UAH to the WCHA?

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The University of Alabama Huntsville Chargers need a home - the WCHA  appears to be their only option -   the Chargers are in dire need of a league  - the WCHA is currently sitting at nine teams and would like to expand to 10 teams so they would have an even number of teams. I think UAH would fit in nicely in the nWCHA and is a natural rival with BSU.

Adam Wodon, College Hockey News --- Meanwhile, Alabama-Huntsville, a program pulled from the grave recently but still in need of help, will be the only independent and needs a home.

The WCHA is lining up as UAH's only option, and getting a 10th team is appealing to the league. But UAH faces the usual hurdles — questions over facility, commitment and distance.

"We're not making any bones about it — we're committed to Division I hockey and trying to get in a hockey conference," UAH athletic director E.J. Brophy said.

Brophy and other officials from Alabama-Huntsville had meetings with numerous interested parties at the April coaches convention in Naples, Fla., and the recent Frozen Four. Brophy believes the lobbying efforts were successful to a point, but no one has committed to bringing in UAH yet.

"We are discussing things with them. I'd put it as unofficial," WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod said. "I've met with (coach) Chris (Luongo), their president, E.J. (Brophy). We've discussed the process and what it would take. They did not officially apply, and we didn't ask them to. We wanted to find out how we learn more about one another, and how do we get a good feel for their commitment, where they're at with their building, and so on."

This tweet just came across Twitter as I was posting this blog post.

Something stinks in Huntsville...

After reading this newspaper article it also appears that there is an out of control university administrator running the UAH.

Also, university president Dr. Malcolm Portera, had no other intentions but to kill the UAH Chargers and there was no other plan. If I was a fan of UAH hockey program I would be very upset.

Shanon Lampton; Madison County Record --- Portera said that the hockey team, which has been independent since the CHA conference folded, cannot continue to exist as without a conference affiliation. According Portera, he was told that it would cost $1.5 million to join a conference and this is money the university just doesn’t have.

Western Collegiate Hockey Association commissioner Bruce McLeod, disagrees. He said that the conference has no minimum budgetary requirements, and none were given to Portera. Portera also shared a concern that because of the distance from other conference schools UAH would be required to subsidize other teams’ travel expenses. McCleod again disagreed. He says Portera asked him about it and was told it was not a requirement.

Nathan Bowen, who played hockey at UAH from 1996-2000, and coached at the school, wants to know how the numbers break down, and why offers of help were turned away. “We haven’t been given a lot of information. Just give us the breakdown of the figures.” He and other hockey alums and supporters pledged almost $600,000 in funding to be disbursed over the next three years. He knows it is not enough but thinks, given time, they could get there. “I think we could ramp up to the figures we need.”

People wonder why some have so little respect for the people that run institutions of higher education, these highly educated people seem to lack reality or are so out of touch with the "real world". Some of these people  have never had a real job in their life and yet have the power to affect so many people with their decisions.

My heart goes out to the people that are fans of the UAH hockey program.  There has been a group of people working their tails off to save their favorite hockey program and this administrator disregarded the will of the people. Also, it appears that the president lied about the WCHA having budgetary requirements and Bruce McLeod even refuted that claim.  

Related articles

• Alabama-Huntsville Dropping Men's Ice Hockey as NCAA Sport (bleacherreport.com)
• Save - UAH Hockey (mvn.com)
• Save UAH Hockey - a program on the "brink" (mvn.com)
• Effort to Save UAH underway... (mvn.com)

College hockey's landscape is changing, but is there room for UAH?

I know this is a little old but If you haven't seen this article it's worth a look.

The Huntsville Times --- Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez told Madison.com he expects the creation of Big Ten ice hockey to be at the top of the agenda at this month's conference meeting.

"I don't know the logistics - how long it takes to get out of a league, all of that - but I sense that we will move in that direction," he said.

The Chargers, meanwhile, continue to demonstrate patience. Athletic director Jim Harris has paid close attention to the developing situation in college hockey and hopes to keep UAH in a position to reach a conference agreement.

"We're prepared to visit or talk with any conference, and we'd certainly welcome the opportunity to be in this new landscape," Harris said. "We'd hope that if there is pow-wow of these major conferences, they'd at least include us in the talk to understand that we're still ready and still very viable."

The conference most likely to be affected by this forecasted seismic shift would be the CCHA, which currently claims Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State as members. Commissioner Tom Anastos recognized losing three of the conference's top teams is a possibility but isn't scrambling to make changes until he hears something definitive.

"I'd say it's way too early to really speculate on it," Anastos said. "I'm reading all the speculation, but I really don't want to engage in it because it's simply speculation."

Anastos said the CCHA is completing new organizational structures that will continue to evaluate any potential landscape changes, but stopped short of saying what schools it would take into consideration.

"(Our evaluations) aren't triggered because of any particular reason," Anastos said. "We just think it's good business to be constantly evaluating your structure.