Women's Upgrade a Tribute to Cahill

By Ken Schott

Schenectady Daily Gazette, January 14, 2004

Somewhere, Bill Cahill must be proud.

Before he died of a heart attack Oct. 5, Cahill was a driving force in trying to elevate the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute women's hockey program from Division III to Division I. But with Proposal 65 threatening the future of athletic scholarships for the men's program, it appeared that the possibility of the women's team moving up was in doubt.

But after Monday's NCAA convention approved Proposal 65-1, an amendment to Proposal 65 that allows RPI and seven other Division III schools that play up in a Division I sport to continue offering athletic scholarships, the RPI women's team found out that it will be moving up to Division I.

The exact season has yet to be determined, but it is expected to be within two years.

"We have been evaluating our options for moving a women's varsity sport to Division I for some time," Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson said. "We have a great tradition in ice hockey, making it an appropriate choice as a Division I sport at Rensselaer. We are now drafting a timeline, which will include an application to the Eastern College Athletic Association."

Interim head coach John Burke was thrilled to hear the news. Burke, who was an assistant coach with the men's team, took over the women's squad after Cahill's death.

"It was something that was in the works," said Burke, who is expected to have the interim tag removed soon. "Bill was working to elevate it. Proposal 65 put a major speed bump in all their plans.

"It's exciting. I know BC is smiling, wherever he is right now."

The women's team moved from club status to Division III in 1995-96. The Engineers won a school-record 20 games last season. This season, they are 6-1-0 in the ECAC East and 10-2-2 overall, and are ranked eighth in the nation.

"It's pretty exciting," said Ken Ralph, who is in his second year as RPI's athletic director. "It's been something that we've wanted to do since I started here, and it started well before I had arrived. We've gone through the process of which sport was the right fit, and determining how it would be administered.

"The women have earned it."

ECAC thrilled

ECAC commissioner Phil Buttafuoco was pleased with the way the NCAA vote turned out. Now, he can focus on what the league wants to do about replacing Vermont.

Vermont announced last week that it is leaving the league to join Hockey East, starting with 2005-06 season. The Catamounts' departure will leave the league with 11 teams.

Now, the ECAC has to decide how to replace Vermont. It could add just one team, or add more.

"If we expand, that institution or institutions must bring value to the ECAC, both in the classroom and on the ice," Buttafuoco said. "That's going to be the foundation of any discussions as we move forward."

Discussions about adding teams or staying at 11 will start today.

Meeting key

During a telephone interview Monday from the NCAA convention in Nashville, Tenn., Ralph looked back on the last five months, since Proposal 65 first came to everyone's attention in August.

Ralph believed the key reason for Proposal 65-1 passing was the meeting he organized with the seven other athletic directors from the affected schools - Clarkson, Colorado College, Hartwick, Johns Hopkins, Oneonta, Rutgers-Newark and St. Lawrence - in September. That meeting laid the groundwork for the success they achieved at the convention.

"We really started to bond at that particular meeting," Ralph said. "We started to work as a team, which was extraordinarily important. It was very evident, as we went through the process, that the eight schools were very comfortable working together."

"We built that trust at that opening meeting."

Other reaction

Clarkson and St. Lawrence were thrilled to keep scholarships.

"We are delighted that our amendment passed, and we can continue to offer grant-in-aid scholarships to attract the kind of outstanding student-athlete we seek for our men's and women's hockey teams," St. Lawrence athletic director Margie Strait said.

"This is an issue we have been passionate about, and I feel the significant margins by which both our amendment and the amended [Proposal] 65 passed is a tribute to the hard work done by the eight affected schools to inform our fellow Division III members about the issue."

Clarkson president Tony Collins said, "We are pleased that our Division III colleagues supported the amendment put forth by our eight schools. This action affirms the 1983 waiver that allowed us to continue our great tradition and history in hockey."

RPI recruits

Recruiting players for RPI had been difficult for coach Dan Fridgen and his staff because of the uncertainty over the scholarship issue. The Engineers have only two recruits committed for next season.

One of those recruits, forward Andrew Lord of Vernon of the British Columbia Junior Hockey League, made his commitment last year, before Proposal 65 became an issue.

Now that Proposal 65-1 grandfathers RPI, Fridgen has to play catch-up on the recruiting trail.

"It certainly affected us," Fridgen said. "It was always being questioned by potential student-athletes. I personally feel that we lost some student-athletes because of that, which other schools were using against us. We had no control over that."

"Without being specific, we couldn't answer the question, other than it wouldn't affect the student-athletes that are coming in for next year because it was something that would take effect in 2008."

Marsters honored

RPI goalie Nathan Marsters was named ECAC co-goalie of the week, sharing the honor with Yale's Josh Gartner.

Marsters, who won the honor for the third time, allowed two goals in leading the Engineers to a sweep of Capital Region rival Union. He made 19 saves in Friday's 5-1 victory, and then stopped 27 shots in Saturday's 3-1 win.

RPI defenseman Scott Romfo, who had a goal and two assists over the weekend, was named to the honor roll.

New team

RPI will be looking for a new team for its holiday tournament for next season.

Last Tuesday, Findlay announced it was dropping hockey as a varsity sport. The Oilers were supposed to be one of the teams in the tournament, which is moving from the Christmas holidays to Thanksgiving weekend.

The other teams are Air Force and Sacred Heart.