Future of Division III

[frank uible]

Those numbers would leave some major conferences or certain schools in major conferences out in the cold.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Especially since it is not the SAME 48 for football and basketball (or other sports).

Though if they did it, I suppose most people would soon enough forget about Gonzaga, or that Duke sucks in football.   But I'd truly regret never again having a George Mason or a Boise State.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Those numbers would leave some major conferences or certain schools in major conferences out in the cold.

Well you'd have to assume that schools which do actually put academics first (Vanderbilt, Northwestern, etc) might be out.

It would probably be football driven, though.

Maybe it was 64 schools; I forget the exact number - 64 would make sense.  They could do 8 divisions of 8 teams, have a perfect bracket for basketball.

[Ralph Turner]

New Regional alignments in women's and (possibly men's) soccer.

NCAA announces that the Landmark Conference is getting Pool A bids in Men's and Women's Soccer.

[pabegg]

New Regional alignments in women's and (possibly men's) soccer.

NCAA announces that the Landmark Conference is getting Pool A bids in Men's and Women's Soccer.

My understanding was that they were going to make the regional assignment the same for both sexes, so that might involve moving some of the mens' teams as well.

[old ends]

The Harrisburg - Patriot News has an interesting article on the current economy and sports. Some of the Athletic Directors from the Centennial Conference and others were ask how they are handling the problems.

http://www.pennlive.com/sports/patriotnews/college/index.ssf?/base/sports/1235261406164720.xml&coll=1

[wilburt]

March 9, 2009


Division III Athletes Continue to Lag in Academic Performance

Andrew Mytelka
The Chronicle of Higher Education

In the second in a series of annual reports on the academic performance of Division III athletes relative to their nonathlete classmates, the College Sports Project said today that the differences between the two groups had narrowed slightly since the last report.

But female athletes continue to do better relative to female nonathletes than male athletes do relative to other male students, and recruited male athletes do worse still, the new report said. The series of reports is based on a longitudinal survey of athletes and other students who matriculated in 2005-6 at about 75 Division III colleges. The project is being financed by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.


second in a series of annual reports
http://www.princeton.edu/~cspo/CDCA_PDF/AAC_U_Presentation.pdf

College Sports Project
http://www.princeton.edu/~cspo/

[Ralph Turner]

Looks like the NCAA may be considering some "football only" adjustments to the criteria based on the comparatively low number of contests per year compared to other sports.

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/ncaa?ContentID=46929

Pull quote from the article that Just Bill found...

Another item on the committee's agenda called for a tweak in selection criteria for the Division III Football Championship. Since football teams can only play up to 10 regular-season games, selection criteria used by other Division III sports that play more contests are less appropriate for football.

The committee will examine the following criteria in no particular order:

    * Head to head competition.
    * Win/ loss percentage (overall).
    * Results verses ranked opponents.
    * Strength-of-schedule (contests versus all opponents).
    * Opponents' Average Winning Percentage.
    * Opponents' Opponents' Average Winning Percentage.
    * Results verses common opponents.
    * Evaluation of a team's win-loss percentage during the last 25 percent of the season is applicable (end-of-season performance).

An online process to evaluate officials also will be implemented in the fall of 2009.

One caveat to the above...

The proposal must be approved by the Division III Championships Committee before it can be implemented.

[Ron Boerger]

March 9, 2009


Division III Athletes Continue to Lag in Academic Performance

Andrew Mytelka
The Chronicle of Higher Education

In the second in a series of annual reports on the academic performance of Division III athletes relative to their nonathlete classmates, the College Sports Project said today that the differences between the two groups had narrowed slightly since the last report.

But female athletes continue to do better relative to female nonathletes than male athletes do relative to other male students, and recruited male athletes do worse still, the new report said. The series of reports is based on a longitudinal survey of athletes and other students who matriculated in 2005-6 at about 75 Division III colleges. The project is being financed by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.


second in a series of annual reports
http://www.princeton.edu/~cspo/CDCA_PDF/AAC_U_Presentation.pdf

College Sports Project
http://www.princeton.edu/~cspo/

Gee, I wonder how Northwestern would fare in their own study 

I've often thought it would be educational to see such differences on a school-by-school level rather than aggregated.  There would no doubt be many surprises, both positive and negative, and some sacred cows could get slaughtered in the process.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Looks like the NCAA may be considering some "football only" adjustments to the criteria based on the comparatively low number of contests per year compared to other sports.

