NOVEMBER 4, 2024 | written by STEVE ULRICH

News and notes on the largest and best Division in the NCAA. #whyD3
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1️⃣ Just Another Manic Monday. A pleasant thought … just one more day of political ads, especially for us who reside in Pennsylvania.

Headlines
😄 Charlie Baker’s Impossible Task: Keep Everyone in College Sports Happy
🏃 Conference Championship Weekend
🏈 Saint John’s, NCC Top Grid Rankings
3️⃣ I’m Proud to Be a DIII Athlete

🗓️ What’s Happening. On Tuesday, after you vote, the monthly DIII webinar will have a recap of the DIII Management and Presidents Council meetings.

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TOP STORY
1. Charlie Baker’s Impossible Task: Keep Everyone in College Sports Happy

by Jesse Dougherty, Washington Post

“They sipped their comped drinks and talked, their lanyards telling a story. They were a Division III athletic director and the head of a coaching academy. A major school fundraiser. A content creator. Very into the growth of softball.

Young, old, hopeful, hopeless, they were bound by two things at the annual Women Leaders in Sports Conference in mid-October. They all want college sports to exist forever, like they have for decades, at least as something close to how they look right now. And they needed the tall man by the entrance to deliver that.

Charlie Baker took a few steps inside the door before he couldn’t move.”

» The Big Picture. “Ask why he became NCAA president — why, after serving as Massachusetts governor from 2015 to 2023, he took such a difficult and loathed position — and he usually comes back to loving sports. He played basketball at Harvard in the 1970s, his wife was a gymnast at Northwestern, their two sons played D-III football. College sports are the stitching of their lives, something they believe in and wax about at the dining room table.”

» Reality Check. “To university presidents and athletic directors, that made Baker the perfect hire in the spring of 2023. In their eyes, if anyone could deliver what they want from a fractured Congress, it would be the two-term Republican governor from one of the country’s most left-leaning states. They wanted someone to protect tradition, especially the long-held stance that college athletes are not employees. This is Baker’s challenge, the central conflict of what many called an “impossible job”: change but only so much. Find logical solutions for a world built on illogical principles. Chart a future while considering a past that made the present a legal mess.”

» Quotable. “You have very limited authority and very high expectations,” said Mark Emmert, who preceded Baker as NCAA president and is often criticized for the industry’s unwillingness to modernize sooner. “And it takes an enormous amount of patience and political skill to bring people together to wrestle with big issues when they have very disparate interests.”

» Continue Reading

CROSS COUNTRY
2. Conference Championship Weekend

One of the biggest weekends of the year in DIII cross country is in the books as conferences conducted their championship meets.

» Conference Champions (W). Penn State Behrend (AMCC), Wartburg (A-R-C), Mary Hardin-Baylor (ASC), Marymount (AEC), #3 Johns Hopkins (CC), UC Santa Cruz (C2C), Wheaton (CCIW), Asbury (CCS), Suffolk (CNE), #7 Geneseo (E8), Colby-Sawyer (GNAC), Hanover (HCAC), Catholic (LAND), Vassar (LL), Keene State (LEC), Westfield State (MASCAC), #19 Calvin (MIAA), Misericordia (MAC), Lawrence (MWC), St. Olaf (MIAC), #6 Williams (NESCAC), MIT (NEWMAC), Rowan (NJAC), SUNY Delhi (NAC), DePauw (NCAC), Concordia WI (NACC), George Fox (NWC), John Carroll (OAC), #12 Washington and Lee (ODAC), Allegheny (PAC), Merchant Marine (SKY), Berry (SAA), #9 Claremont-M-S (SCIAC), #2 Colorado College (SCAC), Greenville (SLIAC), Cortland (SUNYAC), St. Mary’s MD (UEC), #11 Chicago (UAA), UW-Superior (UMAC), Southern Virginia (USAS), #1 UW-La Crosse (WIAC)

» Conference Champions (M). Penn State Behrend (AMCC), #2 Wartburg (A-R-C), LeTourneau (ASC), Marywood (AEC), #13 Johns Hopkins (CC), UC Santa Cruz (C2C), #4 North Central (CCIW), Covenant (CCS), Roger Williams (CNE), #5 Geneseo (E8), Norwich (GNAC), Rose-Hulman (HCAC), Moravian (LAND), #7 RPI (LL), Keene State (LEC), Bridgewater State (MASCAC), Calvin (MIAA), Lebanon Valley (MAC), Cornell (MWC), #9 St. Olaf (MIAC), #14 Williams (NESCAC), MIT (NEWMAC), Rowan (NJAC), Maine-Farmington (NAC), Oberlin (NCAC), MSOE (NACC), #10 George Fox (NWC), #18 John Carroll (OAC), #11 Lynchburg (ODAC), Franciscan (PAC), Merchant Marine (SKY), Berry (SAA), #3 Pomona-Pitzer (SCIAC), Colorado College (SCAC), Greenville (SLIAC), Cortland (SUNYAC), Penn College (UEC), #8 NYU (UAA), UW-Superior (UMAC), Pfeiffer (USAS), #14 UW-La Crosse (WIAC).

