Back when this conference was officially formed, I thought Wisconsin and Minnesota were crazy to leave what was arguably the best conference in college hockey for something unknown. Yes, the Big 10 has more money, more prestige, and a handful of great teams. But the conference still had one huge question mark. To receive an auto-bid to the NCAA tournament the conference has to have six teams. This means that Penn State hockey has to succeed at the D1 level for this conference to be legitimate.
Now we all remember Terry Pegula donated a generous $80 million for a new rink to kickstart
this program. Penn State was able to lure Princeton head coach Guy Gadowsky away from the Tigers to lead the young program. Furthermore, the school and athletic department had the money and the reputation to recruit and build a contender. Sounds like a safe plan for the rest of the Big 10 schools right?
Less than a year later Penn State is in one of the biggest athletic scandals of all time, has just gotten the book thrown at them by the NCAA, and is forced to start a new program while the school is losing credibility faster than anybody could have imagined. So what does this mean for the Nittany Lions hockey program? The school has $60 million in fines, the primary cash cow will be a non-factor for at least four years, and the school is losing corporate sponsors. Hockey is not a cheap sport to fund. Yes, the Pegula donation will help but Penn State still needs to find ways to fund 18 scholarships (roughly $40,000 per year each), travel (not one of the other Big 10 hockey schools is in driving distance), recruiting expenses, equipment expenses, etc. The average Big 10 hockey program requires an annual budget of about $2.5 million. The NCAA has created quite the obstacle for the new hockey program by fining the school a huge sum of money and essentially cutting off the hand that feeds Penn State athletics.
It’s still too early to tell whether this will significantly hinder Penn State’s ability to put a strong product on the ice in 2013 and sustain itself in the future. I do believe Pegula will offer whatever monetary donation is needed to keep the program afloat and they still have a new rink on the way, a prestigious conference, and a good location to recruit from. However, the scandal and sanctions have made the transition much more difficult for the Nittany Lions hockey program and will undoubtedly tarnish the “prestige” of the Big 10 Hockey Conference. I guess that’s why they say there’s no such thing as a sure thing.
*I welcome and appreciate your thoughts and feedback!
