A coach who works at the newest member of the Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference says he is thrilled about joining the new league.
“I think it’s going to be great,” said Pittsfield native Paul Culpo, the men’s basketball coach at Vermont State Castleton. “I don’t really know the details, but I think it’s a better fit for the school as a whole, in my opinion.”
It was announced last Friday that Castleton will become a core member of MASCAC effective for the 2027-28 school year. Castleton replaces Anna Maria College as a core member after the Central Massachusetts school announced it would close at the end of the current spring semester.
“As a like-public institution with strong geographic alignment and a sports sponsorship profile that perfectly matches our conference offerings, Castleton is a natural fit for the conference and strengthens our shared commitment to regional Division III athletics,” MASCAC commissioner Angela Baumann said in a release. “Their tradition of competitive excellence, student-athlete success, and institutional values aligns well with the mission of the MASCAC, and we are excited about the opportunities this addition creates for our student-athletes, campuses, and communities across the region.”
Castleton offers 24 sports for men and women, and 20 of them will be aligned with MASCAC. Men’s and women’s alpine skiing, men’s and women’s tennis and wrestling are not part of MASCAC.
Laura Mooney is the athletic director at MCLA in North Adams, and she said having Castleton in MASCAC can only be a good thing.
“Obviously for us, on this side of the state, the travel is easy. We play Castleton in a bunch of our sports already, so it was a no-brainer as far as that was concerned,” Mooney said in a phone interview with The Eagle. “The fact that they’re a state institution, keeping with that theme throughout the MASCAC. Anna Maria was obviously not state and I think there were some challenges with differences in how we operate. Having Castleton being a state school, I think, is a much better selling point for people and people are going to embrace them more for sure.”
Vermont State Castleton had been a member of the North Atlantic Conference from 2001-18, moving to the Little East Conference for the 2018-19 season.
Culpo, the former St. Joseph High School standout, will begin his 18th season as the Castleton coach this winter. It will also be the final season for the Spartans in the Little East.
That league has regional powers like Keene State, UMass Boston and Rhode Island College as members.
“I just don’t think we have much in common with those schools” in the Little East, Culpo said. “We don’t look like those schools. We don’t have the enrollment or the size of those schools. I never thought it was a good fit from Day 1. Regardless of whether I was right or wrong, I think this will be a better fit.”
Culpo, who worked for Steve Lappas at UMass and was the head coach at Division III Hartwick before moving to Castleton, said playing different teams might help with recruiting.
“It obviously changes our schedule,” he said. “It’s not going to change the way we do things. We’ll continue to do what we do. I do think if you can have a little bit more success, I think recruiting becomes a little easier. I think it’s hard to sell kids on losing.
“I do think it will help in that regard. I expect it will be a little bit better and as you build, I think recruiting becomes a little bit easier.”
