Future of Division III

[Ralph Turner]

Women's Golf and Lacrosse coming to the SCIAC.

http://www.oxyathletics.com/othernews/2007-08/042608wsports_lax_golf

Concerning SCIAC Women's Lacrosse...

If the SCIAC sponsors Women's Lacrosse with five schools, the conference could add two affiliates and earn the Pool A bid.

Might the conference invite some affiliates for the sake of a Pool A bid?

Here is the 2009  Handbook listing West Region Pool B Womens' Programs

http://web1.ncaa.org/web_files/champ_handbooks/lacrosse/2009/3_wlacrosse_handbook.pdf

Add Occidental College as a fifth SCIAC...

Pool B

Adrian College

Claremont McKenna-Harvey Mudd-Scripps Colleges

Colorado College  SCAC

University of Dallas   West Region independent

Fontbonne University

Linfield College  -- Northwest Conference

College of Mount St. Joseph

Pacific University (Oregon)  -- Northwest Conference

Pomona-Pitzer Colleges

University of Puget Sound -- Northwest Conference
   
University of Redlands

Saint Vincent College

University of the South -- SCAC

Trine University

Whittier College

[Gray Fox]

I talked to the outgoing president during my class reunion in June.  I got the impression that this is motivated by Title IX.  I doubt the budget would allow travel to Colorado or Dallas for a first year program.  If they could get Chapman and Menlo to start programs, it might work, but getting automatic bids is not what usually motivates the SCIAC. 

I suspect more schools will be adding this sport because it is becoming more and more popular at the HS level.

[Ralph Turner]

I talked to the outgoing president during my class reunion in June.  I got the impression that this is motivated by Title IX.  I doubt the budget would allow travel to Colorado or Dallas for a first year program.  If they could get Chapman and Menlo to start programs, it might work, but getting automatic bids is not what usually motivates the SCIAC.  

I suspect more schools will be adding this sport because it is becoming more and more popular at the HS level.

I was thinking of some affiliation arrangement with the NWC.  The teams need to fill the schedule some way and mini-tournaments with NWC schools might do that.

Here are the 2009 Redlands and the 2009 Whittier Schedules

Redlands
      
Feb. 24       Whittier       4:00 PM      W, 18-11      Boxscore  Recap
      
Mar. 4    at Pomona-Pitzer    7:00 PM    W, 16-15    Boxscore  Recap
      
Mar. 6    Colorado Col.    7:00 PM    L, 22-14    Boxscore  Recap
      
Mar. 11    Claremont-M-S    7:00 PM    L, 14-6    Boxscore  Recap
      
Mar. 17    Puget Sound    2:00 PM    L, 15-11    Boxscore  Recap
   Moved from 3 p.m.    
Mar. 22    Linfield    12:00 PM    W, 14-11    Boxscore  Recap
      
Mar. 24    Birmingham Southern    7:00 PM    W, 14-11    Boxscore  Recap
      
Mar. 26    Oberlin    7:00 PM    W, 21-13    Boxscore  Recap
      
Mar. 27    Potsdam St.    12:00 PM    L, 18-9    Boxscore  Recap
      
Apr. 8    Pomona-Pitzer    7:00 PM    W, 21-11    Boxscore  Recap  Photos
      
Apr. 22    at Williams    1:30 PM    L, 16-0    Boxscore  Recap
      
Apr. 23    at MIT    4:00 PM    L, 17-11    Boxscore  Recap
      
Apr. 27    at Whittier    7:00 PM    L, 14-12    Boxscore  Recap
      
Apr. 30    at Claremont-M-S    3:30 PM    L, 19-8    Boxscore

Whittier
Overall Record: 8-6 Conference Record: 0-0
Date    Opponent    Result    Time    Links
02/04/09    Occidental    W, 18-3    Final    
   Scrimmage    
02/24/09    at Redlands    L, 18-11    Final    Boxscore  Recap
      
02/25/09    at Pomona-Pitzer    W, 12-11    Final    Boxscore  Recap
      
03/02/09    at Claremont-M-S    L, 21-6    Final    Boxscore  Recap
      
03/07/09    Colorado Col.    L, 13-3    Final    Boxscore  Recap
      
03/10/09    Dallas    W, 16-4    Final    Boxscore  Recap
      
03/13/09    Haverford    L, 11-8    Final    Boxscore  Recap
      
03/15/09    Puget Sound    L, 14-13    Final    Boxscore  Recap
      
03/20/09    Linfield    W, 15-7    Final    Boxscore  Recap
      
03/29/09    at Puget Sound @ Forest Grove, Ore.    W, 16-13    Final    Boxscore  Recap
      
03/30/09    at Linfield    W, 20-12    Final    Boxscore  Recap
      
03/31/09    at Pacific (Ore.)    W, 15-5    Final    Boxscore  Recap
      
04/13/09    Claremont-M-S    L, 24-14    Final    Boxscore  Recap
      
04/15/09    Pomona-Pitzer    W, 20-9    Final    Boxscore  Recap
      
04/27/09    Redlands    W, 14-12    Final - OT    Boxscore  Recap

Thanks.

