Keene State has been known for many things, but one thing it has never been known for is football. Since KSC’s founding in 1909, the college has gone through many changes with athletics and its student body. In regards to enrollment over the past 10 years, Keene State’s student body has gone down from 5,516 in 2013 to 2,890 total students in 2022 according to KSC’s factbook.
One of the elements of the college’s strategic plan in recent years has been to bring in more revenue and increase enrollment again through college athletics. KSC President Melinda Treadwell sent out an email to students on July 24, stating, “The strategic investment to increase student-athletes comes with the expectation of enrollment growth.”
In recent years, Keene State has added more sports in an effort to bolster the athletics department, as well as increase prospective student interest. Some of the sports added include golf, varsity ice hockey and esports. Treadwell said the sports that were added to KSC reflect the values the college holds.
“Our athletes stay at an even higher percentage than the average. So by adding sports that are tied to who we are as a campus and who we wish to be and giving students who don’t come to us now who wish to be parts of those types of athletic adventures the chance to come to Keene State then we are attracting the right type of student to the right type of sport to the right type of academic profile, and they’ll hopefully stay.”
An article from PBS, published on March 18, “Analysis: Who is winning in the high-revenue world of college sports?” states sports that generate the most revenue for colleges are basketball and football on average. The men’s basketball team was ranked fifth going into the Final In-Season National Poll in the 2022-2023 season according to KSC’s athletic website on Feb. 27. Along with high rankings, men’s basketball is the only sport at KSC that consistently draws large crowds. The Equinox previously reported on March 8th that during the NCAA championship hosted at Keene State in 2022, fans were being turned away after the bleachers filled with attendees.
While the college looks to increase enrollment through athletics, a revenue stream is yet to be seen from any of KSC’s sports. According to Director of Athletics Marty Testo, “Division III athletics are not usually revenue generating to institutions, based on the size of institutions, based on the attendance at games and even at the ability to charge and come to games, there are a lot of limitations to it.”
With the addition of esports, golf, and varsity ice hockey, Keene State is trying to boost enrollment.
Natalie Houder, the Vice President for Finance and Administration at KSC, explained, “We have students here who maybe wouldn’t have come to Keene State without being able to participate in the athletic programs that we have, so every student is incremental to the revenue based on their tuition and housing.”
With Keene State increasingly looking at ways to bolster the athletics department, the “football question” looms large for the institution. Football is the most popular sport in the U.S., according to statisticsanddata.org with 74.5 percent of Americans watching it, followed by basketball with 56.6 percent.
Treadwell has said on numerous occasions that KSC does not have the culture for football, and instead wants to focus on bringing in “Students of promise” to the college. In regards to Keene State’s culture, Treadwell explained, “We typically are looking for the high school student who is high performing and high promise. Our core GPA is 2.57 and above, and the student who, in their high school GPA, was really performing at that AB level and above. There are students here who get in the mix because maybe they’ve had a hard first few years and then they start catching fire later in their high school experience so we can see them really becoming academically engaged.”
KSC has a high acceptance rate, with 88 percent of applicants who apply getting accepted. In comparison, Keene State athletics’ rival Plymouth State accepts applicants at a rate of 92 percent. In addition, Plymouth currently has an enrollment of 3,182 according to their website.
“My biggest focus right now is can we get a track – a covered track for our track athletes that are exceptional,” Treadwell said. “When you look at the profile of the huge roster that is football, 120 or so, [it is] very similar to track, if you compare [the] track profile roster to [the] football profile roster, the track is in that 2.75 [GPA] and above, usually 3.0 and above.”
According to an email sent to The Equinox from Kim Bownes, Plymouth’s Director of Athletics, Plymouth State’s football team’s average GPA in the spring semester of 2023 was 3.079, which was calculated from a roster of 90-100 students. Keene State’s total student body GPA is 3.184, according to Kimberly Schmidl-Gagne, the Accreditation and Assessment Officer at KSC.
According to Treadwell, changing the college’s academic profile is a concern when it comes to a potential addition of football. “Football tends to be, yes you’ll have a core of students in that, but you’ll also have students who are performing to the 2.0-2.5 [GPA] level, they are just on a different academic profile if you look at the academic profile of those rosters,” she explained.
In an email sent to The Equinox inquiring about the track and field team’s GPA and basketball GPA, Testo said, “Unfortunately, I have been unable to access this information. Based on s-a’s graduating, this information is not a true representation of what we currently have on our rosters for GPA.”
Associate Athletic Director Abraham Osheyack did not send over information in time for deadline.
“Football athletes as a block, there are a number of students in our demographic cohort but there’s also a number that are not quite the students who catch fire at Keene state; they’re students who require more supports academically than we deliver typically, so what would happen we would have a binomial, high profile, and a moderate to low profile academic student and that in a classroom makes it hard,” Treadwell said. We’ve done this in the past and we’ve really moved our profile to a higher level which is why I think we have the number 1 graduate teaching ranking as we are really delivering to a demographic we know.”
When it comes to the logistics of a potential football addition, Treadwell said turf field dimensions are an obstacle. According to Turf Tank, “A football field is 120 yards long, measured from the back of one endzone to the back of the other end zone and 53.3 yards wide. The dimension of the entire surface of the football field is 57,600 square feet.” Keene State’s biggest field is the artificial turf field with dimensions approximating 254’x374’ which is 84 yards x 124.667 yards, with a total of 94,996 square feet, according to Construction Clerk of the Works Colin Burdick.
One of the reasons Keene State is adding varsity Ice Hockey and esports is because the campus already has the space, with the hope it will bring student enrollment according to Treadwell. In the case of Ice Hockey, KSC has collaborated with a community partner so that they can have a shared space off campus – Keene Ice.
“We’re trying to figure out what to do within what we have right now which is hold the roster for Track and Field, add teams that don’t require us to have outside facilities, and focus on weight room right now for our varsity athletes, and enhancements to our other weight facilities for over health of all students and then figure out a track,” Treadwell said. “If it’s track and field or football let’s grow track and field. These are the students that are more academically profiled, most diverse, let’s invest there.”
Molly Lu McKellar can be contacted
at mmckellar@kscequinox.com
