Where would you like to see Division III grow?

[hickory_cornhusker]

Since summer is always a little slow on these boards I thought I would come up with a topic that might be interesting. Where would you like to see Division III grow? It can either be real schools you'd like to see join or it can just be a geographical area you'd like to see have more Division III representation.

[Wydown Blvd.]

The southeast would be nice. Such a great group of athletes in Georgia and Florida in multiple sports that D3 doesn't really get a piece of.

(Also great travel for big fans like myself.  )

[doolittledog]

The southeast would be nice. Such a great group of athletes in Georgia and Florida in multiple sports that D3 doesn't really get a piece of.

(Also great travel for big fans like myself.  )

Are there D3 type schools in the southeast?  I don't think there are many NAIA schools in that area.  Unless you know of some D2 schools looking to drop down.  D3 does get a piece of them.  Dubuque has had 50+ Florida kids at a time on their roster recently.

[doolittledog]

I would like to see small christian liberal arts schools in Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, and Illinois that are currently NAIA schools to go D3.  Then Pat Coleman could say there are as many D3 schools near Minnesota as there were back in his east coast days

[Gargantuan Gull]

Maryland

Maryland has 2 D1 schools (football), Maryland and Navy and 1 D1AA school, Towson.  Maryland has 1 D2 school Bowie State.  Maryland has 4 D3 schools (Salisbury, Frostburg, McDaniel, and starting in 2010/2011 Stevenson).  Maryland is a growing state (one of the few on the east coast due to Washington DC and the growth that comes with that) and only has a few options for their kids to play D1/D1AA/D2/D3 comparatively.....Pennsylvania for instance has the entire PSAC for D2, quite a few D3 schools and Pitt, Penn State, Temple, Duquesne, Lafayette, Lehigh, Robert Morris, Villanova, and probably a few that I am forgetting that play D1 or D1AA football.  If Maryland kids want to play football in college they often have to go out of state to do so....More D3 schools would also allow Salisbury, Frostburg, Stevenson, Wesley, etc....form/join a conference that would allow them to play games closer to home rather than having to join the Empire 8 for football for an AQ bid. 

[David Collinge]

Someone--anyone--between Linfield and USC-Santa Cruz!

[Wydown Blvd.]

The southeast would be nice. Such a great group of athletes in Georgia and Florida in multiple sports that D3 doesn't really get a piece of.

(Also great travel for big fans like myself.  )

Are there D3 type schools in the southeast?  I don't think there are many NAIA schools in that area.  Unless you know of some D2 schools looking to drop down.  D3 does get a piece of them.  Dubuque has had 50+ Florida kids at a time on their roster recently.

For Dubuque I'm assuming your talking combined all sport rosters?
Im sure that some D3 schools have Florida kids on them, but IMHO D3 carries very little weight in Alabama, Miss, and Florida etc for recruiting purposes. Georgia has good D3 pull, but not as much as it could be.

Georgia has 12 NAIAs, Florida has 10
(In comparison, some core NAIA states such as Cali, Indiana, Illinois, and MO range from about 14-22)

Do the NAIAs and D2s in the southeast have the potential to be academically and institutionally aligned with D3....no idea, but I thought this was a wish list

[Ralph Turner]

The southeast would be nice. Such a great group of athletes in Georgia and Florida in multiple sports that D3 doesn't really get a piece of.

(Also great travel for big fans like myself.  )

Are there D3 type schools in the southeast?  I don't think there are many NAIA schools in that area.  Unless you know of some D2 schools looking to drop down.  D3 does get a piece of them.  Dubuque has had 50+ Florida kids at a time on their roster recently.

Yes, but they are D-2 and D1 FCS.

---Southern Conference  (D1 FCS)

Wofford Spartanburg SC 1450 students
Furman Greenville SC 2750 students
Samford Birmingham AL 2950 undergrads

---Big South Conference  (D1 FCS)

Gardner-Webb (NC) 2650 undergrads
Presbyterian Clinton SC 1200 undergrads

---South Atlantic Conference (D2)

Almost the entire conference...

http://www.thesac.com/

---The non-football Conference Carolinas

http://www.conferencecarolinas.com/landing/index

[Gargantuan Gull]

Maryland

Maryland has 2 D1 schools (football), Maryland and Navy and 1 D1AA school, Towson.  Maryland has 1 D2 school Bowie State.  Maryland has 4 D3 schools (Salisbury, Frostburg, McDaniel, and starting in 2010/2011 Stevenson).  Maryland is a growing state (one of the few on the east coast due to Washington DC and the growth that comes with that) and only has a few options for their kids to play D1/D1AA/D2/D3 comparatively.....Pennsylvania for instance has the entire PSAC for D2, quite a few D3 schools and Pitt, Penn State, Temple, Duquesne, Lafayette, Lehigh, Robert Morris, Villanova, and probably a few that I am forgetting that play D1 or D1AA football.  If Maryland kids want to play football in college they often have to go out of state to do so....More D3 schools would also allow Salisbury, Frostburg, Stevenson, Wesley, etc....form/join a conference that would allow them to play games closer to home rather than having to join the Empire 8 for football for an AQ bid. 

Forgot John Hopkins in the D3 group...

[doolittledog]

For Dubuque I'm assuming your talking combined all sport rosters?
Im sure that some D3 schools have Florida kids on them, but IMHO D3 carries very little weight in Alabama, Miss, and Florida etc for recruiting purposes. Georgia has good D3 pull, but not as much as it could be.

Georgia has 12 NAIAs, Florida has 10
(In comparison, some core NAIA states such as Cali, Indiana, Illinois, and MO range from about 14-22)
Do the NAIAs and D2s in the southeast have the potential to be academically and institutionally aligned with D3....no idea, but I thought this was a wish list

Oops, my bad.  I was thinking about schools that have football...and not schools that could add football.  There probably are many schools that could go the D3 route in the SE.  And you are correct...this is a wish list

As for Dubuque, I wasn't talking all sports rosters.  Dubuque, under their previous coaching staff, typically had 45-50 Florida kids on their football roster every year.

Here are football maps I was looking at.

NAIA...http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a9/Cfnaia.PNG

D2...http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Cfdii.PNG

D3...http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/NCAA_Division_3_football_map.gif

[Ralph Turner]

Northeastern Okie State and University of Central Oklahoma are going to the Mid-America IAA.

University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio is adding football and will join the Lone Star Conference.

There is talk of the remaining Oklahoma D-2 schools in the Lone Star Conference (Southwestern Oklahoma St, East Central, and Southeastern Okie St) joining the 6 Arkansas schools in the Gulf South Conference to form a brand new conference.

I have not heard if (independent) Oklahoma Panhandle State has been invited to join the new Arkansas-Oklahoma conference.  I don't see what they bring to the table.

[Wydown Blvd.]

Based on those maps there are so few options for West Coast expansion... I didn't realize that...

[CrashDavisD3]

No schools from Nevada or Arizona in West.

West has been losing CA schools.

Cal State East Bay - to DII
Menlo, La Sierra to NAIA

Rumors have it though most/all schools from CA for NAIA may go to DII...if true some of those schools have a better fit in DIII than DII

[Gray Fox]

I have not heard if (independent) Oklahoma Panhandle State has been invited to join the new Arkansas-Oklahoma conference.  I don't see what they bring to the table.

Automatic wins for the other teams in the conference.

[Ralph Turner]

I have not heard if (independent) Oklahoma Panhandle State has been invited to join the new Arkansas-Oklahoma conference.  I don't see what they bring to the table.

Automatic wins for the other teams in the conference.

But who wants to drive another 227 miles west of Southwestern Okie State to get them.