Brown 2020

[Laxman23]

From the Brown Athletics website, it appears the suggestion to trim some nonproductive sports had been made about five years ago by an athletic advisory group. That suggestion was not acted upon until now.
Does not make sense to field the third most varsity sports of any D1 program(trailing only Stanford and Harvard), yet win <3% of IVY titles(should be 12-14% if even distribution).
It is also hard to compete with the Big 3 if Brown has 1/6-1/8 the endowment. Perhaps a little more support for the remaining teams may make the Brown teams more successful in terms of IVY wins.
Do you think this is a financial move, a move to be more competitive and provide more support for a more focused number of teams, or what prompted this now? Was it the cost of Covid, the cover of covid or no relation?

[bearlaxfan]

Assume this plan has been kicking around the Athletic Dept and U Admin for a while. It's hard to whack good people and pull the rug from the student-athletes, but current conditions probably 'incentivized' the move at this time.

PROVIDENCE — Brown University will eliminate 11 varsity sports ahead of the 2020-21 academic year.

Men’s and women’s fencing, men’s and women’s golf, women’s skiing, men’s and women’s squash, women’s equestrian, men’s indoor track and field, men’s outdoor track and field and men’s cross country will all transition to club status. Women’s sailing and coed sailing will transition from club to varsity status.

No clue how competitive the cut programs were in the IL.

[DALaxDad]

I posted most of this over on the Ivy page but should have put it here:

Nothing in the announcement blames Covid-19 issues, so I suspect that is not part of the decision. If it were, you can be sure it would be used as support to help deflect criticism. Rather the decision is attributed to Brown's poor performance within the Ivy league and President Paxon's desire to increase the varsity teams' overall success as part of Brown's commitment to excellence. It is a big enough list that everyone can find something to squabble with I'm sure. I'm not sure I buy the premise that reducing the number of teams will increase the overall performance of the remaining teams. Sure it reduces the denominator, so one success represents a higher percentage. Big deal. The real question is whether the athletic department was actually allocating "difference maker" recruiting slots to the teams being eliminated and if so, how many of those slots are freed up for the remaining teams. As I recall, one aspect of the AI calculation is that all recruited athletes must have an average AI that is within 1 decile (or some stated range I can't recall) of the trailing 4 year average AI of the matriculating student body. Men and women's golf routinely have had high academic performances, so I have to believe they were helping to bring up the overall average AI for recruited athletes. If those teams weren't being allocated any of the "difference maker" slots, eliminating them just means the remaining recruited athletes need a higher AI on average. The cynic in me says that this is really a response to those faculty and other anti-athletic voices who chafe at having recruited athletes receive any favoritism in what is a very competitive admissions process. By eliminating some slots for recruited athletes, it may make it easier to retain more slots for other sacred cows, such as children of alumni or big donors or more diverse populations.

[Can Opener]

Spot on, DA. That’s why something about this announcement doesn’t ring true. How are you going to lose the high AI kids from XC, golf, squash, skiing and fencing and somehow have that translate to accepting more kids in tougher AI demos like hockey, hoops and football?’ I may be reading too much into it, but it may not be a coincidence that the sports eliminated are played by white country club kids. Call me cynical, but I have trouble believing that the university will really “maintain its current operational budget for varsity athletics.” To be honest, it would probably be a little unrealistic to do that in this environment.

This is good perspective on AI from a fencing website (who knew there was such a thing?):

https://www.fencingparents.org/college- ... of-fencers

As for Brown lacrosse, this plan may be helpful if they figure out the AI quandary. There is a good pool of strong academic kids in the sport, so maybe this translates into 2-3 extra recruits per year??? Trying to be optimistic.

