Hocking College- first 2 year college in OH to play football

[NYBuckeye96]

Hocking College in Nelsonville has decided to add sports starting this fall. The Hocking College Hawks will be the first two year college in the state of Ohio to sponsor football. Football games will be played at Nelsonville-York's Boston Field.


2015-2016 sports to be added - football, men's basketball, women's basketball, volleyball, cheerleading and archery.

2016-2017 sports to be added - wrestling, golf.

2017-2018 sports to be added - soccer, baseball, softball, bowling.


http://woub.org/2015/05/03/athletics-co ... ng-college

Athletics Coming to Hocking College

By Sarah Hawley - Athens Messenger staff reporter
Sun, May 3, 2015 12:08 pm

When you hear those things, it is not common to think of Hocking College, but after Thursday’s unanimous vote by the Board of Trustees that may no longer be the case.

The Board approved a two-year pilot program to add athletics to the college beginning in the fall of 2015. The Hocking College Hawks will compete in archery, men’s and women’s basketball, cheerleading, football and volleyball during the two-year program.

President Betty Young explained that the college has seen an “overwhelming response” from students and prospective students who are interested in participating in athletics at Hocking College. These are students that otherwise would not have come to Hocking College, according to Young.

For Hocking College Police Chief Al Matthew — who will also serve as the college’s athletic director and head football coach — the approval comes three years after he initially presented the idea to then-president Ron Erickson. Matthews said he spoke with Young about the idea and that led to where things are now.

“She wanted to know what ideas I had to bring students in,” said Matthews. “I let her know that since we are the only two year school in Ohio with residence halls that athletics seemed to be the perfect combination.”

Matthews said that currently there are 206 students interested in football, with 60 being true freshmen for the fall. Hoping to have a team of 120, Matthews will be trying out around 146 students this weekend.

“Being Ohio’s first junior college with football, first ever, would be a big selling point. That kind of reflects in the numbers,” Matthews added.

“It’s inspiring to see the excitement and interested,” stated Young.

Some of the trustees expressed concerns with bringing athletics to the college and the potential financial fallout, along with behavioral concerns.

Trustee Keith Taulbee noted the trouble and bad press that can come if athletes or coaches get into trouble. Young stated there are staff who work on a behavioral risk assessment and this could be utilized to help stop potential concerns.

Stating that he did not “like living in a bunker,” trustee Mike Budzik added that there was “nothing wrong with giving it a try.”

A budget proposal presented by Young laid out the proposed start up costs for archery, men’s and women’s basketball, cheerleading, football and volleyball, along with an operating budget for the first two years. The proposal also shows the potential to add wrestling and golf in the second year, along with the addition of baseball, softball, bowling and soccer possible in the third year.

Trustee Mike Budzik asked Young why those specific sports were selected for the pilot program. Young commented that these programs are of particular interest to the students at Hocking College, particularly archery which aligns with the programs Hocking College offers. Hocking College will also become the first junior college in Ohio to offer football.

First year expenses are budgeted at $260,200, while projected revenues are $1.1 million for the first year. This revenue includes tuition, fees and room and board for 100 student athletes, along with admission and concession receipts. The revenue is expected to increase in the second year as student-athletes return for a second year and new student-athletes enroll.

The total first year budget of $260,200 includes 20 percent of new student-athlete revenue, with the second year to include 10 percent of student-athlete enrollment revenue.

Among the costs for the first year are an athletic trainer which will be contracted through OhioHealth at a cost of $30,000 per year. Other costs to be incurred are referees ($10,000), training for coaches ($7,000), travel ($10,000) and NJCAA membership ($1,800). There is a contingency built into the budget for each year for unforeseen expenses.

One cost notably absent in the first year is coaching costs. For the first year all coaches will be considered volunteer and will not be paid for their work. In the proposal for the second year, the head coach would receive $3,500 per sport, with the assistant coach receiving $2,500 per sport. Coaches are in place for the upcoming year, with the exception of volleyball.

Trustee Gary Edwards noted that the athletic programs can serve as a powerful recruiting tool to bring students to the college. The college needs money/revenue and the best way to get it is to add students, Edwards noted.

