Hartford athletes, alumni dismayed by move to D- III
Among the photos that emerged from the University of Hartford softball doubleheader with Binghamton on Friday was a team photo showing all the players had placed a large strip of black tape to block out the school name on their uniforms. One used two large strips. “I think I was extra ( hissed) off,” junior infielder Milena Wilton said. “I wanted everyone to know I was blocking that name off.”
After the UHart Board of Regents had voted Thursday night to drop from Division I athletics to Division III, Jerry Kelly, one of three UHart golfers to compete on the PGA Tour, took to Twitter: “Stupidest decision ever. Concentrate on wellness? Concentrate on losing funding and endowment! Nice job ( school president Gregory) Woodward... bye.”
Erik Ostberg had just enjoyed the performance of his minor league career with the Bowling Green Hot Rods. He hit two home runs, including a grand slam, had four hits and drove in seven runs Thursday night during a doubleheader sweep. The catcher from Florence, Massachusetts, hit a homer over the Greenville ( S. C.) Green Monster, a Fenway Park replica, in his first at- bat.
“It was a lot of fun,” the former UHart star said.
“Then I came in and there were about 50 texts about the game and 50 texts about Hartford. It was awful. I’m just so …”
Ostberg pauses for a moment. He allows all the fourletter words to escape his mind.
“I’m just so angry.”
The anger of UHart players, current and past, is understandable. They are proud athletes, once proud of their school, linked by lifelong friendships.
The anger of the UHart athletes also is justifiable.
The flawed CarrSports study, the lack of transparency, the lack of receptivity to opposing viewpoints — those are former UHart president Walter Harrison’s words, not mine.
The gaffe that exposed their own plot, the handpicked regents, the rush to final judgment — the whole thing was an inside job. The fix was in.
Those are my words. Right down to the mass email shortly before 9 o’clock Thursday night.
“We haven’t been heard,” Wilton said. “We haven’t been spoken to. Then we all found out the same way. Our coaches got the same email we got. It was like a kick in the face. Maybe a little bit of transparency, openness and conversation would have made it a little better, but we got nothing. Right down to that ‘ spin doctor’ thing.”
We won’t belabor this, but professor Warren Goldstein accidentally put his email conversation with Woodward on screen during a Zoom class. Students saw it. Woodward urged Goldstein to lead the propaganda campaign. He and the spin doctors took care of the numbers.
After insisting decisions weren’t made, Woodward should have been fired for blowing his credibility. He wasn’t. Slapstick is abided at UHart. Instead there was a regents meeting, a vote and DI, see ya!
The fact that the schoolcommissioned study showed UHart would save $ 9.3 million a year by going to DIII, while a Friends of the Neighborhood- commissioned study by sports economist Andy Schwarz estimated it
would be slightly less than $ 1 million a year was cause to hit the brakes.
The fact that the Hawks under John Gallagher advanced to the Division I NCAA basketball tournament for the first time in school history is cause to postpone a decision for the foreseeable future. UHart’s brand got more bang nationally than at any time in school history. Gallagher’s “Neighborhood” got lots of traction in the region.
Anyone could see this is the time to try to build off the success. See if declining enrollment can be reversed. See if donations and sponsorships rise. Athletic success has been proved to do these things. This was the worst moment to drop to DIII.
“I’m angry he took a product that was built on by Walter Harrison, all the coaches and players and basically spat on it,” Ostberg said. “I don’t think he had the background or appreciation of the value of Division I sports. I’m angry because of coach ( Justin) Blood’s legacy and our legacy. He took nine years of his life to take a program from the bottom of New England to the top and ( Woodward) is eviscerating that program over a life philosophy and not getting along with the athletic department. Super immature.
“I can’t see how this will help the school make money. I think the school will be out of business in 10 years. I don’t think the school is going to exist. I love my teammates forever, but I want no affiliation. At this point I hope the school goes down in ruins.”
