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The Tale of Birmingham-Southern
Posted on 6/3/24 at 12:33 pm
Posted on 6/3/24 at 12:33 pm
I know it's not SEC-related, but it is baseball and a crazy story.
Birmingham-Southern was a small, private liberal arts college in Birmingham that had been created by the Methodist Church back in 1856. I say "was" because, on this last Friday, they had to close the doors for good after years of financial issues and smaller and smaller enrollment (their final enrollment was less than 1,000 students).
When the school announced that they were going to have to close the doors, their baseball team was at mid-season with a 13-0 record. They finished the season at 19-4 and made it to the D3 playoffs, where they won their Super Regional and were slated to begin play in the D3 World Series at the same time their school was set to close their doors.
A GoFundMe was created and over $100k was raised to send these players to the World Series.
After losing their first game 7-5, Birmingham-Southern beat Randolph-Macon 9-7 in the elimination bracket. They then took a 10-5 lead into the 7th inning, only to watch Wis-Whitewater, the #3 seed, tie the game up by the bottom of the 8th and then win the game with a walk-off homerun in the bottom of the 9th to end their season on a 11-10 heartbreaker, officially ending the Birmingham-Southern's athletic department.
It should be noted they entered the tournament as a #3 seed, winning the Lexington bracket (including a game they won 21-7) and then winning their Super Regional (where they were the lower seed) - in both cases not losing a single game leading up to the World Series.
Here's one to you, Birmingham-Southern. You went out like a boss.
Birmingham-Southern was a small, private liberal arts college in Birmingham that had been created by the Methodist Church back in 1856. I say "was" because, on this last Friday, they had to close the doors for good after years of financial issues and smaller and smaller enrollment (their final enrollment was less than 1,000 students).
When the school announced that they were going to have to close the doors, their baseball team was at mid-season with a 13-0 record. They finished the season at 19-4 and made it to the D3 playoffs, where they won their Super Regional and were slated to begin play in the D3 World Series at the same time their school was set to close their doors.
A GoFundMe was created and over $100k was raised to send these players to the World Series.
After losing their first game 7-5, Birmingham-Southern beat Randolph-Macon 9-7 in the elimination bracket. They then took a 10-5 lead into the 7th inning, only to watch Wis-Whitewater, the #3 seed, tie the game up by the bottom of the 8th and then win the game with a walk-off homerun in the bottom of the 9th to end their season on a 11-10 heartbreaker, officially ending the Birmingham-Southern's athletic department.
It should be noted they entered the tournament as a #3 seed, winning the Lexington bracket (including a game they won 21-7) and then winning their Super Regional (where they were the lower seed) - in both cases not losing a single game leading up to the World Series.
Here's one to you, Birmingham-Southern. You went out like a boss.
7
Posted on 6/3/24 at 12:37 pm to skrayper
I hardly knew ya
Posted on 6/3/24 at 12:39 pm to skrayper
Posted on 6/3/24 at 12:41 pm to skrayper
No one cares. I don't know a single graduate from BSC. I know a lot of Samford and UAB alums tho
Posted on 6/3/24 at 1:32 pm to skrayper
I’m glad the state didn’t step in and flush taxpayer dollars down the toilet in an attempt to save it.
Many of the small, liberal arts colleges around this country are destined to fail. There will be hundreds more close shop in the coming decades.
1. There aren’t enough kids being born. The millennial baby boom ended about 15 years ago, and there are 10-12% fewer kids being born right now than there were from 2005-2009. Each year, the numbers keep dropping off further. This will lead to fewer kids to attend these colleges in about 15 years.
2. Cost of tuition is too high. The cost/benefit analysis doesn’t work for liberal arts degrees.
Many of the small, liberal arts colleges around this country are destined to fail. There will be hundreds more close shop in the coming decades.
1. There aren’t enough kids being born. The millennial baby boom ended about 15 years ago, and there are 10-12% fewer kids being born right now than there were from 2005-2009. Each year, the numbers keep dropping off further. This will lead to fewer kids to attend these colleges in about 15 years.
2. Cost of tuition is too high. The cost/benefit analysis doesn’t work for liberal arts degrees.
Posted on 6/3/24 at 1:37 pm to skrayper
quote:
liberal arts
Posted on 6/3/24 at 1:41 pm to solus
quote:
No one cares. I don't know a single graduate from BSC. I know a lot of Samford and UAB alums tho
I notice you say you have acquaintances, not friends. I applaud you for your honesty.
