Two Additions Ramapo & Milligan Add Programs

Two schools with 600 miles between them now share one thing - new swimming teams.  In separate announcements Ramapo College ofMahwah, New Jersey and Milligan College in Eastern Tennessee have introduced new teams and head coaches.

Ramapo competes on the club level this season and next as the team is built.  In 2008-09, the team will me moved to full varsity status at the NCAA Division III level. 

Swimming has been absent from the New Jersey campus for twenty years.  Ramapo will look to one of its own, Gary Orr, a 1983 graduate, to re-establish the program.  He'll get immediate help from and become the immediate envy of several Division III teams for a staff of three assistants. Skip Storch, '80 graduate, Ginny Allard, and Donna Tarzian.  

The Roadrunners will use their existing six-lane 25-yard facility. 

Milligan College, near Johnson City, Tennessee beill go intercollegiate next fall.  Former Science Hill and Dobyns-Bennett High School coach Ron Goehring will head the program and is already recruiting student-athletes. The team will utilize the college's 25-meter swimming pool, located in Steve Lacy Fieldhouse.

"It is with great enthusiasm that we welcome swimming to our intercollegiate athletic program at Milligan College" said athletic director Ray Smith. "Under Coach Goehring's guidance, we expect to be competitive both regionally and nationally."

Milligan formerly had a swimming club from 1977 to 1986. The famed "Water Buffaloes" challenged both club and varsity intercollegiate teams. Under the leadership of Coach Chuck Gee, the team enjoyed much success, recording a perfect 11-0 record in 1981.Milligan hopes to be equally successful with Goehring at the helm.

During his coaching career at Science Hill and Dobyns-Bennett high schools, Goehring was honored six times as the North East Tennessee Regional Swim Coach of the Year. He has served as the assistant aquatics director for Johnson City Parks and Recreation, head U.S.S. coach for the Johnson City Swim Association, swimming coach at The Ridges, and owner and operator of Aqua Gym. Additionally, he served as head coach of the Asheville High School swim program in 2003-04.

"As a coach, Ron Goehring has distinguished himself in a big way throughout this part of the country," said Smith.

Goehring holds a bachelor of science degree in physical education and recreation from Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania and is a certified pool operator. He holds certifications in Swim America and the American Swim Coaches Association and is a certified American Red Cross instructor trainer in all swim levels. 

The addition is a boon to NAIA swimming which got a boost with the addition of Fresno Pacific University in December. The NAIA is seeking to add programs and could have ramifications for the entire division.  Membership has grown steadily in the past year - a necessary component following an announcement last spring that the NAIA will require a minimum of fifty participating institutions to continue hosting a national championship after 2011. 

Both schools can also expect a windfall financially.  In fiscal year 2004-05, Milligan's tution was $17,240 for the year with an average of $7,393 offered to students through institutional grants (excluding federal financial aid, external scholarships, and loans).  A team of just a dozen men and women would net the institution nearly $250,000 to the university's budget, while also raising the academic profile of incoming students.  Ramapo, a public university, charged $8,792 and $13,709 for in- and out-of-state students.  With an average institutional award of $7,530, could stand to gain $80,000 with the addition.  That figure, ironically is exactly twice as high as the reported operating expenses of another New Jersey men's swimming team - the Rutgers University.  The Rutgers men have been targeted for elimation.

With the additions at Milligan and Fresno Pacific, there are 119 NAIA institutions with a pool or pool access yet no collegiate team.  In addition to Fresno Pacific, at least another ten schools could expect to realize a fiscal gain in excess of a half-million dollars with an average gain of $331,000 across all 119 non-sponsoring institutions. The top ten institutions with expected net tuition revenue are: