From the CAC to the MEC? Mountain East Representatives Visit Frostburg State

Frostburg State University hosted the Mountain East Conference’s Site Visit Team this past Tuesday, April 24 to visit the campus, tour the facilities, and meet with faculty and student-athletes.

The Mountain East Conference (MEC), based out of Bridgeport, W. Va., competes in NCAA Division II.

The MEC is interested in Frostburg State to replace the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, as they leave the MEC on July 1, 2019. The University of Virginia’s College at Wise made the decision to leave the Mountain East to decrease their geographic footprint.

In late March, the FSU athletic department expressed interest in the MEC and sent a letter of interest. The Mountain East has a commitment to maintain 12-member institutions, which is what ultimately began the formal relations between the MEC and Frostburg. The Board of Directors holds the executive decision-making power.

Hannah Hinton, Associate Commissioner of Compliance, and the Senior Woman administrator for the Mountain East, noted during discussion that two institutions in West Virginia and another in Ohio have also expressed interest in joining the Mountain East.

President Nowaczyk and Troy Dell, the Head Athletic Director, have remained transparent with the campus community, student-athletes, and the coaches as the process continues and all options are explored.

Conference realignment is currently occurring in the Capital Athletic Conference (CAC), the conference in which all of Frostburg athletic teams compete in except Football. Frostburg Football competes in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC). Just as the University of Virginia’s College at Wise is exiting the MEC, both Wesley College and Marymount University are leaving the CAC to pursue membership in a new league, the Atlantic East Conference, which coincides with both institutions’ value systems and benefits the student-athletes. The CAC has not found two other institutions to replace the two exiting, leaving the conference with eight teams. Members of the Frostburg athletic department and administration are doing their due diligence by assessing all available opportunities to protect the University’s 21 sports.

On Tuesday, Reid Amos, the Commissioner of the Mountain East, along with members of the Site Visit Team, consisting of athletic directors and other administrators from the MEC, spent the day at Frostburg. The Site Visit Team arrived around 10 a.m. and met with Frostburg administrators. They were then formally welcomed by President Nowaczyk. Amos opened the day presenting about the MEC and participating in a Q & A forum with administrators. The Site Visit Team then spent the next hour at Frostburg presenting the MEC, discussing with, and answering any questions that the FSU athletic department staff or coaches had. Over the lunch hour, the Site Visit Team ate with members of the Student Athletic Advisory Committee (SAAC) and representatives from Frostburg sports teams. The time was spent similarly to that, as it was with the athletic department faculty and coaches.

Following lunch, the Site Visit Team toured the campus and facilities. They then hosted several breakout sessions among various members of the FSU faculty. The first was spent discussing athletics with a faculty athletics representative, the provost, and faculty senate. The other sessions ran concurrently and looked at the administration aspect of the transition, enrollment management, and financial aid, while another session discussed operations with Rubin Stevenson, the Associate Athletic Director at Frostburg. The next covered compliance with Frostburg’s Head Baseball Coach and Assistant Athletic Director for Compliance, Guy Robertson, and the final session highlighted sports information with Noah Becker, the Director of Sports Information at Frostburg. The day concluded around 4 p.m. after the team reviewed the MEC application with President Nowaczyk, Interim Vice President for Administration and Finance Denise Murphy, and Dell.

Over lunch, Amos presented to members of SAAC as well as representatives from various Frostburg athletic teams. Amos highlighted the importance of championships saying, “that one opportunity could be the only opportunity [for the student-athlete].” He continued to exemplify the “outstanding experiences” and showcase to the student-athletes that the conference is highly competitive. Before showing a video, Amos said that there is an “opportunity for excellence in the Mountain East.”

The video, “This is the Mountain East,” illustrated the various sports the MEC offers and displayed film of the MEC institutions winning championships, both at the conference level and the national level.

After the video, Amos told the SAAC members and team representatives that all 12 institutions have earned an NCAA berth in at least one sport. The conference has had seven student-athletes win the NCAA ELITE 90 award, in which all three divisions recognizes student-athletes who compete at the national championship level in his or her respective sport while achieving the highest grade point average according to ncca.org. Teams have won 18 regional titles, there have been 13 NCAA semi-final appearances, 7 appearances in the National Championship, and 2 NCAA championship titles from institutions in the Mountain East Conference. The University of Charleston Men’s Soccer team captured the 2017 NCAA title and Wheeling Jesuit University Women’s Volleyball won the 2015 NCAA title.

Prior to beginning competition as the Mountain East, the majority of the charter members competed in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC), another DII conference primarily based in West Virginia. The WVIAC dissolved in 2013, which was the same year the Mountain East began competition. Amos noted that in the time period of 1995-2013, 18 years, the institutions only made one appearance the NCAA tournament. In the five years of the Mountain East, two different institutions have captured National Championships.

The MEC is one of the top conferences in NCAA Division II.

The Mountain East Conference contains 12 charter members after becoming active in 2013-14: Concord University, Fairmont State University , West Virginia State University, Glenville State College, the University of Charleston, Shepherd University, West Liberty University, Wheeling Jesuit University, West Virginia Wesleyan College, Notre Dame College, Urbana University, and the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, which is exiting the MEC as mentioned previously.

