Tennessee State University exploring hockey programs, would be first HBCU with Division 1 hockey.
- Thread starter DAkings20
- Start date
Cowumbus
Registered User
That would be pretty sweet. I want college hockey to keep growing.
This is the kind of venture that the NHL needs to actively support. Rather than just be pressured to donate money to random groups, they can actually measure results here, and grow the game.
Big McLargehuge
Fragile Traveler
Chips
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- Aug 19, 2015
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Dumb, they should move the school to Quebec
The Crypto Guy
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- Jun 26, 2017
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islandersbob
Registered User
Interesting idea, but probably won't have the perceived desire of getting an all black hockey team.
For example, I went to school at Florida State University in Tallahassee. Florida A&M, (FAMU) is a HBCU also located in Tallahassee. Some academic programs are combined between the two schools, shared buildings, curriculum, professors, students, but Florida State is the athletic destination. FAMU, like most HBCU, has a mostly black student body. However, the FAMU baseball team had quite a few white players. Partly two reason why, 1). it's hard to find black baseball players, even for HBCUs and 2). some white baseball players saw FAMUs need as a chance to get local to Florida State and maybe transfer there.
At best the Tennessee State hockey team will be a nice way for the kids in the Predators youth programs to stay local. Hopefully, they get a lot of black players and help increase the diversity in hockey, but I'm thinking that will be base off of how diverse the Predators youth programs are.
For example, I went to school at Florida State University in Tallahassee. Florida A&M, (FAMU) is a HBCU also located in Tallahassee. Some academic programs are combined between the two schools, shared buildings, curriculum, professors, students, but Florida State is the athletic destination. FAMU, like most HBCU, has a mostly black student body. However, the FAMU baseball team had quite a few white players. Partly two reason why, 1). it's hard to find black baseball players, even for HBCUs and 2). some white baseball players saw FAMUs need as a chance to get local to Florida State and maybe transfer there.
At best the Tennessee State hockey team will be a nice way for the kids in the Predators youth programs to stay local. Hopefully, they get a lot of black players and help increase the diversity in hockey, but I'm thinking that will be base off of how diverse the Predators youth programs are.
tarheelhockey
Offside Review Specialist
Should be interesting to see how this plays out. University of Alabama-Huntsville, which kept its program alive with almost miraculous levels of overnight fundraising, would be an obvious road trip and rivalry.
BigFatCat999
First Fubu and now Pred303. !@#$! you cancer
I almost went there on a minority scholarship. I am whiter than snow. BUT from what I am to believe there is a large community of black player in Ontario and Quebec. With Arizona State's rise, it would be interesting if that caught their attention.
Hell yeah, imagine the atmosphere of an HBCU football game at a hockey arena.
alko
Registered User
Good one. But im curious. Is is theoretically possible, that University from Canada joins NCAA?
JMCx4
Censorship is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
Simon Fraser University in British Columbia joined NCAA Division II back in 2010 for a few of their sports programmes.
Last edited:
Hollywood3
Bison/Jet/Moose Fan
- May 12, 2007
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Indeed they did and they still draw flies to their games. University sports are just not a big part of the Canadian sports mosaic.
PCSPounder
Stadium Groupie
Considering they finally built a stand in their footballs stadium (plural intended) for 1,800 people, Simon Fraser stands a chance of drawing a few more flies.
The stand was ready for 2020. Alas...
Here I was thinking about some of the novelty aspects of having Tennessee State start a program like a team in the Southeastern District, so few youth programs that they have sub-regional tournaments...you know, things that someone who has spent way too much time involved at the youth level thinks about. Strangely enough, the two "novelties" that I thought of were all fulfilled by Huntsville.
Whatever. NCAA hockey has seen too many teams drop out this year. Someone, anyone, please start a new team!
DoyleG
Reality sucks, Princesses!
tarheelhockey
Offside Review Specialist
That's not necessarily just a Canadian thing. Division II sports in general are not attendance heavy. Lots of basketball teams only draw in the low-hundreds (here) and hockey teams (here) seem to do even worse.
With all due respect to those programs, people don't enroll at a D-II school if following sports is high on their list of priorities.
CrazyEddie20
Hey RuZZia - Cut Your Losses and Go Home.
Plenty of Division I men's hoops teams draw in the low hundreds. You don't even have to go down to lower divisions - just the mid-major and minor conferences. Outside of the Power 5 and a few other schools, attendance - even in revenue sports like football and men's hoops - is non-existent at every level of college athletics. A couple thousand for a mid-major DI men's hoops game is a huge number, and you can bet that mid-major's women's team draws 200 if they're lucky.
tarheelhockey
Offside Review Specialist
Indeed. The scale of elite-conference football and basketball gives an impression about the popularity of college sports that doesn't actually apply to 99% of the rest.
Another example is college baseball, which is actually a pretty appealing product -- high level of play in a popular sport, with plenty of top draft prospects to see. But outside of a few power teams you rarely see a real crowd at those games. Even the inflated numbers they report show dozens D-I teams with only a few hundred fans on a good day. Often the stands are all but empty... just the way it is at the college level.
CrazyEddie20
Hey RuZZia - Cut Your Losses and Go Home.
Yup - SEC baseball is a huge draw. But go to a SoCon baseball game, and you'll be one of dozens of fans there. That said, SEC baseball fans are deluded about the level of play. Ten thousand will show up to a game between Ole Miss and MSU and tell you how much better that game is than a Class-AA game, while totally ignoring that the best MLB prospects are in Class-AA and the tenth guy in the Ole Miss bullpen will be a bank executive at age 23.
Cart before the horse. Needs to start at grassroots and build to an HBCU team over years. I think synthetic ice is a potentially great way to cost-effectively get kids U10 in black community bases on "ice" . Be a good first smoke. From there let the demand past-U10 carry over into greater initiatives.
JMCx4
Censorship is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
I sure hope your campaign slogan for this youth sports initiative doesn't include: "a good first smoke."
Barclay Donaldson
Registered User
Alabama-Huntsville started out of nowhere. They'd be a lower middle of the line NCAA D1 program with a solid future if they weren't a full day bus trip away from their closest opponent. You can start with nothing.
Arizona State definitely isn't in the middle of a hockey community. Neither was Penn State.
As long as the team is supported well, grass roots doesn't matter. It's not like local kids are the pipeline. The vast majority of players still come from traditional hockey areas.
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