Future of Division III

[Ralph Turner]

From the NCAA today...

The Council also will review suggestions from the Championships Committee to address concerns voiced at this year's NCAA Convention about the collection and use of data for selection of teams for Division III championships. The committee listed a mix of procedural and educational steps it believes will help address those concerns.

Council members also are expected to review information from the Division III Membership Committee relating to how well institutions are complying with membership requirements such as sport-sponsorship minimums.

Hmmmm....

I hope that means that we can get accurate real-time data on OWP and OOWP, especially for the coaches and AD's as well as us fans.

[Ralph Turner]

Financial crisis affecting colleges.

D3 Schools mentioned  (that I saw) -- Franklin & Marshall, Simmons College, Kalamazoo, Wooster, Williams, Amherst, Gettysburg and Beloit.

[scottiedoug]

NYTimes article about college and university athletic programs being cut and travel being restricted:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/04/sports/04colleges.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

[pumkinattack]

How about one of these institutions having the political courage to engage in the indicated shut down of one of their very expensive sacred cows rather than solely to pick at the margins with closure of inexpensive but vulnerable minor programs? In the case of Johns Hopkins how about elimination of lacrosse?

Considering the alumni base at JHU, which I have some familiarity with, that would never happen.  They'd shut down football and basketball first.  Frankly, lacrosse at Hopkins probably generates 1/3 or more of their endowment and general fund donations (if not more) directly or indirectly. 

[cush]

THis seems like an easy decision in my book with this school+ these d1 athletes don't get the d3 concept:

http://arklatexhomepage.com/content/fulltext/?cid=62172


plan to see a lot of cuts in sports...when stanford and MIT cut sports, you know school's are feeling the $ crunch...

[Ralph Turner]

THis seems like an easy decision in my book with this school+ these d1 athletes don't get the d3 concept:

http://arklatexhomepage.com/content/fulltext/?cid=62172


plan to see a lot of cuts in sports...when stanford and MIT cut sports, you know school's are feeling the $ crunch...

I say, do it now and don't keep the athletes hanging.

Release them now and let them go someplace else.  BSC showed them how to do it.

[Gregory Sager]

Wouldn't Centenary be an ideal addition to the ASC, Ralph?

[Ralph Turner]

Wouldn't Centenary be an ideal addition to the ASC, Ralph?

Yes.  The ASC inquired about Centenary's interest in becoming a charter member in 1996, but they declined.

Centenary is a member of the Associated Colleges of the South which has a majority of members in the SCAC.

www.colleges.org

(Birmingham Southern, Centre, Hendrix, Millsaps, Rhodes, Trinity, Southwestern, Sewanee)

I think that is where they are headed.

[Ralph Turner]

Division II explains Life in the Balance effort

The 15:00 video also discusses "season creep".

D-II wants to avoid season creep, with respect to length of season, number of contests, start of the season, especially start of the fall season from early August back to mid-August, to cut back on costs of feeding and housing the athletes before the start of school.

Addressing a "dead-period" from 20 December to 1 January to save money on food and housing.

For the spring, shortening baseball and softball season to fewer contests per season.  Also moving the baseball and softball starts later in the semester.

"D-II is the only division looking at a reduction of the playing seasons." -- Tim Selgo, Chair of D-II Management Council.

[Bob Maxwell]

THis seems like an easy decision in my book with this school+ these d1 athletes don't get the d3 concept:

No the student athletes don't get it... but from a D-I school like Centenary I can understand that with all the MLB, NBA and NFL players they turn out annually. 

Going to D-III would be "folding the tent"?  What is this guy talking about?  I won't lump the administration in with this lunk head as I think that the administration knows what D-III is all about and would work within that environment... that is part of the reason they are considering it.  It's most likely just the student athletes who think they are superior that don't get it?

[Gregory Sager]

I understand the defensiveness that many of us feel after seeing that Centenary video. We're D3's true believers, and we know better than to think that D3 is some sort of glorified intramurals that represents a dead end filled with semi-athletic wannabes. But I don't think that we should be so harsh as to call Centenary's disillusioned current athletes "lunkheads", or anything like that.

Put yourself in their shoes. They earned athletic scholarships, and for the vast majority of high school athletes in America an athletic scholarship is the Holy Grail. Their attitude towards D1 athletics is no different than that of probably 95-98% of all fans of college sports in this country. D1 is the apex, the ideal, and it consumes so much media, marketing, and advertising focus that every other level of college sports is something less than an afterthought. Thus, when that Centenary athlete speaks of the school's possible move to D3 as "folding the tent", he's not only expressing his own disappointment with losing his scholarship and his hard-earned status, he's also reflecting mainstream thought.

The corollary to that is that D3 is as close to an unknown commodity as it's possible to have in our sports-saturated society, with the exception of esoteric sports such as women's tackle football or dogsledding. It's thus prey to all sorts of misconceptions that arise from ignorance, such as the erroneous belief that D3 athletes are marginal or failed high-school athletes. Ignorance is not something that should be applauded, but it is a fact of life, and at one point or another we've all spoken out about things we don't truly understand. That doesn't make us lunkheads. It makes us human.

The cure for ignorance isn't insults. It's education. We need to get out there and inform people about what D3 really is, and about what the competitive level of our various sports is really like, rather than simply draw the wagons in a circle and react with hostility when the 98% of American athletes and sports fans who don't have a clue about D3 denigrate it.

[kate]

Gregory Sager, your post should be made mandatory reading for every D1 athlete in America!  Coming from the northeast area of the country, we're blest with multiple D3 schools, all within 100 mile radius of Easton, PA.  Most weekends from November until March unless we're at a Del Val game, we're hard pressed to decide whether to hit DeSale's or Moravian!  i CAN NOT stress enough how competitive these games are, and how much they're enjoyed by my husband & myself.  Long Live Division 3 Sports!!!  Also, while i'm on here, Long Live the Delaware Valley College Sport's programs!

[PA_wesleyfan]

I understand that lacross is not a " major " sport , but as I was surfing the sports channels last night I stumbled upon the LAX draft. There were at least  three DIII players drafted in the early rounds that were mentioned but I didn't stick around long enough to see how many actually were chosen. I did a double take when the anouncer stated that the LAX teams don't discriminate against drafting players because they played DIII... So there is hope for the "glorified intramural " players after all...

[Ralph Turner]

How many scholarship equivalents do male lacrosse programs receive in D-I?

The strong student-athlete might get a very competitive merit-based financial aid package to a D-III vs a less-desirable aid package, including the "athletic scholarship" for a D-I.

[PA_wesleyfan]

Ralph
   
I would have to believe that on the east coast that lacrosse gets it share of scholorships. But I have no data on how many per school. And as big as the sport has become locally your point is well taken.