ALBANY, N.Y. — The date Nov. 30, 2023, will be singed into the minds of students, athletes, administrators, coaches, professors, and even general faculty at the College of Saint Rose forever, but for all the wrong reasons.
Some were sitting in or teaching classes, others were training or practicing for their specific sports and others were simply going about their days and jobs, as usual until they were informed of news they are all still working on recovering from — that the college would be closing at the end of the 2023-2024.
It was news that had been bubbling to the surface for quite some time leading up to that day, but many had tried to dismiss it as rumors and do the best they could to go about their daily lives. However, now the closing had become real and so were the feelings that immediately came with it.
“I walked into class and my teacher already had Wednesday’s report that was saying we were in jeopardy to close. We probably stayed in there for 15 minutes and she said we’d be lucky if we were open for another two years,” St. Rose men’s lacrosse freshman Dominick Zichelli said. “Finding out the news was shocking just because we’ve made so many connections with older guys and the freshmen that we came in with; we were really close and now we only have half a year to be with these guys.
“It’s kind of heartbreaking.”
“Everything was just rumor. There was nothing with any substance, so there was really nothing to talk about. To be honest with you, right now I feel awful for our kids,” Golden Knights women’s head basketball coach Will Brown said. “It really snuck up on me really quick and happened so fast. I was kind of caught off guard and very surprised.
“Once I heard the news, my first thought was — I need to protect our players, get them together, sit with them and break it to them and get them to understand that this is real and that this is happening and try to answer any questions they might have because for them it’s devastating.”
Zichelli and a pair of his freshman lacrosse teammates, Brown and women’s soccer head coach Laurie Darling Gutheil, and Athletic Director Lori Anctil offered a small glance at the ripple effect that news of the future closing has had in its recent wake, and while a handful of voices may not ever capture the true feeling of the student body, faculty, administration, and surrounding community, they illustrate a microcosm of the uncertainty and vulnerability through a lens of more than just athletics.
TIMING & DELIVERY
“Obviously, there would never, ever be a good time to deliver a message like that. I think what was the most disappointing about it, was how the message was delivered and how people found out. I mean, it’s, it’s traumatic, right?” Anctil said. “They’re suffering a loss right now and to hear about your loss on the news or from somebody else and not the direct source, I think was super disappointing, very challenging and it’s just something you can’t prepare for.”
Many around St. Rose as well as in the Capital Region and beyond found out the news the same way as Anctil — from a breaking report, posted online and on-air, from local WNYT NewsChannel 13. Those who didn’t see the report were told by family members, friends, or teachers who had, before hearing from the college entity itself.
“I got a text from my Mom and it was just an article from Facebook, so I started reading it and we’re like, ‘Oh, whatever. They kind of talk about this every year,’” St. Rose men’s lacrosse freshman Sean Dwyer said. “Then, the day after and we had just gotten out all our classes and my mom sent me another link to NewsChannel 13, saying that we were closing and we were all just kind of shocked because we thought it was, well, at least I thought it was, just going to be another one of those times where they’re saying rumors and stuff, but I didn’t think it was gonna go this far.”
Part of the pain for the men’s lacrosse freshman, as well as assuredly all other frustration, comes from a place of feeling slightly betrayed. While they understood it wouldn’t make total sense for a college or university to publicize its financial troubles to potential incoming freshmen, it doesn’t make it easier now they will have to jump back into the recruiting process, just three months after arriving.
“My dad kind of knew about the financial issues and told me or before I committed, as one of the big things he was concerned about. Both of us were reassured by the school and I remember people telling us that the class is bigger now and there’s more kids coming in, but all of this ended up not being true and just being misleading,” Troy Gottman, a freshman teammate of Zichelli and Dwyer, and Ballston Spa High School graduate, said.
“So, I ended up here and I thought, ‘Oh, yeah, we do have a big freshman class; we’re going in the right direction.’ Turns out none of that was true and now I’m here.”
The initial report from the multimedia-news outlet was published online minutes before four o’clock that Thursday afternoon. It had preceded a confidential board of trustees meeting at the college, which had already had a 1 p.m. meeting scheduled that Friday, where they would discuss the official closing with the student body directly.
