offer scholarships, effective immediately!
twitter.com/ritathletics/status/1484898697909...
twitter.comPosted Jan 22, 2022, 2:45 PM UTC
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twitter.comThis is great news, and will help level the recruiting playing field, as they can now offer athletic scholarships like the other mixed programs and D1 schools. I’m glad the NCAA DIII membership overwhelming approved this.
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I mean Union did win a national championship. Without scholarships apparently?
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Yes, this is true. And RIT has made the tournament a few times, and the Frozen Four, all without scholarships. This could help both teams attract more talent and be even more competitive.
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Cornell: hold my beer
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An amazing achievement. The transfer portal has made a repeat much more difficult, though.
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Great our ECAC beatdowns are going to get even worse
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Bold of you to assume top talent players will want to live in Schenectady
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I mean as opposed to the vibrant cities of Kalamazoo, Lowell, and Hamden, CT
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As if on cue here was this take on twitter. I'm thrilled for RIT, but why does every school in the AHA think they're too good for the AHA? Last year it was the announcement of SHU's new rink and all they could talk about after that was their inevitable transfiguration into the 12th Hockey East school.
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I think RIT fans for years have considered ECAC a better fit for RIT (academic, distance to other schools, etc), and with the overlap of RIT's DIII conference, Liberty League, with some of the ECAC teams, there would be some better rivalries there.
The cost containment comment is garbage though, as AHA is not a cost containment league anymore.
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I don't begrudge any AHA school leaving for the ECAC (and RIT is one of at least four other AHA schools that would slot nicely into the ECAC), but SHU, Bentley, and Holy Cross fanbases have all taken turns convincing themselves they're HE material. They're nuts is what they are. Quinnipiac OTOH isn't nuts, and the Ivies won't be splitting anytime soon (although there supposedly is a group of Penn alum exploring fundraising options re: D1 hockey), so why not enjoy what we have in the AHA?
I mean, AIC finally stopped being an embarrassment to the rest of the conference and you all STILL want to leave?!
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We're in the same D3 league as Clarkson, RPI, St. Lawrence, and Union, so it's less about being too good for the AHA and more about wanting to join up with our rivals. We've been fantasizing for years about Quinnipiac going to Hockey East or the Ivies leaving.
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We’ve been fantasizing about Quinnipiac leaving for years. RIT would be such a better fit.
Leaving the ECAC would be an idiotic move for the Ivies.
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No chance the Ivies leave, Brown/Dart don't care enough about hockey to move, and Harv/Cornell care too much to move
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THIS IS WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!
I always appreciate when students are allowed to prosper.
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So happy as a Union alum. Our program was really falling behind, we couldn’t build on that national title at all
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It's all RIT's fault. Lol j/k
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Someyhing something perennial powerhouse now
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They do give out some kind of athletic scholarships already though right? I have friends playing sports at Union and a few other D3 schools and they all got “academic” aid because they’re athletes. Anyone know how that works I’ve just always been confused
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Any aid given to D3 athletes must be equitable to what is given non-athletes, otherwise there are huge consequences from the NCAA. So, they should be getting the same academic aid whether they were an athlete or not.
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As a veteran of the Prop 65 battle almost 20 years ago, I'm beyond pleased to see this happen. It's a final repudiation of Middlebury president John McCardell's puritanical attempt to ban D3 schools playing-up in D1 sports from offering scholarships at all. It had momentum to pass in 2004, but those hockey schools offering scholarships at the time (Clarkson, CC, RPI, and SLU) and the most prominent example, Johns Hopkins lacrosse, teamed up to offer a compromise: a grandfather clause for those already offering scholarships.
That was a bitter pill to swallow, but at least it saved scholarships at those 5 historically significant programs - and also had the effect of barring Union, which famously was the only school sharing a D3 league with an affected school to vote in favor of the unamended proposal, from choosing the option themselves.
Time heals all wounds, the Union president who tried to spite his school's rivals is long gone, and the unfairness of the situation for schools like RIT, who chose to move to D1 after the passage of 65-1, has been glaring for far too long.
A D1 program is a D1 program. There's no reason to treat them any differently just because of the nature of the rest of an athletic department.
Well said, and I just want to add that I'm so so so happy for the kids on both RIT and Union who can now get the financial assistance they deserve for their education. It's going to make such a big difference for them specifically
"The ability to offer scholarships is arguably the most pivotal moment in the history of ice hockey at Union since the decision in 1991 for the men's team to jump from Division III to Division I."
Uh... I can think of a more pivotal moment in their history.
The championship was monumental for them, and a great milestone, but I'm not sure it represents a pivot point.