Covid Impacts on Upcoming Season

[PaulNewman]

Might be time to put SoS aside for a year.  There are going to be adjustments and compromises across the board for professional and college sports.  One solution may be that there ends up being no tournament.  But even a 16 team tournament, picked by the Chair and the regional committees, would be better than nothing.  It will be interesting to see how creative and innovative the NCAA will be if needed.

[Stryker]

Might be time to put SoS aside for a year.  There are going to be adjustments and compromises across the board for professional and college sports.  One solution may be that there ends up being no tournament.  But even a 16 team tournament, picked by the Chair and the regional committees, would be better than nothing.  It will be interesting to see how creative and innovative the NCAA will be if needed.

You may be right. I don't envy the NCAA. If the NCAA decides not to have a tournament or has a tournament with fewer qualifying teams, there is a real risk that a lot of current players will choose to red-shirt this season. How that will affect the ability of schools to field a team is an unknown. My kid is in a 5 year program and has flexibility to red-shirt. Trying to balance role as team leader against desire to maximize number of chances to participate in the NCAA tournament. Would definitely red-shirt if no tournament. Unclear what the choice will be if the NCAA decides to have a reduced tournament or if the NCAA fails to announce its plans for the tournament before the season starts. 

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Remember ... by "NCAA" we mean Division III members. The division makes decisions for itself. Overall decisions like the cancelation of March Madness and all other championships certainly was made higher up, but not without long conversations with membership and particular boards.

The biggest reason for the minimums to be reduced had more to do with helping schools who may be struggling financially especially due to the current climate keep their programs up to the standards that qualify for NCAA membership. It has less to do with championship tournaments, honestly. Yes, the tournaments are part of the minimums, but the focus on the reduction of minimums was more to keep membership from having problems with their membership.

[PaulNewman]

Might be time to put SoS aside for a year.  There are going to be adjustments and compromises across the board for professional and college sports.  One solution may be that there ends up being no tournament.  But even a 16 team tournament, picked by the Chair and the regional committees, would be better than nothing.  It will be interesting to see how creative and innovative the NCAA will be if needed.

You may be right. I don't envy the NCAA. If the NCAA decides not to have a tournament or has a tournament with fewer qualifying teams, there is a real risk that a lot of current players will choose to red-shirt this season. How that will affect the ability of schools to field a team is an unknown. My kid is in a 5 year program and has flexibility to red-shirt. Trying to balance role as team leader against desire to maximize number of chances to participate in the NCAA tournament. Would definitely red-shirt if no tournament. Unclear what the choice will be if the NCAA decides to have a reduced tournament or if the NCAA fails to announce its plans for the tournament before the season starts.

Obviously college students, including those looking forward to their frosh years, and their parents, will all have to make their own decisions based on what they know at each critical decision point.  I know I would be very reluctant to send a kid off to college for the first time, or I guess even as a soph, junior, or senior, IF all the indicators suggested a very compromised, watered down college experience (and in that respect I'm not even including the athletic piece).  Sounds like your kid has some flexibility and options that few will have in terms of a "redshirt" year that doesn't involve putting a life on hold for D3 soccer, paying an extra 45-70K for the privilege, or waiting out using one's four years of eligibility by just waiting a year to go back to school.  I have to admit I don't really get having soccer be, at the D3 level, the deciding factor, but I also know there are some kids who basically are only going to college even at D3 to keep playing soccer.  To each his or her own I suppose.  Beyond that, I also think the risk of miscalculating (in hindsight) is high.  A kid could skip this year based on your reasoning above, and then THIS season could be the one where his team makes the tournament.  Or a kid could wait and a team could miss out because of events out of their control that dropped their SoS from a projected .580 to .535, a "loss" in PKs in a conference final, and/or a string of key injuries at the wrong time of the season.  Seeing a couple of handfuls of schools make the tournament every year or most years doesn't mean that a NCAA tourney bid can ever be taken for granted.  It is very, very easy to NOT make the tournament.  Anyway, overall I get it.  When you are in the middle of it, and especially when your team has a real shot and is on a real run, there's not much better (for kid and parent)....all the years since age four or so, the indoor phase, the period of thinking your kid might be pretty good, watching your kid in exciting high school and club games, and having all of that lived history crescendo into a shot at glory with teammates your kid has grown to love feels really, really, really good.  But one way or another, it's over, and it's over abruptly.  Of course there is the second "career" to look forward to as an obnoxious and insufferable parent alum who poses as a pundit for another decade  on d3soccer.com.