The athletics proposal presented by Young detailed goals for the program, a proposed mission for intercollegiate athletics at Hocking College,

Program goals include, attracting degree seeking high school graduates who will contribute positively to the overall enrollment goals and financial stability of the college while improving retention, completion and student life; promoting diversity and developing citizens who are engaged in their local and global communities; developing the whole student in academics and for life; lifting the spirits of the college community around the Hocking Hawks; and improving community outreach throughout Southeastern Ohio.

According to the proposal, basketball, volleyball and cheerleading will take place in the student center with football games to be played at Nelsonville-York’s Boston Field.

[EagleFan89]

Maybe it will start a trend. I think in some states two-year colleges routinely have football. In Ohio, basketball and baseball/softball are common, but for whatever reason never football.

[Orange and Brown]

The college is in really bad financial shape now. I think this will not work. They won't make money off having football or any other sport.

[NYBuckeye96]

I think they are counting "revenue" as being the tuition and room and board fees student athletes would pay that otherwise would not have attended the college. Keep in mind that these are not "scholarship athletes" like Division 1 sports in the NCAA. Many community colleges have sports. Football will be unique in Ohio, but as the previous poster stated, football is common in many states at the junior college level.

I don't think sports will be a money maker either. The benefit would be gaining recognition from people outside southeast Ohio that Hocking College exists and is an option that many would never have considered had they not known it existed.

We aren't talking lots of money here. No scholarships/paid benefits to student athletes. First year coaches are all volunteers and even if/when they are paid, they will probably be paid more so at a high school level stipend than anything else. The big expense will be travel for away games.

I think it will work. It works at every other junior college that sponsor sports.

Nothing has been stated about conference affiliation, but my bet is that Hocking will play in the OCCAC.

http://www.occac.org/landing/index

Cincinnati State
Columbus State
Cuyahoga
Edison
Lakeland
Lorain County
Owens
Sinclair



And this is the link to the NJCAA (the junior college version of the NCAA): http://www.njcaa.org/

[Raider6309]

Maybe it will start a trend. I think in some states two-year colleges routinely have football. In Ohio, basketball and baseball/softball are common, but for whatever reason never football.

Because football cost way too much. Even a school like OU, the students pay about 70% of the sports program. OU has to add $1,000 a year in tuition to even have a sports program

[anderson2012]

If not the OCCAC, perhaps the KIAC?

[mr.hyde]

I hope that they can be successful, but the recruiting questionnaire is handled through LeagueLineup, a site designed for pee-wee leagues.

If the start-up budget doesn't allow for a proper Web Site... that's a BAD omen.

[mr.hyde]

Lest I be called a hater...

I honestly think that having JUCO football in Ohio would be a great thing. I have known too many boys who have chased the dream of college football to one of this state's million-and-a-half liberal-arts schools, taking out big loans to pay for it, then realizing any combination of the following:

A) college football isn't fun in the same way as high school football
B) they aren't necessarily interested in/suited for college academics
C) the bill for on-campus living at a liberal arts is HUGE and not getting cheaper
D) the culture shock. If you have grown up in Appalachia and then lived on one of these private-school campuses, you know what I am talking about.

It could be a great thing that saves some of these young men some heartache, if done right.

[fortdawg]

This will allow local athletes to continue playing the games they love----I say go for it and good luck to all the kids from Southeastern Ohio.

[1987chieftains]

i think this is a great thing. i just hope HC can efford to keep it going.

[Wings Teaford]

I got a son who would be a great player for them. We call him THE WHOPPER in these here parts. He aint never been to no college before so i bet he has his eligibility still. Plus, I would be willing to work as offensive coordinator. We could install my grandpappys offense that he invented....the wing T. Probably go undefeated this fall.

[Pol pot]

Only a handful of athletic departments make money, it's an investment that pays dividends. At Hocking College, as already stated the benefit will be an increase in enrollment.

[mr.hyde]

^^^^^ Pol Pot, you are bang on correct. Only the biggest of the big boys make money, and that's kinda the Catch-22. Everybody wants champagne, but ya cant drink bubbly on a Keystone Light budget

[tric118]

Here is where most of you are wrong. They are not using Southeast Ohio kids. They tried out 150 kids and only one was from Southeast Ohio however since then they think he is in jail, stated from the coach. They are going after NCAA non qualifying academic athletes from big city schools. Most of the recruits that came in our from Cleveland, Toledo and Akron.

