MAY 5, 2025 | composed by STEVE ULRICH

What administrators, coaches, parents and fans are reading. #whyD3
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🏆️  Trophy Time! Congratulations to those who hoisted the conference championship trophy or received individual medals last weekend.

🗓️ What’s Happening Today. DIII women’s lacrosse selection reveal (10:30), women’s tennis selection show (Noon), men’s tennis selection show (12:30), women’s golf selection release (6:00). All times ET.

🎶 Your Morning Pick-Me-Up. Come Monday. Jimmy Buffett

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TOP STORY
1. With NFL Support, NCAA interest and Olympics Ahead, a D3 League Offers a Glimpse Into the Future of Women’s Flag Football

by Mitchell Northam, SB Nation

“With the backing of the NFL and an international stage looming, flag football is booming and growing in leaps and bounds. It has often been touted in recent years as the fastest growing sport in the world. The NFL estimates that about 20 million people across 100 countries are playing flag football or a variation of it. In the U.S., the National Sporting Goods Association said that from 2022 to 2023, girls participating in flag football increased by 55 percent to 1.6 million.

It’s spreading at the college level too. More teams and more conferences are adding flag football, and there’s a real possibility that it becomes an NCAA-championship-level sport over the next decade.

But whatever the future holds for flag football, the Atlantic East — a Division III NCAA league founded in 2018 made up of schools in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Maryland and Virginia — will always be first. It was the first NCAA conference to declare its intentions of making women’s flag football a varsity sport, the first to complete a full season at that level, and the first to hold a conference championship for it. In the same way that people in women’s basketball talk about Delta State and Immaculata as early groundbreakers, the Atlantic East and its teams should be referenced that way as the history of women’s collegiate flag football is recorded.”

» Quotable. “We had buy-in from our presidents, our athletic directors, our campuses, and that’s a huge part of it, being able to step up and do something for these student-athletes,” Rebecca Mullen, the interim commissioner for the Atlantic East, tells SB Nation. “There’s no one else that can say that they did this, and these student athletes will have one of the most unique experiences.”

» DYK? “Currently, 15 states have officially sanctioned girls flag football as a high school sport and 17 others have announced pilot programs. Mississippi and Washington were the latest states to sponsor the sport at the high school level. USA Today even launched a top 25 ranking for the best high school teams throughout the country.”

» The Final Word. “With the NFL backing it, with the NCAA exploring it and with folks with deep pockets aiming to invest in it, the future for flag football seems to be bright. And wherever the sport goes, the Atlantic East will always have been first.”

» Keep Reading

LEGAL
2. Rise of the Roster Resistance: House v. NCAA’s Unwelcome Underdogs

by Daniel Libit, Sportico

“Even in a legal saga defined by unpredictability, U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken’s decision last week to withhold final approval for the House v. NCAA settlement caught many close observers off guard.

The settlement’s immediate imposition of team roster limits, the final sticking point of the five-year-old case, was barely on the judge’s radar when she granted the deal preliminary approval on Oct. 7. Now it’s the only topic of conversation.”

» Court Awareness. “By Wednesday, the parties are required by Wilken to confer on new language to the already-twice amended settlement, this time aimed at safeguarding the collegiate sports careers of current Division I athletes—and possibly even some recruits—from an abrupt end. This overtime legal showdown follows the NCAA and power conferences’ decision to effectively ignore Wilken’s earlier, more tempered warning during the April 7 fairness hearing.”

» Why It Matters. “A (largely) grassroots coalition of college athletes, their parents and advocates has halted a $2.8 billion settlement—temporarily, at least—that had all the momentum behind it. Unlike revenue-sharing rights, which will mostly benefit athletes in a select few sports, the roster resistance movement has gained meaningful traction across the entire landscape of college athletics—from football to crew. Its members argue that they embody the very ideal of the “student-athlete” the NCAA had long claimed to be protecting from the corrupting influence of earned income.”

» What They’re Saying. “I am aware that many student-athletes will benefit financially from the proposed settlement in this case, but I wish to express that there are thousands of others, like me, who don’t expect anything from it,” Michigan walk-on football player John Weidenbach told the judge. “Those student-athletes, mostly walk-ons, earned a spot on their team, show up to practice every day, and embody every aspect of what it means to be a student-athlete without any care as to compensation. Yet, thousands of them will be cut—unnecessarily—the moment the settlement is approved due to the roster limits that are set to go into effect.”

» Continue Reading

LACROSSE (M)
3. Tufts Gets No. 1 Seed

» The Printable Bracket
» Conference Tournament Tracker (M)

LACROSSE (W)
4. Who Plays Who? And Where?

The 47-team bracket for the DIII women’s lacrosse championship will be revealed on Monday morning.

» Conference AQ/Champion. Marymount (AEC), F&M (Centennial), Carroll (CCIW), Endicott (CNE), St. John Fisher (E8), Emmanuel (GNAC), Transylvania (HCLC), Scranton (Landmark), Ithaca (LL), WestConn (LEC), Worcester State (MASCAC), Hope (MIAA), York (MACC), Stevens (MACF), Tufts (NESCAC), MIT (NEWMAC), TCNJ (NJAC), Husson (NAC), Denison (NCAC), Lake Forest (NACC), George Fox (NWC), Mount Union (OAC), Washington and Lee (ODAC), Grove City (PAC), Merchant Marine (Skyline), Sewanee (SAA), Pomona-Pitzer (SCIAC), Oswego (SUNYAC), St. Mary’s MD (UEC).