[Gregory Sager]

Might be time to put SoS aside for a year.  There are going to be adjustments and compromises across the board for professional and college sports.  One solution may be that there ends up being no tournament.  But even a 16 team tournament, picked by the Chair and the regional committees, would be better than nothing.  It will be interesting to see how creative and innovative the NCAA will be if needed.

You may be right. I don't envy the NCAA. If the NCAA decides not to have a tournament or has a tournament with fewer qualifying teams, there is a real risk that a lot of current players will choose to red-shirt this season. How that will affect the ability of schools to field a team is an unknown. My kid is in a 5 year program and has flexibility to red-shirt. Trying to balance role as team leader against desire to maximize number of chances to participate in the NCAA tournament. Would definitely red-shirt if no tournament. Unclear what the choice will be if the NCAA decides to have a reduced tournament or if the NCAA fails to announce its plans for the tournament before the season starts.

Redshirting is not permitted in D3. If you practice with the team, you're using up one of your four years of eligibility regardless of whether you dress for games or not.

You may be confusing redshirting with grayshirting.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Might be time to put SoS aside for a year.  There are going to be adjustments and compromises across the board for professional and college sports.  One solution may be that there ends up being no tournament.  But even a 16 team tournament, picked by the Chair and the regional committees, would be better than nothing.  It will be interesting to see how creative and innovative the NCAA will be if needed.

You may be right. I don't envy the NCAA. If the NCAA decides not to have a tournament or has a tournament with fewer qualifying teams, there is a real risk that a lot of current players will choose to red-shirt this season. How that will affect the ability of schools to field a team is an unknown. My kid is in a 5 year program and has flexibility to red-shirt. Trying to balance role as team leader against desire to maximize number of chances to participate in the NCAA tournament. Would definitely red-shirt if no tournament. Unclear what the choice will be if the NCAA decides to have a reduced tournament or if the NCAA fails to announce its plans for the tournament before the season starts.

Redshirting is not permitted in D3. If you practice with the team, you're using up one of your four years of eligibility regardless of whether you dress for games or not.

You may be confusing redshirting with grayshirting.

And there is a crack down on grayshirting, which I think Sager is hinting at there.

[Stryker]

Good points and thanks for the info. I'm not one of those that knows all the rules, my kid does though. That's why I appreciate boards like these.

[Stryker]

 Of course there is the second "career" to look forward to as an obnoxious and insufferable parent alum who poses as a pundit for another decade  on d3soccer.com.
[/quote]

View you more as a resource of knowledge. Your comments echo many of the points that I have made with my kid and helps make informed decisions. Can only be a soccer player for so long . In contrast, will be an engineer for rest of lifetime.

[PaulNewman]

Of course there is the second "career" to look forward to as an obnoxious and insufferable parent alum who poses as a pundit for another decade  on d3soccer.com.

View you more as a resource of knowledge. Your comments echo many of the points that I have made with my kid and helps make informed decisions. Can only be a soccer player for so long . In contrast, will be an engineer for rest of lifetime.
[/quote]

You're going to do very well.  You handled the little "education" you got here much better than I or many other posters would have.

[Ejay]

View you more as a resource of knowledge. Your comments echo many of the points that I have made with my kid and helps make informed decisions. Can only be a soccer player for so long . In contrast, will be an engineer for rest of lifetime.

Stick around and you'll see what he means ;-)

[fishercats]

I saw mention that the NCAA may allow DIII sports to start earlier in August this year. Any word or details on that?

[CC United]

The link below is the 2020 NCAA Division III COVID-19 Question and Answer Guide, updated June 8.  It's also available at NCAA.org. See page 16, question 2 at the bottom.  It looks like preseason start dates remain the same for now, but I have no inside information.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

The link below is the 2020 NCAA Division III COVID-19 Question and Answer Guide, updated June 8.  It's also available at NCAA.org. See page 16, question 2 at the bottom.  It looks like preseason start dates remain the same for now, but I have no inside information.

No link as of yet, but no, DIII has not changed it's dates at this time. They are likely not going to change dates and leave it up to individual schools and conferences to make their own adjustments. Changing the overall dates is unfair to those who may be able to meet those dates. Those dates are broad guides anyway. NESCAC schools have started practices later than a lot of conferences in a lot of sports ... no ones says you have to start on that date.

[CC United]

https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/compliance/d3/2020D3AMA_COVID19QandAGuide.pdf

Here's the link. Not sure why it didn't go through.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

FYI: http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/media-center/news/division-iii-increases-length-fall-sports-preseasons