(KNOX) – In a concept not unlike many other collegiate sports, one college hockey coach is floating the idea of hockey leaving the NCAA umbrella?
Providence Head Coach Nick Leaman recently spoke of the issue on the RinkWise podcast with Evan Marinofsky, the editor of New England Hockey Journal.
Leaman stated that the current conversation about eligibility based on age has some arguing that the NCAA is not the right governing body for college hockey.
“There’s a lot of stuff going on right now, like with NCAA and all of these rules and eligibility, and three years ago, people were saying, ‘we should break away from NCAA’ People are thinking more and more about that conversation,” Leaman said during the podcast.
Leaman continued, ” I was sitting next to Pat Kelleher at one of the meetings, and I said, ‘Hey Pat, what if USA Hockey took over college hockey?’ People know that that’s something that may get explored down the road.”
Kelleher is the president of USA Hockey.
Leaman argues, during the podcast, that if USA Hockey governed college hockey, the requirements for what Division I college hockey is would not be as strict, allowing an easier path for current club teams to move to the Division I level.
“Maybe the top 20 club teams make it to Division I. They may not make it to the top of Division I, but what if Arizona and Oklahoma State…….we need to grow the game at that level. That’s how you get bigger TV contracts, that’s how you get more people following hockey in our country,” says Leaman.
Leaman says club hockey has never been better, and it would take the addition of about 20 more teams to “rebalance things” in the NCAA level.
You can view the entire podcast at this link:
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