Due to the leak and subsequent breaking news report, however, President Marcia J. White was forced to issue a statement before her chance to meet with the school community the following day, at 6:36 p.m. that Thursday.
“It was my intention, and that of the Board of Trustees, to speak with you directly, and in person, about the Board meeting held today. That is why this critical Community Gathering was scheduled at a time that most of our campus community would be available. It is truly upsetting that this sensitive and highly confidential information was leaked to and shared by the media in advance, particularly since so much of the information that was shared was inaccurate and misleading. It is also truly devastating to know how much unnecessary distress this information has caused our Saint Rose community,” President White wrote in her statement on Thursday evening, sent to all students and employees via email.
Athletically, not only did the announcement, in its entirety, come at a time in the calendar when fall teams hunkered down and prepped for winter training, Winter sports teams had started the early stages of their seasons and spring teams inched ever closer to theirs, academically, athletes, students and faculty were heading into the final stages of the first semester and the stress that final exams can bring.
It wasn’t solely the delivery of the message that cut those apart of the College’s student and faculty-body deepest, but also the timing.
“The timing of it was wrong. The people that leaked the information didn’t even care to consider how this would impact the students … now they’re put in a situation where they have exams, final projects and all the stress of that and they’re emotionally numb and devastated,” Gutheil said. “All of my students were in such a super place academically; it wasn’t just soccer, it was the entire fit.
“It was both academics and soccer that were so outstanding and that’s just ripped away from them in the middle of the last two weeks this semester.
“They don’t want to leave and are forced to leave something that was exceptional for them. They were close-knit, they’re such a family, so close with their professors, and they’re just devastated. It’s gonna be really, not easy to find a place where you can have your academics fit, your soccer fit, and then the finances fit; that’s really hard and it’s extremely hard to do mid-semester and most soccer programs are done with their 2024 [recruiting classes].”
Gutheil and her team were not one of the fall teams turning the page to the ensuing winter season yet, actually quite far from it, as that Friday they took on Adelphi College in the NCAA Division II Women’s Soccer Championship Tournament semifinals, just hours after they learned of their school’s impending closure and that the game could be the last in the program’s history.
They would fall in the match, on the road in Westchester, Pennsylvania, after being tied through regular and extra-time, 1-1, but losing in penalties, 4-2.
“It was tough to come onto the field on Friday morning and to see them warming up, I mean, it’s emotional, right? … I can’t even imagine what they were feeling and what they were going through, so it was it was tough,” Anctil said. “Nobody knows what the outcome would have been had the communication happened after the game or after this.
“I don’t know, but it’s not going to be productive for me or even for them to have to hold on to that or to wonder. We’ve got to try to put our energy and our focus and our attention into healing and to get through this challenging time.”
MEETING FACE-TO-FACE
That Friday, after nearly 24 hours since the leak and initial report, the time finally came for President White and Board of Trustees Chair Jeffrey Stone to address the student body, when they took the stage of the Picotte Recital Hall, inside the Massry Center for the Arts.
The space seats just 400 and with it being the first time the college addressed the students face-to-face since the news of their school being soon to shut down, the hall was filled to the brim well before the briefing was scheduled to begin, at 1 p.m.
“You could tell that they were trying to be as apologetic as they about that we had to find out by the news and they wanted to make us feel reassured that no matter what happens this year, we’re gonna have plans set up for you guys so that you can still get an education after this,” said Zichelli, who showed up for the meeting 30 minutes early, but could only find seating on the stairway of the recital hall.
“I walked away personally with the understanding that most of our staff was unaware. But by seeing, by the time we got there, all of the auditorium was full of like staff and students and there was still a bunch of students trying to get in by there were made to go to overflow seating, that’s how in the dark, most people were about it,” added Dwyer, who arrived 10 minutes after Zichelli but was placed in a separate, overflow room for the meeting.
Gottman said he wasn’t able to get in the doors of the Massry Building by the time the team had arrived after Zichelli and Dwyer, but all three were present when the entire men’s lacrosse team met with head coach Alex Williams earlier that morning for the first time since the breaking news.
“It was very shocking to hear and see. I think Coach definitely had no clue and his main point was like, ‘Yeah, it’s gut-wrenching.’ When you have news like this, everyone is losing their job, from the janitor to the President; everyone. Everyone’s lost their job and his thing was like, ‘Yeah, let’s go out there and make the most of our situation,’ said Gottman on the team meeting.