» USTFCCCA Conference Championship Central

FOOTBALL
3. Saint John’s, NCC Top Grid Rankings

Saint John’s and North Central continue to top their respective rankings after week nine of the DIII football season.

» D3football Poll. 1-North Central, 2-Cortland, 3-Saint John’s, 4-Mount Union,
5-Hardin-Simmons, 6-Susquehanna, 7-Salisbury, 8-UW-Platteville, 9-UW-Oshkosh,
10-DePauw.

» Statistical Leaders. Rushing Yards: Anthony Boyd (NC Wesleyan), 153.6. Passing Efficiency: Zac Boyes (Cortland), 213.0; Receiving Yards: Malin Jasinski (TCNJ), 140.4. Sacks: Andrew Esmay (Martin Luther), 13.5.

» NPI Rankings

STUDENTS
4. I’m Proud to Be a DIII Athlete

by Eli Wunderlich, The Lawrentian

“While at this school, I’ve heard the term “DIII” tossed around like an insult quite a bit. “You’re just a DIII athlete,” some say. “It’s DIII for a reason.” Why is that? What do people think it means to be DIII?

The biggest difference between DI and DIII schools is that the institutions under the latter category aren’t allowed to give athletic scholarships. However, common societal belief is that the difference is more so that DI has more funding and better competition. This isn’t false, but it isn’t necessarily true either.”

» The More You Know. “A whole 57% of DI athletes receive some kind of financial aid (athletic, academic, need-based or otherwise), while 80% of DIII athletes receive non-athletic scholarships and aid. So, in some ways, there is more money in DIII, just not the way that most people think about it.”

» Worth Noting. “I have plenty of friends on DI teams. They enjoy lots of traveling, lots of fancy gear and a college experience tailored specifically around their sport. But they also deal with high injury rates, high turnover of teammates and the unending pressure that comes with monetary values attached to their performance. If you want to be a professional athlete, DI is perfect practice.”

» Why It Matters. “DIII has benefits that DI doesn’t. Besides the scholarship money and the academic-centered experience, it gives you a chance to compete with people who are truly only doing this for the love of the sport. We’re (probably) not going to be professional athletes, we’re not receiving NIL deal money, we’re not getting all the “deluxe” gear and equipment — we don’t get the societal gains from being able to call ourselves a DI athlete, which is deemed as the pinnacle of collegiate sport. We are here sacrificing our time and our energy without guarantee of monetary or societal “benefit,” simply because we want to.”

» Read More

NEWS
5. Lightning Round ⚡️ 

🗞️ News. “A committee studying the future of the state’s public university system recommended the Legislature explore spinning off the University of Wisconsin-Madison from the state's public university system. UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin and UW System President Jay Rothman have said publicly they oppose the spinoff. Mnookin said addressing problems is "preferable" within the existing system.”

⚽️ Soccer (M). Upset weekend in the NESCAC quarterfinals, as #3 Tufts and #4 Amherst both were ousted from the tourney. Bowdoin ousted the Jumbos from the tournament, outscoring Tufts, 4-3, in penalties after battling to a 1-1 draw in full time. Conn College bounced the Mammoths from the tourney, advancing in penalties,
4-2, afer a 1-1 draw through 110 minutes.

🏒 Ice Hockey (W). A shocker to open the 2024-25 season, as SUNY Canton stunned #2 Adrian, 1-0, on an OT goal from Riley Andzel. GK Abby Seaman turned away 42 shots in her debut with the Roos.

💰️ Fundraising. Franklin & Marshall raised over $472,000 during its Raise Our Game campaign. Lebanon Valley brought in more than $149,000 as part of its Day of Giving efforts.

🤺 Fencing. MIT is the preseason No. 1 as the U.S. Fencing Coaches Association released its preseason women’s poll. NYU tops the men’s rankings.

TRANSACTIONS
6. Comings and Goings

• MANHATTANVILLE - Douglas Smith resigned as head golf coach.

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