Sadly, I no longer have the inside scoop I used to have. Most of my connections have long since graduated and moved on. That being said, all I’ve heard is that he wanted a new challenge and it sounds like Emporia is putting a good amount of money and focus toward being a top tier athletic department, specifically in basketball. Not sure if the recent developments at Augie with hockey have impacted the athletic department’s focus on other sports, but I suppose I could see that being a part of it. I’ve had conversations with fans from a lot of the NSIC’s D1 hockey/D2 other sports schools, and the consensus seems to be that hockey becomes the top priority by a pretty wide margin. To be fair, Billeter hasn’t said that himself in any of the interviews I’ve seen/read so far though, I’m just speculating.
I do think Augie did the right thing in hiring Schilling to replace him. He’s been on staff for three years as an assistant and is an Augie legend, so it would have been a significant misfire to try to put someone else in that top spot following Billeter.
Maybe El_Chapo’s dreams will come true and Dave will look for a new challenge at a comparable low/mid-major school in the next few years too.
I will say that, whether by strategy or by luck, Billeter’s timing couldn’t be much better. With league-dominating coach Ben McCollum heading off to Drake, there’s a chance the MIAA will be open for the taking the next few years.