“I think a lot of the team is kind of like, ‘everyone wrote us off, our season’s over, we’re all gonna have to transfer,’ and usually when you have a team like that you expect the seniors and the fifth-years to kind of pull the team because they have that motivation, they have that- ‘this is my last year,’ mentality going into the season.
“But this for all of us, all of us is our last chance. No one thinks of anything about us, but this is our chance to prove them wrong. I think we’re gonna go out and we’re going to have more motivation than ever before to show the world what we can do.”
Brown and the women’s basketball team had their meeting as well, however, theirs came as the team was already four games, plus two exhibition contests, into their campaign. Through a time unlike any other for Brown, who started coaching at St. Rose as an assistant in 1995 for the men’s basketball team, he saw his role as not only damage control while the news strikes during their season, but also as a protector of his athletes from their new, unfortunate vulnerability.
“For me, I just wanted to make sure that their overall, well-being was number one and to get them to understand that they have to continue to take care of business academically. We have some goals basketball-wise, we’re working really hard, we’ve been enjoying some success, but don’t let anything get in the way of our normal, daily routine. But with that being said, it was just getting them to understand that I’m here for them, that I am going to do everything in my power to help them find schools for the 2024-25 academic year and that, ‘hey, we can do this one of two ways. We can just allow it to be a distraction or we can use it as motivation, we can control the narrative and try to make the most of a very difficult situation,” Brown said.
“I’m going to help them, I just am trying to make sure that they understand, ‘Hey if you want to transfer, you need to be focused academically and take care of business academically, so your credits transfer and your GPA is rock-solid.’ From a basketball perspective, coaches want players that win, so let’s focus on winning. If we win games, the individual stuff will all take care of itself.”
While the other coaches were given the chance to meet with their teams throughout the weekend, Anctil, White, and Provost Margaret McLane, held an open meeting for all student-athletes, coaches, and administrators this past Monday, Dec. 3, at St. Joseph Hall on the College campus.
“It was hard because they can’t necessarily see what you’re looking like when you’re writing something up, but when you get in front of them, I think they saw that I was hurting too for them and I think that was kind of important for them to just see my raw emotion to know that I wanted and I will continue to want what’s best for them and to help play a part in their journey through this transition if they want me to,” said Anctil on Monday’s athletic meeting.
“They’ve all been recruited here to play their sport while they earn their college degree, so their sport is a big reason, if not the primary reason, of why they heard about St. Rose and then obviously, why they enrolled and why they’re here as St. Rose students…It was emotional. I had a couple moments that I had to, kind of, collect myself just because it’s tough for all of us and I think they [athletes, coaches, administrators] understood that.
“They knew that and certainly, it’s not a decision I made or any of us up there made to be where we were, but I think it was just important for them to understand the compliance side of things and the transfer process and that we were going to be having spring sports and that we were going to be finishing our winter sports seasons that were already in place and all that was important for them to hear that from us.”
Before and after the meeting, Anctil marveled at the support she’s seen returned from the college’s both athletic and student-body, during the crisis.
“I think what’s been really, honestly, encouraging and helping me is our athletes are coming into my office, either one by one or in small groups, and thanking me and that tells me so much about their character that even though they’re hurting, they’re checking-in on their athletic director,” Anctil said. “It kind of shows their character and truly what being a Golden Knight is all about; they’re thinking about others even during their own time of grief.
“So, I’ve been trying to help anybody just my message to them is: you need to do what’s best for you and I will always support that because it’s your life to live. It’s nobody else’s and any decisions that you make, you need to do for you and what’s best for you and I’ll help you through that.”
FUTURES IN FLUX
Although it would be a much simpler cure, no amount of meetings will change the fact that everyone enrolled in, employed by, or part of the college’s community now has their futures hinging on the immediate, next steps they take. It’s an unfortunate situation and while the meetings and conversations with coaches and administrators may have outlined potential paths to take, it’s on the student-athletes to decide what their heart chooses.
However, for every student-athlete that will be different, depending on the year, major, and sport they play. For those student-athletes who still have a season ahead at St. Rose, they may be used as a chance to audition for a role on another team at another college or university.