Out of the remaining schools, nine are located in West Virginia and two are in Ohio. There are six public institutions and five private. The institutions also have similar enrollments, budgets, and goals, Amos mentioned. Frostburg State fits in with these similarities.

The MEC hopes to replace the institution and maintain 12 members because of scheduling effectiveness and containing costs in travel and scheduling through the creation of travel partners. This provides institutions with the opportunity to redirect funds back into to the programs, according to Amos.

In the MEC, all institutions must compete in Football, Women’s Volleyball, Baseball, Softball, and Men’s and Women’s Basketball. NCAA requires all members of Division II to compete in one sport per season. Frostburg State offers competitive teams in each one of the six sports. The conference offers 20 conference championship sports.

The Mountain East has around 3,600 student-athletes, and 1,500 of them hold a GPA in the range of 3.25- 3.69, with another 700 achieving a grade point average above 3.7 during their semester of competition.

In the CAC, Frostburg currently averages 206.7 miles per trip. If they were to join the MEC, the geographic footprint would decrease to an average of 174.5 miles per trip, which equates to 64 fewer miles round trip. Now, the shortest conference trip is to Arlington, Va. at 145 miles, and in the MEC, there would be five trips shorter than 145 miles. The median trip would be 151 miles of travel in the MEC, according to Amos.

The MEC also has a strong media presence. They have various radio, streaming, HD video, and TV services. For example, the West Virginia Radio Corporation, which is under the same ownership group as the Allegheny Radio Network, enables the MEC to host a 15-station network to reach across the region. If Frostburg were to join the MEC, it would have the opportunity to expand its relationships and increase coverage of their athletics. The MEC also highlights games of the week through streaming services such as moutaineast.tv and wvmetronews.com. They work with AT&T Sportsnet Pittsburgh, which is available in 2.5 million homes in the West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio and Western Maryland region. Their media presence acts as the “front porch,” said Amos, to create engagement with the community and alumni of the institutions.

Amos mentioned that the media presence enables strategies to increase more name recognition for their student-athletes in the MEC. For example, an MEC institution athletic team has been featured on the SportsCenter Top 10 four times.

Following the presentation portion of the lunch, Amos opened up to questions from those in attendance.

First-year goalie on the Men’s Lacrosse team Corey McAndrew asked about the possibility of implementing Men’s Lacrosse. Currently, the MEC does not sponsor Men’s Lacrosse or Field Hockey. Amos said that no conference “can be all things to all athletics” and he does “not anticipate quick growth with Men’s Lacrosse.” He continued to say that they would work with other conferences in an effort to find an affiliate membership. Wheeling Jesuit University has a Men’s Lacrosse program and they compete in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC).

Paul Kumpar, a sophomore defensive-line on the Football team, asked a question regarding scholarships, as athletes in Division II have the potential of obtaining a partial athletic scholarship. Division III offers no athletic scholarship opportunity. Amos noted that the athletic scholarship would combine with academic scholarships and the funds could stem from the institution’s revenue and expenditures. The partial scholarship would act as an additional incentive when the recruit matches the academic qualifications of the respective institution. Commonly, 10-20% of athletic scholarships are funded through fundraising, Amos said. He continued and said that the largest number of athletic scholarships at any MEC state institution is approximately 80. Amos highlighted that these scholarships act as “furthered discounts for the student-athlete.” New legislation is being enacted this August in which a coach can increase an athlete’s scholarship at any time for any reason.

Following a Q&A session, members of the MEC Site Visit Team sat down with members of SAAC and student-athletes representing various sports teams to conclude the session. Hinton noted that many schools in the MEC recruit widely – locally, nationally, and internationally. The institutions recruit to match talent. She also highlighted that the MEC institutions are competitive at the national level as an average of two to three teams from each sport receive a bid to the NCAA tournament each year. Each institution has also won a conference championship in at least one sport. She continued to say that Frostburg appears to be a “good fit” and would likely be able to compete in the “middle of the pack right away.” Hinton said that the three-year provisional period that would occur if Frostburg were to make the switch to DII would allow for growth. She also noted that the facilities at FSU are comparable to those the institutions have in the MEC.

Many Frostburg student-athletes are concerned that a transition to DII would change “the student-athlete experience” that Frostburg currently offers competing at DIII. Amos said that, in the MEC, they believe in “a balanced approach to academics, athletics, and other collegiate experiences.” NCAA Division II prides itself on the mantra “Life in the Balance” meaning that the student-athletes engage in high-levels of athletic competition, academic development, and community engagement according to ncaa.org.

Hunter Given, an Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant at FSU and former MEC student-athlete Basketball player at Glenville State, said that, “I would say that from working here over the past year and being around Division III for the first time, that there is not much of a difference in terms of being involved with outside activities or clubs. I notice many similarities between Division II and III, and if Frostburg State made the advancement to Division II that it would not impact the ‘student-athlete’ experience very much, if any at all.”

President Nowaczyk, Dell, and the athletic department are continuing to explore all possible opportunities and plan to keep the campus community up-to-date as the process continues.