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/ncaa?ContentID=46929

Pull quote from the article that Just Bill found...

Another item on the committee's agenda called for a tweak in selection criteria for the Division III Football Championship. Since football teams can only play up to 10 regular-season games, selection criteria used by other Division III sports that play more contests are less appropriate for football.

The committee will examine the following criteria in no particular order:

    * Head to head competition.
    * Win/ loss percentage (overall).
    * Results verses ranked opponents.
    * Strength-of-schedule (contests versus all opponents).
    * Opponents' Average Winning Percentage.
    * Opponents' Opponents' Average Winning Percentage.
    * Results verses common opponents.
    * Evaluation of a team's win-loss percentage during the last 25 percent of the season is applicable (end-of-season performance).

An online process to evaluate officials also will be implemented in the fall of 2009.

One caveat to the above...

The proposal must be approved by the Division III Championships Committee before it can be implemented.

Any sense of whether they literally mean all opponents, or just all d3 opponents regardless of region?

[Pat Coleman]

I don't know the answer to that but I can tell you that the committee chair told us they basically went almost directly to the secondary criteria because there were so few games, and looked at out-of-region games. At that time I took it to mean out-of-region D-III games, but there's a chance I misunderstood.

[Ralph Turner]

A shopper's guide to Division II – Part 1

Leaders say reclassifying schools don't always realize the real bottom line


Here is a 3-part series on D-II for your reading.  Parts 2 and 3 will follow.

Pull quotes...

Grand Valley State generates about 15 percent of its own budget through ticket sales, sponsorships and fund-raising. While that might be better than many Division I schools, the athletics department at almost every school is funded like every other department – that is, the university supplies the funding. Studies have shown that schools that reclassify to Division I might increase their revenues some, but the increase in expenses is far more likely to dwarf the income side of the ledger. -- Grand Valley State AD Tim Selgo

As for Division III, presidents and chancellors need to look at the benefit of athletics as potentially increasing the school's bottom line because of net tuition revenue. If people take the time to assess whether they are capable of increasing their total enrollment and overall bottom line by a partial-scholarship model, they might be surprised by the results. I would encourage people to check out the simulation model Division II developed to give institutions an accurate idea of how the partial-scholarship model contributes not only to an institution's financial bottom line but also its total enrollment. -- Stephen Jordan, President of Metropolitan State College of Denver

Part 2 -- "Ticker Envy"



Part 3 -- A case study in reviewing reasons for divisional affiliation

[PA_wesleyfan]

A shopper's guide to Division II – Part 1

Leaders say reclassifying schools don't always realize the real bottom line


Here is a 3-part series on D-II for your reading.  Parts 2 and 3 will follow.

Pull quotes...

Grand Valley State generates about 15 percent of its own budget through ticket sales, sponsorships and fund-raising. While that might be better than many Division I schools, the athletics department at almost every school is funded like every other department – that is, the university supplies the funding. Studies have shown that schools that reclassify to Division I might increase their revenues some, but the increase in expenses is far more likely to dwarf the income side of the ledger. -- Grand Valley State AD Tim Selgo

As for Division III, presidents and chancellors need to look at the benefit of athletics as potentially increasing the school's bottom line because of net tuition revenue. If people take the time to assess whether they are capable of increasing their total enrollment and overall bottom line by a partial-scholarship model, they might be surprised by the results. I would encourage people to check out the simulation model Division II developed to give institutions an accurate idea of how the partial-scholarship model contributes not only to an institution's financial bottom line but also its total enrollment. -- Stephen Jordan, President of Metropolitan State College of Denver

  I wonder how many conferences or individual schools have roster limits? And how much more money those schools would generate with 30 to 70 more athletes would bring in!!! 7 figures??

[Just Bill]

FWIW, the WIAC has roster limits in many sports. Football is 100, Men's Basketball is 20.

A little off the D-III topic, but this is a great read from the AD at Grand Valley State.  Because of GVSU's success in D-II they often get asked why they don't move to D-I.  The AD laid it all out and posted it on their website.   It should be required reading for every school who thinks they HAVE to be D-I.

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/grva/genrel/auto_pdf/selgod2_09.pdf

[Ralph Turner]

Emmanuel is adding Men's Golf in Fall 2009.

This helps the GNAC maintain an AQ in Golf.  The GNAC now has five full members and three affiliates.  The Pool A bid would could come from Pool B.

The Pool System is adding opportunities for student-athletes!