[Gray Fox]

That might work.

[roocru]

DIII members perceive integration of athletics into education

Sounds like large majority of D3 schools are getting it right!


Please click here for article



Edited for formatting... Thanks for the link.  Ralph

[Ralph Turner]

The NCAA carried this story of affiliation to gain Pool A status in Men's Golf.

Three Landmark golf programs link up with Empire 8

... Landmark members Moravian, Scranton and Susquehanna will first compete alongside the five Empire 8 schools sponsoring the sport in a championship tournament next month and again in April 2010.

The new associate members join Elmira, Nazareth, St. John Fisher (which finished third at the 2008 Division III Men's Golf Championships led by individual medalist Scott Harris Jr.), Stevens Institute of Technology and Utica in competing for Empire 8 honors.    ...

Fellow Landmark member Merchant Marine affiliated with the Liberty League in 2009-10 to give 7 members.  The LL should earn the Golf AQ in 2011-12.

A July 1st press release from the New England Collegiate Conference announced the affiliation of Babson (NEWMAC) with the NECC.

...They [Babson] will join NECC members Becker College, Daniel Webster College, Elms College, Mitchell College and Newbury College, along with fellow NEWMAC member Springfield College who is also an associate member in men's golf. ...

That still leaves NEWMAC member MIT as an independent (Pool B) school sponsoring golf.

In Men's Golf Central Region, UMAC schools that sponsor golf include Bethany Lutheran, Crown, Martin Luther, UMinn-Morris, Northwestern and Presentation, plus 4th-year provisional (and affiliate member) North Central MN.  That gives 7 schools.  If the UMAC wanted to invite Finlandia to affiliate in Men's Golf beginning with the 2009-10 school year, then the UMAC could have an AQ by the 2012 tourney. Otherwise, when North Central becomes a full member of D-III, the UMAC should get its Pool A bid two years later.

The 2009 tourney had 27 Pool A bids, 7 Pool B bids and 2 Pool C bids.  With 8 schools moving from Pool B to Pool A under the Empire 8 banner, 7 schools moving to Pool A in the Liberty League, 7 schools moving to Pool A under the NECC banner and the potential for 7 more schools to move to Pool A in the UMAC, that would change the Men's Golf allocation to 31 Pool A's 3 Pool B's and 2 Pool C bids.

Along those lines, GSAC members Huntingdon, LaGrange and Piedmont are in Pool B, but the USA South is in danger of losing Shenandoah, which would put the USA South Pool A bid in jeopardy.  (GSAC/USA South merger discussions were recently discontinued.)

We may see more affiliations in Men's Golf to gain access to Pool A.

The Capital AC has these 5 schools sponsoring Men's Golf:  Hood, Marymount, Stevenson, Wesley and York PA.

The Commonwealth Coast Conference has 6 schools that sponsor men's golf:  Anna Marie, Endicott, New England, Nichols, Wentworth Tech and Western New England.  (Men's golf is not a sponsored sport by the CCC.)

The MASCAC has 4 schools that sponsor men's golf:  Mass College of the Liberal Arts, Salem State, Westfield and Worcester State.

UAA schools (5) that sponsor golf include Brandeis, Carnegie-Mellon, Emory, NYU and Rochester.

That leaves the other (7) independents (2008-09 Handbook):

Northeast Region:  UMaine-Presque Isle, SUNY-Potsdam.

Mid-Atlantic Region:  SUNY-Oswego.  (Rutgers-Camden has affiliated with the NEAC.)

Central Region: Neb. Wesleyan, UW-Eau Claire and UW-Stout

Southeast and Great Lakes Regions:  (See GSAC, UAA  and Capital AC.)

West Region: Chapman. (University of Dallas is in an affiliation arrangement with the NEAC.))


New Jersey City and William Paterson join Rutgers-Camden in sponsoring men's golf.

2009 Men's Golf Handbook

Pool B is going away...



Disclaimer:  The Handbook does not break down membership by conference, so I may be missing some unusual affiliations.

[smedindy]

I talked to the outgoing president during my class reunion in June.  I got the impression that this is motivated by Title IX.  I doubt the budget would allow travel to Colorado or Dallas for a first year program.  If they could get Chapman and Menlo to start programs, it might work, but getting automatic bids is not what usually motivates the SCIAC. 

I suspect more schools will be adding this sport because it is becoming more and more popular at the HS level.

Up here in MN, there are 51 girls and 48 boys lacrosse teams, and some players are getting D-1 scholarships now. Need something to do after hockey season!

[roocru]

American Southwest Conference takes stand on sportsmanship.

http://www.ascsports.org/News/gen/2009/9/1/ASC_NOTOLERANCE0910.asp?path=gen

[Ralph Turner]

Rosemont goes co-ed and changes its nickname, and will retire the Rosemont school mascot, Rosie the Rosemonster.

Rosemont is a member of the CSAC and will add men's soccer, Basketball and Tennis this season.

