Alabama Huntsville dropping men’s ice hockey effective immediately | The Boneyard

Alabama Huntsville dropping men’s ice hockey effective immediately

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dbmill

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huskymedic said:
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Alabama Huntsville got lost in the NCAA conference reshuffle, and as a result cried uncle. Guess they had no desire to operate as an independent again. The virus situation and all the long travel they would have had probably had a hand in the decision as well.
 


>>After a comprehensive review of UAH's athletic offerings and the associated long-term budget implications, we have made the difficult decision to discontinue the men's hockey, men's tennis, and women's tennis programs. The student-athletes associated with these programs have been outstanding representatives of the University in the classroom and on the field. We are making this decision now to allow our student-athletes in hockey, men's and women's tennis programs to have the opportunity to play at another institution if they choose to do so. Student-athletes who would like to join another institution's roster will be released without penalty and free to transfer immediately. For student-athletes associated with these three programs who wish to complete their education at UAH, their current scholarships will be honored for the duration of the students' academic careers. <<
 
Unsurprising, but still disheartening. Between poor performance, the conference alignment situation that’s ending/putting out of misery the WCHA, and COVID, the betting odds would have been pretty much even up that UAH would be a casualty.

EDIT: For what it’s worth this also isn’t the only time Charger hockey has been on the chopping block, in 2011 there was a brief period where the team was to be discontinued at the end of the season, lasting two months before that decision was reversed. It’s unclear at this moment whether local support can be found again to save the teams bacon.
 
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Always been an odd outlier. And they aren’t a huge institution like ASU. Ive always been surprised the lasted as long as they did. Still it is not good news.
 
Anyone we should be recruiting? If the school drops hockey they can play elsewhere immediately.
 
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Alabama-Huntsville was a college hockey team that was certainly off the beaten path, playing below the Mason-Dixon Line. Last season they had a record of 2-26-6, playing in the WCHA, the bottom rated western conference in Division 1 college hockey. They haven't had a winning record since the 2005-06 season. Still, I find it sad whenever a school has to fold a team for whatever the reason.
 
They seemed to have a core of passionate fans but I can’t imagine it was an easy sell to recruit. Huntsville isn’t exactly Boston or Minneapolisor some other hockey hotbed. On top of that the travel was pretty brutal.
 


>>Sheldon Wolitski, who played on the Chargers’ Division II national championship team in 1996, told AL.com there are a couple of major donors ready to support the program. Wolitski and Taso Sofikitis, a UAH teammate, have promised to give $300,000 toward meeting that goal. A GoFundMe account opened Monday night has raised an additional $196,505 so far. No public statement has been made by UAH yet. The information has all been relayed by Wolitski and Sofikitis, who were able to get a conference call with UAH President Darren Dawson after the decision was made.

According to the information given to AL.com, Smith said Dawson asked for private donations equal to 50% of a season’s expenses. Ice hockey is more expensive to operate than tennis, so the tennis teams were given a fundraising goal of $150,000 by June 5. So far, a GoFundMe account for the tennis program has raised $9,690.<<
 
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freescooter said:
Not sure this is along term solution but good For them.
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It’s not sustainable in any way if they need to keep passing the hat for this much every year, cause donation fatigue is definitely a thing.

But as a bridge loan of sorts to keep the lights on in the hopes that the budget situation might improve, it works just fine.
 
kingdobbs said:
If they were a club program they might.

But UAH is varsity, where the SECHC is a student club league.
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... and hockey is so popular there that UAH also has a club team playing in the SECHC.
 
kingdobbs said:
If they were a club program they might.n't a club...but having one makes more sense than dropping entirely...maybe they will

But UAH is varsity, where the SECHC is a student club league.
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I know they are...my thought was that a Division III conference beats no hockey....and that is where they will probably continue to play hockey (their club plays there against Vandy, Ole Miss, Georgia, GT, etc)....their club at 1-19-4 wasn't that good...but maybe better former scholarship players will come on board.
 
Alabama Huntsville is a outlier of sorts in the SEC land...men's hockey and Lacrosse...and no football.
 
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They could have easily fit in the CCHA footprint. Obviously, the rest of the schools don't see a need to keep them around, sadly.
 
huskymedic said:
Not sure what size shoes you wear Butch but the new CCHA is Michigan/Minnesota and a lone school in far Northern Ohio?
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And they don't want school's from outside that footprint. The Alaska school's were also tossed aside by the new CCHA.
 
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Butch said:
They could have easily fit in the CCHA footprint. Obviously, the rest of the schools don't see a need to keep them around, sadly.
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For the CCHA's MN, MI and sole OH member schools and their respective athletic department travel budgets, reasonable cost containment likely surpasses some sadly ill informed projections.
 
Bowling Green, Ohio is 564 miles from Huntsville, Al....about 60 miles farther away than New York from Raleigh.
 
Sad to see but this was always a tough fit I think. You could almost see it working in Charlotte or Atlanta or someplace. It would still be a stretch but with better access and a bigger base. But Huntsville Alabama is a tough sell. I was told they started the program when a bunch of northerners came there to work for NASA but in recent years it has struggled
 
The idea behind the program was why have the state's 400th football team when you can have THE hockey team. It made sense. But the landscape changed under them.
 
They have been around for a while I know at the D2 level where they were actually pretty successful and then in the former CHA with Niagara, Bimidji Air Force among others. They made 2 NCAA appearances in the early 2000s I think before that league broke up. But they absolutely struggled in recent years. Really difficult to assemble a reasonable schedule when nobody is nearby. ASU can pull it off because it’s ASU, at least for a while. Huntsville isn’t a major public university that has a national profile in athletics.
 
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