Interesting that these tiny schools are being granted, recycled into, and touted for D1 programs, but I see nothing about much larger "name" schools, presumably with much more financial and recruiting clout, in parts of the country where hockey is played at least somewhat seriously. I'm thinking Iowa, Iowa State, Indiana, Missouri, Rutgers, Temple, Villanova, Maryland, Virginia, etc. And it's puzzling that Army and Air Force have D1 teams, but Navy doesn't.
I don't follow D1 Hockey all that closely. I know that establishing a D1 program can be enormously expensive, e.g. PSU, but what am I missing about the many other potential teams? Browsing this thread suggests there's more than enough talent to stock teams for at least a few more "serious" schools.
(No knock against Lindenwood, Robert Morris, et al. Best of luck to all of them.)
Hockey is a (potential) revenue sport, and as such, all of those schools aren't going to start a program without making the full effort of doing everything at the highest possibly level - because when you skimp, you're less likely to make money or break even.
The other thing to remember is that the bigger and more high profile the school, the more ripe a target they are for a Title IX suit, especially at schools that play football. This is a legal issue that I've elaborated on earlier in this thread, and no, it's not as simple as, "Just start a women's team at the same time!"
As for the schools you rattled off, Villanova once had a varsity hockey program, but that ended in 1997-98. They were a Division I independent and were, frankly, not competitive, even against Division III teams.
Navy has been rumored to want to play Division I hockey, and Dr. McMullen gave them a small but decent facility, but nothing more has come of it.
I'd think Big Ten schools would be profitably, but Mizzou, IU, Iowa State, Rutgers and Maryland don't have viable facilities to host games and sell enough tickets and sponsorships to break even and provide a student-athlete experience commensurate with their brand level as an athletic program in a Power 5 conference.
Virginia's campus culture is decidedly southern. Varsity hockey has probably never been considered there. Also, Title IX is a problem.
Temple? Whatever. They'd probably have a decent chance at building a good program, but they threw piles of money at their perenially-miserable football team and now they're perenially mediocre. Football and hoops are what matter there.
www.tennessean.com
And now that you say it I do remember reading they switched rinks.