“One of our old High School coaches texted us earlier today and was like, ‘everything’s a showcase from now on. Enjoy the season, hopefully we get film and make a name for ourselves so that after this year, we can we can find somewhere else to go,’ ” Zichelli said.
But for many student-athletes, there’s more at play than just finding an open roster spot and a program that is willing to bring them aboard, as like any college decision, scholarships, and financial aid could be a critical piece of where the student-athletes could even afford to go.
As Gutheil mentioned, many schools, depending on the sport, may have already or are close to completing their 2024 recruitment stage, leaving whatever limited scholarship or financial aid money left as just another compromising wrinkle in the options the student-athletes may have.
“It’s really hard when you’re a transfer, if you know anything about financial aid, usually most schools have the most robust scholarship packages for incoming students, even at St. Rose where our academic scholarships for first-years were significantly higher than transfers. Well, almost all of these kids are transfers now, so the access to academic scholarships, is cut in half, if it’s even that much, and then the access to any portion of an athletic scholarship is going to be very, very difficult for at least 80% of our players,” Gutheil said.
“Our players are really put in a very difficult, disadvantaged position and they’re not independently wealthy. They can’t cover that significant difference, so there are going to be kids that came to St. Rose and they’re not going to be able to go on to other schools…They won’t be able to afford it. Our kids are going to be put where a lot of coaches are going to want them. but it doesn’t mean that they have room and that the financial piece is possible.”
“It’s heartbreaking and we’ll do everything we can to help them, but I know I can’t fix the funding gap these kids are going to face.”
Anctil confirmed those student-athletes on a current scholarship will see those continue for the rest of the academic year, but she also shared that she is hopeful that those scholarship packages may become available for those wishing to transfer and continue to pursue their athletic careers.
“I know there’s institutions right now, that have athletic scholarship money that want our student-athletes,” Anctil said. “We have amazing student-athletes. Not only are they absolutely incredible academically, but they’re very gifted and talented in their sport, so other colleges, they know that, institutions within our own conference know that and they understand that and I think what we’ve been able to accomplish in athletics, in spite of our limited resources has been absolutely incredible and I think other institutions understand that and know, especially within our own [Northeast-10] conference, how amazing our student-athletes are and their coaches are great too, in that they have tons of connections.”
Brown also acknowledged that struggles may loom financially for student-athletes looking to go onward, but through his role of protecting his team from the surrounding distractions, like transferring, he has been seeing firsthand the interest shown already from other schools in his players.
“Some coaches have been reaching out, obviously, ‘Sorry about the news. Just want to make you aware, this is what our school has to offer academically, this is what we’re looking for in this recruiting class, basketball-wise, if any of your players would have an interest, please keep us in mind.’ I respect that greatly. Recruiting is hard, these coaches have a job to do, and I think for the most part, the coaches have handled it really well, the ones that have gone through me,” Brown said.
“I do get a kick out of how some of our players all of a sudden have had 20, new social media followings in 24 hours and it’s all college coaches.”
Brown himself was just recently hired in June of 2023 to head the women’s basketball team and now will already find himself back on the open market. He isn’t focusing on his next steps just yet, with his family now rooted in the area and a son playing basketball himself, at Russell Sage College.
“I’m a big boy. I’m not worried about me, I’ll be okay,” said Brown. “For me, it’s all about our student-athletes, my assistant coach (Carly Boland), my manager; it’s all about them and making sure that they’re okay and that they land on their feet.”
Like the men’s lacrosse team and other spring sports however, the women’s basketball team and the rest of the school’s Winter Sports will get these final seasons to audition for potential spots on another college program, but for those like women’s soccer and the Fall Sports, they didn’t know that season was their last until it was already over, or close to it.
Besides the film and highlight reels they had accrued, their fates in the eyes of other teams, coaches, and scouts could come down to a simple tryout.
But all that, along with the potential lack of financial aid, harm not just the current student-athletes at St. Rose, but also the seniors in high school that had put pen to paper on their decision to attend the college, next fall.