[Counselor]

Nice to learn that Brown along with its Ivy brethren (other than Princeton) will be enjoying the return of seniors whose seasons were aborted last spring: All- American calibre goalie Phil Goss; and to-be Marine Officer and 2020 Captain Luke McCaleb will return to Brown's newly revamped Lacrosse Stadium (thank you Rob Hale) to pick-up where they left off last March 8 when both contributed in defeating the "Defending National Champions" Virginia Cavaliers !
Brown is working to schedule an ACC opponent in 2021 in the hopes of replicating that program boosting success......like very much the 2021 mix that will include the two "seniors" and the talented group of undergrads who will be bolstered by a more than solid entering class in September......tough to make the Ivy Tournament of late but there is a solidarity and desire in this group that Coach Daly has groomed to accept nothing less than the highest level of competitiveness (as evidenced in coming back from an 8-2 deficit to the Wahoos with a 2nd half that shocked the capacity crowd in Providence last spring)....the direction of this Brown program is leading to legitimate hopes of a return to a Final Four appearance sooner rather than later.....

[Laxman23]

I heard rumor of Goss and McCaleb‘s return but had not seen confirmation. Looked on Inside Lacrosse and the Brown website but did not see an announcement. Is there a website or source I am unaware of? Their return of course would be huge.
Any other Brown Seniors and how about the other schools? If anyone has confirmation it would be nice to see what schools are returning 2020 Seniors to their squads.

[Counselor]

Darien’s jr. Andy Demopoulos - ranked as the nation’s 3rd foremost goalie in his class opts to decommit from Hopkins in favor of Brown...a huge coup for the Bears who will be able to transition seamlessly from all- American Phil Goss in the goal to Andy ( who will, however, be challenged by an entering (Sept.) highly regarded NE prep school goalie tabbed as a “coach on the field”)...Brown continues its legacy of landing the game’s outstanding netminders (Cattrano; Burke;Kelly; Stalfort; Goss; Levin; et. al.) year after year after year...the goaltending talent will provide a secure back-line to build from....should be a real good fit for the Ct. keeper at Brown with the program’s stability ...and with all the pieces fitting together for making runs in the ‘20’s annually for high national rankings ..

[Tdemling6]

I heard rumor of Goss and McCaleb‘s return but had not seen confirmation. Looked on Inside Lacrosse and the Brown website but did not see an announcement. Is there a website or source I am unaware of? Their return of course would be huge.
Any other Brown Seniors and how about the other schools? If anyone has confirmation it would be nice to see what schools are returning 2020 Seniors to their squads.

Both listed on the 2021 roster, which is up on the Brown Athletics site

[Laxman23]

Did not think to look on 2021 roster site as confirmation. Still believe McCaleb and Goss returning is pretty big news and would have been commented on elsewhere. Still great news!
Other than Yale’s TD Ierlan and Cornell’s Teat and now Brown’s Goss and McCaleb, did anyone notice any other 2020”Seniors“ returning to IVY rosters?

Also good news of the JHU Goalie commitment switching to Brown. Not a big fan of decommits but better in our direction than away from Brown if they have to happen.

[Sting The Corner]

Brown announces 3 semester 20-21 academic year, with Sophs, Juniors and Seniors on campus Fall and Spring, and Frosh on campus Spring and Summer. Knock wood it goes as plans.

Flipping Demopoulos from Hop is icing on the cake for an excellent 21 class, well done Coaches.

[socalax]

Any insight as to what Fall lacrosse will look like for the team? What happens to the Ivy League if/when some programs (Harvard?, Princeton?) cancel their season? Any chance to play independently of the Ivy League?

[Tdemling6]

Is Brown The Ivy Everyone Should Be Talking About?

https://lacrossebucket.com/2020/08/19/i ... ing-about/

[Charlie Don't Surf]

I think Coach Daly and Brown would like to stay under the radar, but it could be hard. (Note: the story is mistaken that Brown did not make the 2018 ILT--they lost to Cornell 7-4 in the semis as the #3 seed, shutting off Teat. Brown shot horribly.) But, it is hard not to be excited about this year's team. Most Ivies will have at least one 5th year senior: Yale has TD; Cornell has Teat (at least); believe Goldner will be back at Penn; and Brown will have these two back. Great O and D middies for Brown back as well, and virtually all D back. Let's just hope the season materializes.