Last Tuesday, word began spreading that American International was
downgrading its men’s hockey program to Division II at the end of this season.
Yellow Jackets coach Eric Lang confirmed it to me in a text and later issued the following statement to social media:
AIC has been the place I've called my home for over 15 years of my life, as a player, a graduate assistant, and Head Men's Ice Hockey Coach. There have been some stops here and there along the way, but something always brings me back to the institution I love.
The information…
— Eric Lang (@ericlang9) November 12, 2024
The next day, the school officially made the announcement, explaining that this action was due to cost-saving measures, euphemistically referred to as a “Pathway to Progress” for the university. The school also announced the elimination of the men’s wrestling and women’s tennis programs.
We’ll get to the human impact of this decision in a bit, but first, there’s the hockey component.
AIC is a Division II school playing “up” in hockey. The school carries a large roster compared to most, usually 32 or 33 players. The NCAA currently limits scholarships for D-I hockey at 18.
American International elevated its program in 1997 when it joined the newly-formed MAAC hockey conference. Before that, AIC and other Division II programs played in the ECAC East, a collection of Division II/III schools. There was a Division II NCAA Tournament from 1978 to 1984 and 1993 to 1999. The elimination of the D-II tournament in 1999 precipitated the formation of the MAAC Hockey, which was spearheaded by then-Quinnipiac Athletic Director Jack McDonald, who saw a way to find a home for these schools as well as increasing the field for the D-I tournament. Quinnipiac, Iona, Fairfield, Bentley, Canisius, Mercyhurst, Holy Cross, Sacred Heart, and Connecticut reclassified their hockey programs to D-I. At the time, the NCAA allowed schools to play “up” in one men’s and one women’s sport.
The MAAC made sense at the time to sponsor this new hockey conference, because it included as members three MAAC schools. But Iona and Fairfield dropped hockey in 2003, leaving Canisius as the only MAAC school.
That led to the transition from the MAAC to Atlantic Hockey, which eventually brought in Rochester Institute of Technology and Air Force in 2006 and Niagara and Robert Morris in 2010. Quinnipiac and UConn departed for ECAC Hockey and Hockey East, respectively.
Lang, a former AIC player and assistant coach, was named head coach in 2016, replacing Gary Wright, who retired after 29 seasons in Springfield, Mass. Wright, who
wrote a book about his hockey experiences, did not have a lot of success on the ice due to limited resources, but held things together at AIC for decades.
Lang was given an expanded budget that included more scholarships as well as the school moving the program’s home ice from the Olympia Ice Center to the Mass Mutual Center, an AHL rink downtown.
Lang’s recruiting strategy included taking “International” to heart, looking for players from Europe. Besides the usual collection of players from the US and Canada, the Yellow Jackets roster typically includes players from four or five other countries.
To say Lang’s efforts at AIC were transformative would be an understatement. Before his arrival, the Yellow Jackets typically finished at or near the bottom of the standings, averaging just under 7 wins a season.
Lang’s teams have averaged 18 wins a season, and only his first two were below .500. His teams have recorded 20 or more wins in four of his previous eight seasons. AIC won its first regular-season and playoff titles in 2019 and then proceeded to win three more regular season and two more playoff titles from 2020-2022.
In 2019, AIC knocked off overall top seed St. Cloud State in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Lang has been named coach of the year in Atlantic Hockey three times.
What happens next
We know for sure that AIC will leave Atlantic Hockey at the end of this season. It will honor the scholarships of any player deciding to stay.
We can assume the following:
1. AIC will join the Northeast-10, the only Division II league in college hockey. That league doesn’t permit scholarships (schools can offer 12.5 scholarships in Division II) which will complicate matters since in theory, a scholarship player who decides to stay at AIC might not be able to play in the Northeast-10.
2. The majority of players will enter the transfer portal, and recruits will be looking for spots elsewhere.
3. Lang and his staff (assistant coaches Matthew Woodard and Brendan Riley) will move on as well. Lang has turned down multiple job offers in the past to stay at AIC.
Impact to American International
The hockey budget at AIC is currently around $1.7 million, and recent changes to the NCAA landscape, including limiting roster size/scholarships from 18 to 26 per the House vs. NCAA ruling, would likely raise the price tag. The team typically carries 32-33 players, which means a lot of them are paying tuition, so limiting the roster size to 26 will be an income hit. One can assume that was a factor in downgrading the program.
This move will likely save upwards of $1 million, but at what cost?
The “Pathways to Progress” report says that the move will “allow it to be competitively positioned among peers and offer a greater level of impact than if the program were to stay in Division I.”
That defies logic. I’m not sure how you can compare playing in a Division II conference that is frankly not even on a par with several D-III leagues as having more impact than its current Division I status when the team’s recent success at that level includes making the D-I NCAA Tournament three times and knocking off the No. 1 team in the nation, but maybe that’s just me.
I wonder how many people didn’t know AIC existed before watching it knock off St. Cloud in 2019. I’ll bet more than a few.
Corporate “wordsmithing” aside, this is bad for everyone. Bad for the coaches, players, and their families. Bad for American International.
Most of all, bad for college hockey.
