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AUGUST 28, 2024 | written by STEVE ULRICH

News and notes on the largest and best Division in the NCAA. #whyD3
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TOP STORY
1. CUNY Hires Sports Contractor to Manage Athletic Conference

by Jonathan Custudio, THE CITY

“The City University of New York board of trustees last Monday authorized a contract worth approximately $4.4 million for three years with Kansas-based Mammoth Sports Construction to manage and operate athletics at its eight senior colleges.

Mammoth will use its “the University required outside expertise to manage and operate the CUNY Athletic Conference more efficiently,” according to the resolution the board approved last Monday.

The conference covers teams at 14 of the system’s senior and junior colleges that compete against each other and local non-CUNY institutions in sports such as basketball, swimming, cross country, baseball and volleyball, But Mammoth will only be involved with the eight senior colleges, according to CUNY spokesperson Noah Gardy. Those colleges are also part of the NCAA Division III, while the six junior colleges are with the National Junior College Athletic Association.”

» Situational Awareness. “The conference has been run through CUNY’s central administration, and bringing in Mammoth is intended to “enhance student athletic experience and better align the conference with our peer conferences from across the country,” Gardy told THE CITY in a written statement.

» What They’re Saying. “Almost no conferences are administered through a university or a university-system. Most are separate organizations with a board, typically comprised of the presidents of their members, that independently hire staff and advance their priorities.”

» Quotable. It’s rare for a university system like CUNY to contract an outside vendor to manage its athletics, according to Matt Brown, who runs Extra Points, a newsletter that covers business policy and off-the-field stories in college athletics. “At the Division III space and Division II space, conference operations and conference offices are generally skeleton crews,” Brown told THE CITY.”

» Keep Reading

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CROSS COUNTRY

2. (Un)Equal Distance: Why Collegiate Cross Country Still Has a Long Way to Go to Achieve Gender Equity

by Matt Brown and Katie Lever, Extra Points

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. For Saint Michael's College head Nordic ski and cross country coach, Molly Peters, her first step in a journey to ensure gender equity in collegiate cross country began with a single email sent over two years ago. Today, she’s still fighting for her cause: for men and women cross country athletes to race the same distance at the college level.

Peters is the founder of the Equal Distance Team, an initiative to balance one of the most blatant inequities in college sports: the max distances that men and women collegiate cross country runners can race. Although the 10,000 meters is an event that both men and women run in outdoor track, the same can’t be said for cross country, where women’s races cap out at 6,000 meters, while men typically run 8,000-10,000 meters.

Peters’s Run Equal movement is similar to her Ski Equal initiative, which equalized race distance for men and women at the World Cup, U23, and World Junior levels in the world of Nordic skiing in 2022. Peters has been trying to gain similar success in cross country with little traction in spite of her best efforts and years of perseverance.”

» Driving The News. “It might seem trivial to raise a fuss over an extra few thousand meters. Collegiate cross country isn’t a big moneymaker for universities, and distance runners tend to fly under the radar in a college sports industry that’s dominated by revenue-generating sports. But for Peters, the principle behind the discrepancy is important. “I just feel it's just another thing that sort of eats away at the psyche of women and makes them feel like they're less,” she said.”

» Reality Check. “Peters started with a simple proposal: have both genders compete at 8,000 meters in collegiate cross country. In January 2022, Peters contacted the Division I, II, and III NCAA Cross Country Committees, the NCAA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, and then-NCAA president, Mark Emmert, with her idea to equalize the distances between men’s and women’s collegiate cross country races with what she calls the “8k compromise.” The committees rejected her proposal, stating “increasing women’s distance races “could have a negative affect” and could also “be detrimental and consequential to women’s cross country and result in reduced participation.”

» What They’re Saying. “What message are we sending to young women when they step on the line, and they're racing a shorter distance?” Peters said. “I've heard before, ‘well, it's just different.’ [But] it's not different. It's always less. And it's always been less across the board.”

» Continue Reading

FIELD HOCKEY

3. Panthers Favored to Extend National Title Streak to Seven

Middlebury is the favorite to win its seventh consecutive NCAA DIII field hockey championship as the NFHCA released its annual preseason poll.

The Panthers received 60 of 63 first-place ballots to easily outdistance Johns Hopkins - the team Middlebury has defeated for the NCAA title in each of the last three seasons.

» Conference Call. NESCAC (8), CC (3), NJAC (3), C2C (2), LL (2), MAC (2), NEWMAC (2), ODAC (2), SUNYAC (1).

» Complete Poll

FOOTBALL

4. Landmark Adds Western Connecticut to Football Fold

“The Landmark Conference is pleased to announce that Western Connecticut State University (WestConn) has been approved as an associate member in the sport of football, effective for the 2025 season. The decision was endorsed by the Landmark Conference Presidents during their meeting on August 23, 2024.

With the addition of WestConn, the Landmark football sponsorship expands to eight institutions. The lineup includes full members Catholic University, Juniata College, Lycoming College, Moravian University, Susquehanna University, and Wilkes University, along with affiliate member Keystone College.”

» Quotable. "On behalf of the entire university, I would like to thank the Landmark coaches, athletic directors, Presidents, and Commissioner Katie Boldvich for accepting us into their prestigious conference," said WestConn Athletic Director Lori Mazza. "We look forward to the high level of competition on the field and the consistently high academic standard off the field. We look forward to being good conference affiliate members and while this process has been extremely humbling, WestConn is filled with appreciation and excitement as we call the Landmark Conference our HOME."

» Continue Reading

ROUNDUP

5. Lightning Round ⚡️ 

» 🏫  News. “As deferred maintenance at higher education institutions mounts, the growing backlog of needed capital investment presents a “hidden liability” for the sector, according to a Moody’s Ratings report this month. Collectively, the capital needs for facilities amount to between $750 billion and $950 billion over the next decade for colleges the agency rates, according to Moody’s. With fewer financial options, many colleges will resort to taking on new debt to finance investments, analysts said.

TRANSACTIONS
6. Comings and Goings

• BETHEL - Penny Foore, Rick Meyer and Chris McKelvie named assistant athletic directors. Danny Kulus named assistant strength and conditioning coach

• DePAUW - Jordan Niespodziany named head baseball coach

• JOHN CARROLL - Kasey Konte named associate athletic director for operations

• KING’S - Elena Andreyev named assistant to athletic director and director of field hockey

• LAKE FOREST - Jackie Slaats steps away as VP for career advancement and athletics

• MIDDLEBURY - Shelby Watts named assistant director of sports medicine

• MOUNT ST. JOSEPH - Adam Cokonougher named head cross country/track and field coach

• NEBRASKA WESLEYAN - Jeff Christy named head baseball coach 

• RIT - Micah Chapman named coordinator of athletic communications

• ROGER WILLIAMS - Matt Emmert named assistant athletic director 

• RUTGERS-NEWARK - Joel Williams named head cross country/track and field coach

• STEVENS - Patrick Duffy named assistant athletic director for communications

• UNION - Chris Comino named head softball coach

• URSINUS - Frederika Tavani named head tennis coach

1 THING

7. Fawning Over It

“A tiny South American deer that will weigh only as much as a watermelon when fully grown is making its debut at the Queens Zoo in New York City.

The southern pudu fawn weighed just 2 pounds (just under 1 kilo) when it was born June 21, the Wildlife Conservation Society, which runs New York City’s zoos. It is expected to weigh 15 to 20 pounds (7 to 9 kilograms) in adulthood.

The southern pudu, one of the world’s smallest deer species, is listed as near threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. It is native to Chile and Argentina, where its population is decreasing because of factors including development and invasive species.

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