“My incoming kids are in a dire situation. I mean, some of them have been committed to us for over a year-and-a-half,” said Gutheil, who is also a history teacher at South Glens Falls High School. “I had kids that came into my classroom, even non-athletes, that are devastated all over this region. I have a girl in Maryland who’s devastated, I have a girl in New Jersey who’s devastated, two in Massachusetts that are devastated; it’s a bigger ripple effect than people realize.”
“We’ll just try to help them as much as we can, but their finances worked here and everything worked here. People are like, ‘Oh, you’ll find another place and people you like,’ but it’s extremely difficult to get the right fit and financially, make sure you can afford it…and then, finally, try to find a place that has room, in this geographic region, is a mess beyond proportion.”
Anctil also plans to do her best with the athletic department to make sure their coaches as well, receive any help they may need in finding a potential, future home athletically.
“I haven’t just developed a relationship with our coaches in the last few days, these are coaches, almost all of them, that I brought in here to coach here so the relationship that I have with them is similar to the relationship that they have with their own student-athletes, as far as I’m recruiting them, looking out for them and wanting what’s best for them,” she said. “I will shout from the rooftops about how amazing our coaches are and I know because I’m in the thick of it with them, I see what they do, I know how difficult their jobs are and I know how much they care.
“So, I will do everything I can to help every single one of them continue to move on in their careers because they’re amazing coaches, and it’d be a shame for them to not continue to influence the lives of college-age, student-athletes.”
THE FINAL SEASONS
The Golden Knights women’s basketball team had a little bit more time to process the news than the women’s soccer team before taking the floor for competition, as they traveled to Southern Connecticut State that Saturday, Dec. 2 for a non-conference matchup they would go on to win, 58-30.
Brown believes the mentality they showed that game, will be one they’ll need to keep up throughout this emotional, final ride.
“Their true character came out in our game on Saturday, against Southern Connecticut. If there was any situation or potential situation where a team would just go out there and lay an egg, it would have been that game and I believe we won by 30. I’ve always said, how you deal with adversity shows your true character,” Brown said. “We can sit here and feel sorry for ourselves, we can hang our heads, but our opponents just don’t care.
“After the game, they’ll pat you on the back and say, before and after the game, that they feel sorry for you and that’s too bad, but during the game, they’re gonna be as ruthless as ruthless can be. So let’s use this bad and devastating news, as fuel to our fire.
“I think there’s many people out there looking and saying, ‘how are these kids going to respond? This is devastating news,’ and it’s my job not to allow them to fail. It’s my job not to allow them to hang their head. It’s my job to make sure my door is always open and I always answer my phone.”
The men’s lacrosse team, while it is a spring sport and does leave the door open for some to transfer out of St. Rose following the completion of this semester, is trying to go into their season with a similar mindset among those coming back for a final season.
“This season is about nothing besides winning. We’re gonna win and we’re gonna win and then we’re gonna win again,” Gottman said. “Our coach has been kind of pushing us to go into the transfer portal now, to get ahead of it and I’m currently in the transfer portal, but I have all the intentions of staying at St. Rose.
“I want to get some communications going with other coaches, but I want to go back to St. Rose, finish my spring semester with St. Rose, and then after that, I’ll have to go back into the transfer portal and hopefully we’ll have some connections and kind of be ahead of the game. But at the same time, I’m still just as committed to all my boys here.”
“This time, it’s not just for us, we want to do something for these juniors, man. Like, you’ve been here for three years and now it’s getting shut down. They’ve had way more time here and it’s probably hitting them harder than us. I’ve only been here for a couple months and I can’t imagine what’s going on, so I want to succeed as a team just as much for them as I do for me,” Dwyer added. “[Transferring] has got to be in the back of your mind, but personally, I’m taking it one step at a time. I came here to play for St. Rose and whether that’s for one year, whether it was for four, that’s my focus.
“I’m not alone to this team and I’m going to continue to be that way until it doesn’t exist anymore. Right now, I’m looking at taking care of business here and when that’s been taken care of, I can look to the future.”
This final season will likely garner as much if not more attention from the community than ever before, which Anctil hopes does take precedence over the impending closure.
“I think what’s going to be most productive right now for us is to focus on the opportunity we still have and to be grateful for what we have,” Anctil said. “There’s a lot of bad stuff going on in the world and this is something that we’re facing right now and it’s adversity, but we still have the opportunity to tell our own story.”
