On Thu, 26 Oct 1995, Chris Lerch wrote:
> The Rochester (NY) Democrat and Chronicle reported yesterday that BU
>  assistant coach Blaise MacDonald will be named head hockey coach at
>  Niagara University, which plans to begin varsity play next fall.
 
  Congratulations to coach MacDonald ....
 
> Niagara, a Division I school, plans to initially play in the ECAC West,
>  [although] their ultimate goal, is to play a bonafide D-I schedule as
>  early as 1998/1999.  Construction of a new rink is underway.
>
> As a side note, this will most likely reopen the discussion of an
>  additional ECAC West team moving up to D-I, as Union did a few years
>  back when Army dropped out. The most likely scenario would be for
>  Niagara to join the ECAC at some point, which means they'll need a
>  travel partner. RIT, Elmira and Mercyhurst have all considered a move
>  to D-I in the past. Another possibility is to reshuffle travel
>  partners to allow UConn from the ECAC East to move up, which has been
>  rumored for some time.
 
  I know this has been hashed out before, but ....  Would UConn really
look to join the ECAC, rather than Hockey East, if they did decide to
upgrade their program to DivI ??  (Heck, given their location, Niagara
could just as easily join the CCHA - I'll bet LSSU is no further from
the Niagara campus than Harvard :-)  But seriously - is the $$/Title IX
balance/committment really there for this to happen - haven't there been
more credible rumours that the Husky 1-AA football program would upgrade
to full Big East status, and in so doing siphon off money/support from a
hockey upgrade ??
 
  It will be interesting to see how this Big Time committment now
expressed by Niagara plays out at the other "local" schools who will be
their early rivals.  Mercyhurst, Elmira, RIT and Canisius all have proud
hockey traditions - will any one of these schools jeopardize the symbiosis
that binds them all together by bolting with Niagara to DivI ??  Niagara's
situation is in many ways comparable to that of UMass-Amherst: big plans,
big ambitions, and a desire to get there as expeditiously as possible.
If nothing else, Niagara's bold move in the face of considerable financial
and Title IX considerations should stand as an example to schools such as
Mankato State and N. Dakota State who each talked at one time about up-
grading to DivI, but ultimately choose not to do so.  If you want to know
how it's done - call B. MacDonald's office :-)
 
  Cheers from Maryland - Jim
 
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