Future of Division III

[ADL70]

It still seems inconsistent to me to place all this emphasis on in-rerion, but then throw out regions when picking playoff teams and brackets (not that I think the selection process not considering regions is always a bad idea).

[Ralph Turner]

This one slipped right past me!

I am a little confused , because I thought that conference games were in-region now! 

D-III Championships Committee recommendation for Jan 2009.

I think it's on a conference-by-conference basis so far -- this could be them formalizing a policy for all Division III conferences.

Interview with Redlands AD and Chair of the D-III Championships Committee Jeff Martinez.

Several bits of general information but no dramatic revelations.  You get the impression that hard numbers are three weekends for playoffs except football, and 64-team tourneys as a cap.  Modifying Pool B and Pool C bid ratios to match the membership needs is an option, and there is no mention of NAIA schools in any concern.

The Regional emphasis is discussed as well.

Enjoy (and thanks to Mr Martinez.)

[Ralph Turner]

This might also allow selective cases of border/fringe schools in one administrative region and another evaluation region and another conference expand the number of in-region options.

I had assumed that conference membership was on criteria across the board as in-region.  It really helps the UAA, the SCAC and even the NEAC.

Another hypothetical scenario might be for a Shenandoah to move to the MAC-Commonwealth. 

Shenandoah might be in the South evaluation region for football and catch Texas schools, in Administrative Region #3 for all sports (and pick-up the states of VA, NC, SC, FL, GA, AL, MS, LA, AR, TN, KY, IN, MI, OH and WV) and then get the MAC-Commonwealth schools which are in PA.

[Ralph Turner]

Legislation to change the access ratio for Golf.
UT-Tyler was the #3 ranked Golf team in the country, but lost out to St John's and Redland in getting the two allocated Pool C bids.  SJU and Redlands finished 1-2 in the tourney as Pool C's, and the #3 team in the country stayed home as the "3rd or next Pool C" team.

Another proposal will add the criterion of late season performance (last three tourneys) to the criteria for this sport.

Changing the access ratio from 1:7.5 to 1:7 would potentially add an additional four at-large bids in Pools B and C combined in 2011.

[runyr]

Not surprisingly these bureaucrats being bureaucrats behave like bureaucrats - heaping rules and regulations upon rules and regulations as if such action solves the problems of the world.

Amen to that!  
There should be a rule that to gain a new rule you must lose an existing rule: a rule on the number of rules!

[Ralph Turner]

Here is the link to the legislation coming for a vote in the January meeting.
Link

This piece of legislation caught my eye.

Allow institutions to view throughout the season NCAA computer data related to primary and secondary criteria for ranking and selection of teams for championships (Capital Athletic Conference).

Maybe D3sports.com can figure out how to access these data, too!    

[Ron Boerger]

Here is the link to the legislation coming for a vote in the January meeting.
Link

This piece of legislation caught my eye.

Allow institutions to view throughout the season NCAA computer data related to primary and secondary criteria for ranking and selection of teams for championships (Capital Athletic Conference).

Maybe D3sports.com can figure out how to access these data, too!    

Well, since D3sports.com is an institution, that should not present a problem!   

[pabegg]

The NCAA has just posted the latest list of reclassifying institutions:

Click here

Here's my summary of the changes:

Gone from the list (and presumed active)
Northwestern College
Purchase College
Salem College
Crown College (Minnesota)
Mount Aloysius College
Penn State Berks College
University of Maine at Presque Isle
Bethany Lutheran College
University of Minnesota, Morris

Active with restrictions (fifth year member of provisional program)
Mount Mary College

Fourth year
Mitchell College
Presentation College

Repeating third year
North Central University

Third year (games against them now count for ranking purposes)
Lancaster Bible College
Lyndon State College
Saint Vincent College
SUNY at Morrisville
La Sierra University

Second year
Geneva College
Penn State Harrisburg
Franciscan University of Steubenville
St. Joseph's College, New York
Birmingham Southern College (the only reclassifying school on the list)

First year repeat
Spalding University

First year
University of Cincinnati Clermont College
State University of New York at Cobleskill

Starting next year
Doane College (was supposed to have started this year)
Berry College
Concordia University (which one? AL? NE? MI? CA? St. Paul?)
Covenant College
Hastings College
Penn State Abington
William Jewell

No dropouts in this year's program.

Modified for formatting -- Thanks for the link, pabegg.

[Ralph Turner]

Doane College (was supposed to have started this year)
Berry College
Concordia University (which one? AL? NE? MI? CA? St. Paul?)
Covenant College
Hastings College
Penn State Abington
William Jewell

Doane, Hastings and William Jewell will provide some support for Neb Wesleyan.

Berry and Covenant would fit nicely into the Great South AC (or the Southern Division of the USA South.     )

PSU-Abington looks like a fit in the NEAC.  (Is the NEAC becoming the home of those Penn State campuses that are re-classifying?)

Yeah, which Concordia?

+1 pabegg!  Thanks for finding this.