[Raider6309]

Here is where most of you are wrong. They are not using Southeast Ohio kids. They tried out 150 kids and only one was from Southeast Ohio however since then they think he is in jail, stated from the coach. They are going after NCAA non qualifying academic athletes from big city schools. Most of the recruits that came in our from Cleveland, Toledo and Akron.

Here is how your wrong. Hocking has a 50% retention rate. this rate will be lower with athletes. Hocking is basing it off 100% retention and they stay all three quarters

[mr.hyde]

I am sure that the culture shock goes both ways, then LOL.

So they are going to follow the NAIA template...

http://www.sbnation.com/longform/2014/1 ... ng-players

[anderson2012]

Here is where most of you are wrong. They are not using Southeast Ohio kids. They tried out 150 kids and only one was from Southeast Ohio however since then they think he is in jail, stated from the coach. They are going after NCAA non qualifying academic athletes from big city schools. Most of the recruits that came in our from Cleveland, Toledo and Akron.

For the most part, yeah. The word has been that Hocking is trying to model its football program after the JUCO programs that are in California and Texas in the hope of itself becoming a JUCO. I have no idea about Akron or Toledo, but I've been told they are really going for the kids in and around Columbus.

All sports programs at D2 NCAA and below have their fair share of turnover amongst first-years and new additions, don't get me wrong. D3's generally experience sub-optimal attainment rates due to either academic rigor or financial strain. However, NAIA sports programs experience a higher-than-desired rate of transience for some reasons that may be unique to their schools. Some of it may be money, but not necessarily in the form of a tuition bill but instead transportation costs or pedantic crap like unreasonably expensive parking tickets on campus property. Other issues may be disciplinary, and yet some issues may just be social. Hocking will almost certainly deal with the attainment issues that other NAIA's, i.e. Rio & Shawnee, already deal with. Those issues are going to be intensified with a football program.

It's in Hocking's best interest to take on a good percentage of SEOhio kids, especially those with good grades. Between a pool of 100 non-academic qualifiers (which, by the way, is as simple as not taking an ACT/SAT) and 100 lesser-talented, yet honest & and hard-working local kids, you will undoubtedly get a much higher retention rate with the latter as opposed to the former. Hocking will try and do JUCO with the expectation that the scouts & recruiters will pay to get in and in turn result in higher attainment if it turns into Ohio's version of Blinn (TX).

[surfsider]

I just can't imagine this working for Hocking College, which incidentally, I'd never knew existed until I read this thread. For me to spend a few dollars to watch some JUCO kids play football isn't in my budget or I'd bet the majority of folks within an hour's drive of Nelsonville.
Who in their right mind wants to watch JUCO football and not be at a college game on a Saturday in Athens or Columbus or Huntington or Pittsburgh or even that WVIAC or MEC league? I'd bet my ranch, all 186 acres, and the mineral rights, that after the first game that Hocking College team won't draw 150 fans.
Good luck and I hope it works out. Or should I say, 'Great Luck' cause you're going to need it Hawks.

[mr.hyde]

^^^^^^ I think Hocking hopes that an increase in full-time enrollments will pay for the program.

If they recruit kids who wouldn't have dreamed of coming to Hocking w/o football, it'll all be new money. And even if we don't buy tickets to watch the team, we will fund it through the Pell Grants which cover the student tuition...

[RoadMan]

Interesting, it could possibly boost enrollment. I hope is it not one term and done relative to grades for many of the young men. If they are working out players who were non-qualifiers the risk is even higher.

I am left to wonder about the other pieces of having sports teams: Laundry facilities for 120 sets of practice gear daily, meeting rooms (could feasibly use classrooms), practice facilities - could use green space around the school I suppose, locker rooms, and most importantly gear - helmets, shoulder pads, hip and thigh pads, shoes, practice jerseys, t-shirts, shorts, socks, jocks, sweats. Storage of equipment and clothing all come into play, do they already have facilities for these also?

I wish them luck, private schools have shown that adding football and other sports does boost enrollment, but it seems the majority of those stories you hear about are schools in highly populated areas or schools that start football the same year they allow young men to enroll on their campus, Mt. Joseph in Cincinnati for example.

Good luck Hawks, I hope to be reading about your sports teams being successful for years to come!

RoadMan