The River States Conference (RSC)’s Cincinnati Christian University (CCU) announced last Monday that they will be closing their doors at the end of the fall 2019 semester.

No school means no athletic department, so CCU decided that all athletics should cease immediately.

Local media outlets have reported that a number of student-athletes, mostly freshmen, said they would have never even committed to CCU had they known the financial instability of the university.

CCU released in a statement that student-athletes that participated in the fall sports, although not able to complete their season, will be charged a season of competition. (Student-athletes that participate in winter or spring sports will not be charged.)

Let me tell you why that sucks.

If both Point Park and CCU men’s soccer were participating in playoffs, both would be in the RSC tournament (Point Park at No. 3, CCU at No. 6).

CCU women’s soccer was riding a three-game winning streak going into the postseason, seeded at No. 5.

The Eagles’ volleyball team was last in the west, but with more matches to play.

Because of the school, both men’s and women’s soccer are forced to sit out of playoffs without any chance of a championship. The seniors from these teams have to look back on their last season knowing that the school prevented them from a final postseason.

As a former athlete, I can only imagine how amazingly disappointing that would be.

On Oct. 30, coaches from other National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics universities were allowed to begin talks with CCU athletes to recruit those players.

Obviously the sudden stoppage of athletics is not the fault of the student-athletes, so the NAIA and the RSC are attempting to work with them.

Typically when a student-athlete transfers in the middle of a season, there is a 16-week residency period. For CCU athletes, that period is waived should they transfer by December of 2020.

There is also no restriction to former CCU student-athletes that wish to transfer to another RSC school.

So, what does this mean for Point Park athletics?

Well, for starters, the Pioneers now have one less conference opponent during their season. Every game already scheduled versus CCU opponents (for men’s and women’s basketball) will simply be canceled.

We could also possibly be welcoming some new faces to the Pioneers from the Eagles since inter-conference transfers are allowed for the CCU student-athletes, and some new talent with them.