Posted on 6/3/24 at 2:13 pm to skrayper
I posted this a couple weeks ago when they won the Super Regional, but here's the tale of how BSC went down.
1. They went D1 for four years. They were a member of the Southern Conference and outside of baseball, it was a colossal failure.
2. At the same time, they tried a "Build it and they will come" strategy like their Methodist friends at High Point. The problem is they took on a lot of debt to modernize and expand their campus.
3. When the D1 thing completely failed, they returned to D3, but added football. The expense of adding football took away any savings they had for returning to non-scholarship athletics.
4. The new president went all-in on woke, and even went as far as banning some Christian groups from campus. Donations took a hit. At the same time, the overall United Methodist Church began to go hard left.
5. They fired that president and hired back to back presidents with no experience in higher education. They both took on more debt and tried a "tuition reset" approach, common amongst struggling schools (e.g. We are no longer $35,000 with $25,000 in scholarships - we are $15,000 with $5,000 in scholarships)
6. COVID
7. Their massive debt had to be refinanced with unfavorable rates and not getting the $30 million from the state did them in. In all honesty, the $30 million would have gotten them 2 more years, tops.
1. They went D1 for four years. They were a member of the Southern Conference and outside of baseball, it was a colossal failure.
2. At the same time, they tried a "Build it and they will come" strategy like their Methodist friends at High Point. The problem is they took on a lot of debt to modernize and expand their campus.
3. When the D1 thing completely failed, they returned to D3, but added football. The expense of adding football took away any savings they had for returning to non-scholarship athletics.
4. The new president went all-in on woke, and even went as far as banning some Christian groups from campus. Donations took a hit. At the same time, the overall United Methodist Church began to go hard left.
5. They fired that president and hired back to back presidents with no experience in higher education. They both took on more debt and tried a "tuition reset" approach, common amongst struggling schools (e.g. We are no longer $35,000 with $25,000 in scholarships - we are $15,000 with $5,000 in scholarships)
6. COVID
7. Their massive debt had to be refinanced with unfavorable rates and not getting the $30 million from the state did them in. In all honesty, the $30 million would have gotten them 2 more years, tops.
This post was edited on 6/3/24 at 2:14 pm
Posted on 6/3/24 at 3:37 pm to AUTiger789
quote:
The millennial baby boom ended about 15 years ago
Looked this up to get the exact numbers.
The most babies born in the United States in a 4-year period since the late 1950s occurred between 2005-2008…. A total of 16.97 million babies born.
Fast-forward to 2021-2024* (*2024 is an estimate based on 3 months of data), and the number of babies born are down to 14.53 million…. That’s a 14.4% decline from 2005-2008.
The peak of the millennial baby boom (2005-2008) will largely begin going to college this Fall. That means in 3 years, we’ll hit peak college enrollment in this country and then we’ll start to fall off. By the early 2040’s we’ll have 14% fewer college-aged Americans than we do now.
What does this mean?
Highly rated Universities will largely have no issues. I’d say no SEC schools will have any problems. But as the top 100-150 universities continue to maintain or even grow enrollments, the drop off will be doubly felt by universities catering to students outside these top 100-150 universities.
Basically the universities who have gotten away with charging high tuition prices for decades but who also aren’t very highly rated or sought after academically…. Those schools are going to see their number of applicants plummet.
The high cost of tuition will compound the problem as more high schools seniors (particularly males) will opt for trade school or 2-year colleges.
The 2040s will be a Depression-level crisis for many colleges and universities. The question is, do any of them even see this crisis coming as they continue to build new buildings and borrow at high interest rates? They likely don’t.
This post was edited on 6/3/24 at 3:39 pm
Posted on 6/3/24 at 3:39 pm to skrayper
In days of yore....way before my mother's time, So BSC was Samford's hated rival.
Posted on 6/3/24 at 3:44 pm to anc
BSC is a good example of a school that overextended. It’s a damned shame because it was a good school and a beautiful campus.
Posted on 6/3/24 at 3:59 pm to Bigbens42
quote:
and a beautiful campus.
In a free fire zone. I have family friends that talk about hearing the gunfire every night and dorm windows being shot through. They also elected to go D1 some years back. Why? Pride? Wanting to compete with Samford? I have no idea. There is also a story about a wealthy donar offering BSC a game changing gift if they agreed to not integrate. BSC turned the money down. Samford (Howard at the time) took the money. I have literally no reliable sources on this story. It is part of lore.
This post was edited on 6/3/24 at 4:01 pm
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