[roocru]

Ferrum set to begin Men's LaCrosse program

http://www.ferrumpanthers.com/news/2009/9/2/GEN_0902094519.aspx

[Ralph Turner]

Wooster adds women's golf in 2010-11.  They are the 5th NCAC program to sponsor the sport.

The NCAC may consider having a conference championship now.

The NCAC is 2 affiliates or full members shy of earning the AQ.

Wooster Women's Golf

[Ralph Turner]

Wesley football program penalized

...During the 2006-07 academic year, the college's financial aid packaging for some freshman student-athletes was clearly distinguishable from the general pattern of financial aid packaging for all freshman aid recipients. At the time the violations occurred, the college had an unpublished financial aid appeals process. ...

Please click on the link above for more details.

[Ralph Turner]

Link taken from the D3football.com "What we are reading" sidebar.

Earlham could switch leagues

Intend to compete in the HCAC  in 2010-11...

Citing economics and geography...

Pull quotes...

..."We did officially apply to be a member," said Earlham athletic director Frank Carr. "If everything would work, the intention would be we would be a member in fall of 2010."

...

Earlham's longest trip in the Heartland would be about 2 hours, 45 minutes.

"A lot of it had to do with money," Carr said. "Saving on transportation, saving on overnight trips was one of the big things. We feel like we can save maybe upwards of $70,000 to $100,000 a year with that.

[Ralph Turner]

Winston-Salem State seeks return to Division II

Pull quote...

...
As for Winston-Salem State's decision to seek a return to Division II, Chancellor Donald Reaves cited resources as the reason.

"In the final analysis, the resources to complete the reclassification simply were not available, currently nor prospectively, in sufficient amounts," Reaves said in the Journal story. "If there were any reasonable way to complete this transition without diverting resources from competing academic priorities, I would have recommended that we stay the course."
...

The big winner in this might be the CIAA.

...
Reaves said the school is seeking a conference affiliation before 2010-11, possibly with its previous conference, the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association.

...

Real numbers on the cost to WSSU for moving to D-1 status...

http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2009/sep/11/wssu-trustees-vote-stop-move-division-i/


Reaction by the MEAC as it loses WSSU as North Carolina Central was joining...

http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2009/sep/16/wssu-decision-surprises-meac/sports/

You will see John Dell's collection of articles on the WSSU decision.  These, and the comments section on the articles, will give you a better perspective of the situation.

Addendum:  The CIAA is the conference that Chowan NC and Lincoln PA have joined in their reclassification to D-II.

[Ralph Turner]

Dwindling at-large berths among DIII championships concerns

Pull quotes...

The committee did take a formal step toward dealing with a limited number of situations in which Pool C (as the at-large component of Division III championships is known) is shrinking as more schools affiliate with conferences that have automatic qualification to championships.  [See below***]

The men's golf committee had asked the Championships Committee to adjust the 1:7.5 access ratio for the Division III Men's Golf Championships (under which one team is selected for the event for every 7.5 schools that sponsor the sport) to 1:7.


Rather than take that step, the Championships Committee recommended that the Management Council revise administrative regulations to give the committee latitude within budget constraints to adjust the ratio for individual-team championships that award AQ to conferences to any point deemed appropriate between 1:7 and 1:7.5.

...

Such an adjustment would have the effect of enlarging a championship's bracket size, though the Championships Committee also would have to consider whether bracket expansion could be supported within Division III's championships budget, which is determined every two years.

Next spring's men's golf championships will include 37 teams under the 1:7.5 ratio, including 27 that will qualify automatically through conferences (Pool A). Seven berths are available to teams from conferences that do not have automatic qualification or teams that are not affiliated with a conference (Pool B), while three berths will be allocated to Pool C.

To illustrate how a change in the ratio would impact bracket size, had the Championships Committee approved a 1:7 ratio for men's golf, the championship would have gained a projected three additional berths for teams selected at large – a move the golf committee advocated to improve access for quality teams that are defeated in competition for automatic qualification but would be competitive in the national championship.

There currently is a similar concern in women's golf, where the number of Pool C berths has dropped to two – the minimum that can be allocated in a Division III team championship. The Division III Women's Golf Championships field will increase from 19 to 20 teams this year to maintain that minimum Pool C allocation.

In other items,

Recommended to the Management Council an administrative regulation allowing sports committees to request permission to weight home and away games in the opponents' average winning percentage (OWP) and opponents' opponents' average winning percentage (OOWP) in primary criteria for championships ranking and selection.

Wow!  That is the old home-away feature that we had in the QOWI!  

Agreed to consider, for cases in which a Division III provisional member will become a conference's seventh member for automatic-qualification purposes in a sport, whether that conference should be permitted to count the member's third and fourth provisional year toward the league's two-year waiting period to achieve AQ. The committee will consider whether to recommend changing an administrative regulation that currently requires the conference to wait two additional years after the institution achieves active membership.

I wonder if this is not an issue arising from the NECC, the UMAC, and/or the NEAC as those new conferences grow and stabilize.



Please see my post just above (#1610) in which I can project 4 more conferences earning Pool A bids as new conferences and affiliations occur.  That would give 31 A's, 3 B's, and 2 Pool C's.