The NCAA has just posted the latest list of reclassifying institutions:

Click here

Here's my summary of the changes:

Gone from the list (and presumed active)      (Conference status added)
Northwestern College  UMAC
Purchase College              SKY
Salem (NC) College                       Independent-Women's
Crown College (Minnesota)   UMAC
Mount Aloysius College                     AMCC
Penn State Berks College             NEAC
University of Maine at Presque Isle           Independent
Bethany Lutheran College          UMAC
University of Minnesota, Morris        UMAC

Active with restrictions (fifth year member of provisional program)
Mount Mary College            Independent-Women's

Fourth year
Mitchell College       New England Collegiate Conference
Presentation College     UMAC

Repeating third year
North Central University    Independent

Third year (games against them now count for ranking purposes)
Lancaster Bible College       Independent
Lyndon State College          North Atlantic Conference NAC
Saint Vincent College           Pres AC
SUNY at Morrisville                SUNYAC
La Sierra University             Independent

Second year
Geneva College         Pres AC
Penn State Harrisburg      NEAC
Franciscan University of Steubenville         Independent AMCC
St. Joseph's College, New York                  Independent
Birmingham Southern College (the only reclassifying school on the list)   SCAC

First year repeat
Spalding University              SLIAC in 2009-10

First year
University of Cincinnati Clermont College     Independent
State University of New York at Cobleskill    NEAC

Starting next year
Doane College (was supposed to have started this year)
Berry College
Concordia University (which one? AL? NE? MI? CA? St. Paul?)
Covenant College
Hastings College
Penn State Abington
William Jewell

No dropouts in this year's program.

Modified for formatting -- Thanks for the link, pabegg.

Corrections appreciated.

[pabegg]

Doane College (was supposed to have started this year)
Berry College
Concordia University (which one? AL? NE? MI? CA? St. Paul?)
Covenant College
Hastings College
Penn State Abington
William Jewell

Doane, Hastings and William Jewell will provide some support for Neb Wesleyan.

Berry and Covenant would fit nicely into the Great South AC (or the Southern Division of the USA South.     )

PSU-Abington looks like a fit in the NEAC.  (Is the NEAC becoming the home of those Penn State campuses that are re-classifying?)

Yeah which Covenant?

+1 pabegg!  Thanks for finding this.

Weird, none of these schools has any mention of transition to D3 on their web sites.

With respect to the Concordias, we can rule out Alabama (College, not University) and St. Paul (NCAA D2, so they would be in the other category). I forgot Oregon, so there are 4 possibilities: NE, MI, CA, and OR. My bet would be on Nebraska, given that Doane and Hastings are also there.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I live near CUAA (the MI Concordia, which prefers to highlight it's Ann Arbor location).  If they were planning a shift to d3, I assume I would have heard about it.

[Gregory Sager]

With respect to the Concordias, we can rule out Alabama (College, not University) and St. Paul (NCAA D2, so they would be in the other category).

We can also rule out NY. The Concordia University that is located in Westchester County, just north of NYC, is also an NCAA D2 institution.

PSU-Abington looks like a fit in the NEAC.  (Is the NEAC becoming the home of those Penn State campuses that are re-classifying?)

PSU-Abingdon would indeed fit nicely into the NEAC, but SUNY-Cobleskill would be better suited to join the SUNYAC than the NEAC. Aside from the fact that it has an institutional affinity with the other SUNY campuses, SUNY-Cobleskill is an upstate school that has much better proximity to SUNYAC schools than to NEAC schools. Oneonta, f'rinstance, is a 40-minute drive down I-88 from Cobleskill. Utica's only an hour away, Morrisville is an hour and a half, and New Paltz and Cortland are about two hours apiece. By SUNYAC standards, that's right next door -- and with SUNY-Morrisville already bringing the league up to twelve members, I could see the SUNYAC returning to a two-division format that would make joining the league even more congenial for SUNY-Cobleskill. The NEAC, by contrast, has only one campus (Cazenovia) that is within a three-hour radius of Cobleskill.

[Ralph Turner]

Thanks for the perspectives, GS! 

SUNY-Cobleskill

I guess that they wanted to start somewhere and the NEAC made them an offer that they could not refuse.

They are four years away from full membership and the NEAC just needs warm bodies!  The SUNYAC teams would probably overpower Cobleskill for the first decade.  At least this way, they have a chance to build a four-year program!

[Gregory Sager]

Thanks for the perspectives, GS! 

SUNY-Cobleskill

I guess that they wanted to start somewhere and the NEAC made them an offer that they could not refuse.

They are four years away from full membership and the NEAC just needs warm bodies!  The SUNYAC teams would probably overpower Cobleskill for the first decade.  At least this way, they have a chance to build a four-year program!

Quite true, Ralph. But with the price of gas being what it is, I think that the Cobleskill State people might regret choosing the NEAC, with its far-flung (by northeastern standards, of course ) spread of campuses over the much more local SUNYAC, regardless of how much more congenial NEAC-level competition is for a fledgling athletic program (fledgling in terms of four-year sports rather than juco sports) than is SUNYAC competition.

[Mr. Ypsi]

The heck with gas prices, how about us poor befuddled fans!  It's bad enough that SUNY-Maritime is a football independent.  I demand that all SUNY campuses be SUNYAC!  I just can't keep track!