The Reich family, a significant contributor to UHart over the years, told the Hartford Courant it won’t give the school another dime. Who knows who else will back out?
There were some mindboggling things in the FAQ section on the school’s link: The decision “isn’t based in savings and instead focused on opportunities for more athletic and wellness students for all athletes.”
After all the stuff about UHart’s Division I model not being viable and self- sustaining, it’s about the wellness of the kids? This isn’t an answer in a beauty pageant.
That DIII meets the mission and goals of all students and “the rhetoric DIII is a downgrade is disrespectful to the thousands of DIII student- athletes in Connecticut and around the country.”
“What it is,” Ostberg said, “is disrespectful to our DI athletes. And exactly what is the mission?”
“We’re not saying we’re better than D3 and look down on it,” Wilton said. “That’s offensive. We know the blood, sweat and tears it takes for athletes in all divisions. This is about what happened to our school and the culture we established.”
Schwarz stressed that it has much less to do with the dollar amount a school is spending than the dollar amount over the value it’s getting. It’s subjective, he said, but not totally. There are matters like knowing how much incoming students are influenced by the existence of DI sports. And if its graduate students are getting better job placements. Yes, there’s research that shows the reputation of DI, particularly FBS, schools helps.
As far as the Carr study, Schwarz said, the overarching parameters were essentially stated by the school in the introduction: The current DI model wasn’t sustainable; there’d be a substantial decrease in institutional funding for athletics; and athletics will have to add to net tuition revenue.
“They called it a feasibility study, but it wasn’t really a feasibility study,” Schwarz said. “They yada- yada- yada’d over the important part.
“And then they literally made a math mistake that cost $ 6.2 million of a total $ 14 million. That’s huge. Egregious. Sloppy spreadsheet work.”
It essentially involves double- counting in 1), reduction in expense incurred by athletics related to reduced scholarship aid, reduced salaries and reduced expenses ( partially offset by reductions in revenue from moving to DIII). And 2), increases in revenue to the central administration related to an increase in net tuition received, i. e. from reduced provision of financial aid.
Also, Schwarz said the study points to DI walk- ons getting a 67 percent discount and DIII athletes getting 57 percent to produce more tuition revenue. Over about 325 athletes, that’s a pricey assumption an increase can be done without losing enrollment.
The NESCAC and NEWMAC are filled with “Little Ivy” schools like Williams, Wesleyan, Amherst, MIT and WPI. They also are the top DIII athletic New England conferences. Two others are public- school conferences. That probably leaves CCC, GNAC and NECC. There is no guarantee UHart will be a rousing DIII success on the field and even the Carr study shows an annual $ 3.8 million loss. That’s not counting the transitional costs.
Two dozen colleges have closed nationally in the past few years. Mount Ida, Daniel Webster, Becker — all DIII — come to mind in New England.
“This vision of making Hartford this academic paradise, sending the alums this cushy email how they’re going to have this new building for health and science,” Ostberg said. “It’s almost like ‘ Thank you for sacrificing the athletes.’ The overall academics at UHart are average at best. Below- average student life experience. Not worth the price. They hand out academic scholarship money like candy.”
The current athletic scholarships will be honored before the scheduled entrance into DIII in September 2025, although none will be given out starting in 2022- 23.
Asked if she thinks some of her current teammates will transfer, Wilton said, “Definitely, They’ll go into the transfer portal — I’m thinking about it — and see what the options are. People coming in will change their minds.
“( Friday) was crazy. It was like a fever dream. It was good to be together and get one win, but there was this feeling of hopelessness and that this is our last weekend together.”
Saturday was softball senior day. Wilton says she looks forward to a Saturday in the future when she gets a letter in the mail asking for a donation to UHart.
“I’m going to burn that thing,” she said.
And Ostberg?
“I’m going to sit outside Woody’s office,” he said “I don’t care if this thing is set in stone. I want him to look me in the eyes and tell me.”