D3 Football Map

[Ron Boerger]

I have always wondered about Colorado College's persistence in D3. They have "grandfathered" men's ice hockey and have scholarship women's soccer, so "Scholarship" athletics is not an anathema. It seems travel would be much easier if they went D-2 and played in the Rocky Mountain AC.

I wonder if that grandfathering is part of the issue; the NCAA might not let them go D3->D2 while retaining their D1 sports, and they're too small to go all D1.

[Kuiper]

I thought this article about the history of the athletic program at Colorado College was interesting.

Here is a quote from the former AD about the decision to drop football amidst the 2008 financial crisis:

"In 2008, we had to make vertical cuts after we realized horizontal cuts to programs who were already underfunded would undermine a team's ability to play a nonconference schedule," Ralph says. "We decided to eliminate football because they had the lowest academic profile and performance of any team, worst giving rate of any athletic program, worst retention, and we had just come off an 0-10 season. They only had one winning season in the last 33 years. Then the elimination of softball and water polo allowed us to support quality over quantity."

Though controversial, the cuts proved successful. In the three years prior to discontinuing football, CC won one conference championship (men's cross country). In the three years after the discontinuation of the three sports, CC won 16 conference championships.

"The worst correct decision I've ever made," Ralph says.

I still wonder why the SCAC teams put up with having CC in the conference.  It seems like it would be in a similar position as UC Santa Cruz in terms of needing a Coast-to-Coast Conference plus a lot of non-DIII opponents to survive.  Here's a quote from the same AD that suggests the SCAC AD's aren't always happy about the travel either:

"Many SCAC opponents feel that CC doesn't add anything to their own student-athlete experience, because of the travel and the abundance of other Division Three schools in Texas. "It's a bone of contention all the time. Schools don't like coming up here to play us. For many other conference affiliates, it's a major strain on their budget," says Ken Ralph who was CC's most recent athletic director until his departure in September of this year."

In a league without Trinity and Southwestern (two schools that might have cared about Colorado College's academic standing), you wonder who Colorado College's remaining allies are in the SCAC.

[Ralph Turner]

Dallas Baptist University plays D-1 Baseball in the Southland Conference and D-2 in the Lone Star Conference for everything else. I do not find a D-1 Women's sport. The school has 7 men's and 7 women's sports at DBU.

Why not let Colorado College move to D-1 for all sports except their current D-1 Men's Ice Hockey and Women's Soccer?

[Inkblot]

They briefly had a travel partner, but the Denver campus of Johnson & Wales closed after two years in the SCAC.

[Pat Coleman]

Why not let Colorado College move to D-1 for all sports except their current D-1 Men's Ice Hockey and Women's Soccer?

Do they desire to move to D-I?

[Kuiper]

Why not let Colorado College move to D-1 for all sports except their current D-1 Men's Ice Hockey and Women's Soccer?

Do they desire to move to D-I?

I assumed that was a typo and he meant move to D-2.  A post upthread from Ron Boerger had speculated that they are staying in D3 because the NCAA may not want to let them move from D3 to D2 and still keep their grandfathered D1 sports.

[Pat Coleman]

Ahh.

The lack of viable Division II ice hockey would probably leave open the chance for them to do II/I like a number of other hockey programs do. But I don't know that CC really sees the RMAC as peer institutions, and I don't know the D-II landscape well enough to know of another viable option.

[Ralph Turner]

Why not let Colorado College move to D-1 for all sports except their current D-1 Men's Ice Hockey and Women's Soccer?

Do they desire to move to D-I?

I assumed that was a typo and he meant move to D-2.  A post upthread from Ron Boerger had speculated that they are staying in D3 because the NCAA may not want to let them move from D3 to D2 and still keep their grandfathered D1 sports.

Yes, a typo!  (Duhhh)

[The Third Division]

2025 D3 football map is here.

Arbitrary symbols: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/2/edit?mid=1fjpweMFR_nvzVmWw7HbhVs9DzvtPO4I&usp=sharing

Conference logos: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/2/edit?mid=1Ynu-AjmiGpeor6RCvkxDHB78XurdIiY&usp=sharing

Team logos: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/2/edit?mid=1cAmSAab9NRJmOGrU31JuQ5_Yfpj8rcQ&usp=sharing

[The Third Division]

The previous post has been edited to include versions with conference logos and team logos.