Full Description
The New England Small College Athletic Conference has won glowing appraisals in the sporting press since its founding in 1971. Established to strengthen intercollegiate sports in harmony with the high academic standards of its members--11 prestigious liberal arts colleges--the NESCAC is committed to equity and inclusion in athletic programs, and to providing only need-based financial aid. The Conference's reputation attracts many gifted student athletes. Drawing extensively on campus archives, media reports and interviews, this book compares the NESCAC's lofty strategy to reality, with a focus on recruiting, admissions, financial aid and diversity goals.
Contents
Table of Contents
Foreword by Stephen Hardy
Introduction: "The Sweatiest of the Liberal Arts"
1. An Ideal Is Born: The Future NESCACs in the Emerging Intercollegiate Athletics Landscape
2. Establishing the Pentagonal Agreement: The Challenges of Formalization and Self-Interest
3. Alex Schulten, the 1.6 Rule, and the Artifice of the Ideal Image Exposed
4. The "Potted Ivy" Conference: From the Pentagonal Agreement to NESCAC
5. The New Conference Faces Immediate Challenges
6. "When All Hell Broke Loose": The Realities of Postseason Play
7. No Longer So Pure and Simple: Managing the AP-Era Ideal
8. Recruiting: The Realities of Athletics Resource Acquisition
Epilogue: The Cultivation of a New Image Era
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index