» At-Large Selections (17). Middlebury (1), Colby (4), Gettysburg (5), Wesleyan (7), Amherst (9), Rowan (12), Salisbury (13), Colorado College (16), Haverford (19), Chicago (21), William Smith (22), Wooster (23), Babson (24), Plymouth State (26), John Carroll (27), Trinity (28), Messiah (29).

» Conference Tournament Tracker (W)

AROUND THE NATION
5. Golf, Tennis, Track and Field Champions

Conference hardware was presented last weekend as 27 leagues will crown their champions in Division III men’s and women’s tennis.

» Tennis (W). Luther (A-R-C), East Texas Baptist (ASC), Christopher Newport (C2C), Swarthmore (CC), Transylvania (HCAC), Scranton (LAND), Vassar (LL), Albright (MACC), Stevens (MACF), Hope (MIAA), Gustavus Adolphus (MIAC), Grinnell (MWC), Edgewood (NACC), Middlebury (NESCAC), MIT (NEWMAC), Ohio Northern (OAC), Washington and Lee (ODAC), Pomona-Pitzer (SCIAC), Penn State Harrisburg (UEC), UW-Superior (UMAC),

» Tennis (M). Penn State Behrend (AEC), Christopher Newport (C2C), Swarthmore (CC), North Central (CCIW), Nichols (CNE), Baruch (CUNYAC), Oswego (E8), Rose-Hulman (HCAC), Goucher (LAND), Rhode Island College (LEC), RPI (LL), York (MACC), Stevens (MACF), Kalamazoo (MIAA), Gustavus Adolphus (MIAC), Illinois Tech (NACC), Denison (NCAC), Middlebury (NESCAC), Ohio Northern (OAC), Averett (ODAC), Claremont-M-S (SCIAC), Farmingdale State (SKY), Penn State Harrisburg (UEC), Whitewater (WIAC)

» Golf (W). Mount St. Joseph (HCAC), Denison (NCAC), Middlebury (NESCAC)

» Golf (M). Mary Hardin-Baylor (ASC), Illinois Wesleyan (CCIW), York (MACC), Stevens (MACF), Wittenberg (NCAC), John Carroll (OAC)

» Track and Field (W). Marymount (AEC), Johns Hopkins (CC), Hunter (CUNYAC), UC Santa Cruz (C2C), Elmhurst (CCIW), Geneseo (E8), Moravian (LAND), Rochester (LL), Calvin (MIAA), Widener (MAC), DePauw (NCAC), St. Norbert (NACC), TCNJ (NJAC), Ohio Northern (OAC), Grove City (PAC), Cortland (SUNYAC), St. Mary’s, Md. (UEC), Crown (UMAC), La Crosse (WIAC)

» Track and Field (M). Marywood (AEC), Johns Hopkins (CC), Medgar Evers (CUNYAC), UC Santa Cruz (C2C), North Central (CCIW), Geneseo (E8), Susquehanna (LAND), Rensselaer (LL), Trine (MIAA), Lebanon Valley (MAC), Wabash (NCAC), St. Norbert (NACC), Rowan (NJAC), Mount Union (OAC), Grove City (PAC), Cortland (SUNYAC), Penn State Harrisburg (UEC), Martin Luther (UMAC), La Crosse (WIAC)

» USTFCCCA Championships Central

NEWS YOU CAN USE
6. Lightning Round ⚡️ 

» Water Polo. No. 24/Division III No. 1 Pomona-Pitzer Colleges edged out DIII No. 2 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, 9-8, to four-peat as USA Water Polo Collegiate Division III national champions.

» Finances. “Facing a budget crunch, Hood College leaders are pulling 7 percent from its $204-million endowment, up from the typical 5 percent.”

TRANSACTIONS
7. Comings and Goings 

CHATHAM - Kevin McDonough resigned as head men’s lacrosse coach
CONCORDIA (Wis.) - Caitlin Lowery named head acrobatics and tumbling coach
ELMIRA - Casey McGraw stepped down as head men’s basketball coach
GETTYSBURG - Jeremy Hefele named interim head baseball coach. Dan Malone named interim head men’s soccer coach
HARTFORD - Jackie Smith named head women’s basketball coach
LaGRANGE - Matthew Hayes named vice president for athletics
MARIETTA - Anthony Fairhurst named interim head men’s basketball coach
RANDOLPH-MACON - Alexandria Thees named assistant women’s volleyball coach
ROANOKE - Bill Pilat announced his retirement as head men’s lacrosse coach
WASHINGTON & JEFFERSON - Brittany Randolph resigned as head field hockey coach
WISCONSIN INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETIC CONFERENCE - Announced addition of Beloit as an affiliate member in men’s and women’s ice hockey in 2025-26

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