Future of Division III

[Ralph Turner]

Is Belhaven contemplating a move to D3, Ralph?

Not that I have heard.

They are the only NAIA football playing team in this part of the country that has the program capable of moving into D-III.

Besides, I thought that they were attractive as a travel partner for Mississippi College.

[Ralph Turner]

How about the SCAC expand with berry, centenary, UNO and Udallas?...than break off into two 8 team divisions based on e/w geography

Good thought, but UNO is a state school in the LSU system.  They might not share the same mission and vision as the other schools in the area, e.g., Trinity, Southwestern, Austin College, Hendrix, Millsaps, etc.

That is why the ASC with state schools in UT-Dallas, UT-Tyler and Sul Ross State seems to make more sense.

[Gregory Sager]

I agree with Ralph that UNO doesn't look like a good fit for the SCAC, although the mixed public/private environment of the ASC might be a good alternative if that school chooses to go the D3 route.

Also, Berry doesn't appear to be academically exclusive enough to receive an invitation to join the SCAC.

[Ralph Turner]

I agree with Ralph that UNO doesn't look like a good fit for the SCAC, although the mixed public/private environment of the ASC might be a good alternative if that school chooses to go the D3 route.

Also, Berry doesn't appear to be academically exclusive enough to receive an invitation to join the SCAC.

But their (Berry's) $653M endowment allows them to live in nice neighborhoods... 

http://www.nacubo.org/documents/research/NES2008PublicTable-AllInstitutionsByFY08MarketValue.pdf

[Gregory Sager]

Wow. That is a gigantic endowment by D3 standards, especially for a school that doesn't have a national profile.

[smedindy]

Their founder placed the college on a huge swath of land in rural Georgia - which over time through the 80's was sold (not all - but some) and built the endowment up.

[HSCTiger74]

Their founder placed the college on a huge swath of land in rural Georgia - which over time through the 80's was sold (not all - but some) and built the endowment up.

According to Wikipedia the college still owns 26,000 acres, so if they have sold off enough land to build a $653 million endowment then huge is a very apt description.

[Wydown Blvd.]

Article in the NYT today:

SUNY Weighs the Value of Division I Sports
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/sports/17suny.html?_r=1&hpw

[roocru]

Division III schools honored for diversity efforts

http://ncaa.org/wps/ncaa?key=/ncaa/ncaa/ncaa+news/ncaa+news+online/2009/division+iii/division+iii+schools+honored+for+diversity+efforts

[Ralph Turner]

A new midwestern conference?

I have copied this link off the front page of D3football.com's "What we're reading" for archive purposes and our discussions.

The Associated Colleges of the Midwest include 14 schools from 4 conferences.  This new conference could set ripples thru the mid portion of the country reminiscent of the "Landmark Shuffle".

Conference	Members	Non ACM members remaining
Iowa IAC	Coe, Cornell, Luther	6
Midwest Conf.	Beloit, Grinnell, Knox, Lake Forest,  Lawrence, Monmouth, Ripon	3 (Carroll, Illinois Coll, SNC)
Minnesota IAC	Carleton, Macalester, St Olaf	8 men's (7 football)/ 9 women
SCAC	Colorado College	11 (8 football)

[Ralph Turner]

A new midwestern conference?

I have copied this link off the front page of D3football.com's "What we're reading" for archive purposes and our discussions.

The Associated Colleges of the Midwest include 14 schools from 4 conferences.  This new conference could set ripples thru the mid portion of the country reminiscent of the "Landmark Shuffle".

Conference	Members	Non ACM members remaining
Iowa IAC	Coe, Cornell, Luther	6
Midwest Conf.	Beloit, Grinnell, Knox, Lake Forest,  Lawrence, Monmouth, Ripon	3 (Carroll, Illinois Coll, SNC)
Minnesota IAC	Carleton, Macalester, St Olaf	8 men's (7 football)/ 9 women
SCAC	Colorado College	11 (8 football)

Just one more thought about this article...

What do the Midwest Conference-7 gain from this?

The travel to Colorado College and to Minnesota negates the concerns about travel in the MWC.

[smedindy]

Academic prestige, Ralph. That group is already together for academics (much like the GLCA in the Great Lakes area). However, no one has suggested that the GLCA form an athletic conference.

If the GLCA did, it would be 12 teams with 3 from the MIAA, 1 from the HCAC (to be), 1 from the (SCAC) and 7 from the NCAC. Only Witt and Hiram from the NCAC would be excluded (counting Earlham as the HCAC).

I don't know if the ACM would want to form an athletic conference. It's one thing to band together academically, but another to do so in both academics and athletics. When push comes to shove, even those who were seemingly on one path (Earlham) move conferences for athletic reasons.

[Ralph Turner]

Academic prestige, Ralph. That group is already together for academics (much like the GLCA in the Great Lakes area). However, no one has suggested that the GLCA form an athletic conference.

If the GLCA did, it would be 12 teams with 3 from the MIAA, 1 from the HCAC (to be), 1 from the (SCAC) and 7 from the NCAC. Only Witt and Hiram from the NCAC would be excluded (counting Earlham as the HCAC).

I don't know if the ACM would want to form an athletic conference. It's one thing to band together academically, but another to do so in both academics and athletics. When push comes to shove, even those who were seemingly on one path (Earlham) move conferences for athletic reasons.

Yes, good points.  Academic and athletic needs don't always overlap.

We have the Associated Colleges of the South down here.  They even have a cool URL.

www.colleges.org

Centenary may be in the ACS for historical reasons, but there may be some resistance to accepting them into the SCAC.

[smedindy]

Academically, Centenary fits into the mission of the ACS. Davidson, Furman and Richmond are members as well, but I don't see them dropping to D-3 at all. Davidson, in fact, is probably the NCAA's ultimate member. A D-1 member that competes well in sports and is ranked #8 academically by US News as a national liberal arts college.

[cush]

 I would guess they would break into divisions of say one being:

Carleton College
Macalester College
St. Olaf College
Luther College
Lawrence University
Ripon College
Colorado College

as for the GLAC, don't think they will form an athletic league but maybe they could drop Antioch and add wittenberg and WJ to get to 14 someday.