At Siena Heights, 67.8% of its students were athletes.  That's a canary in the coal mine stat:

https://bsky.app/profile/stevedittmore.bsky.social/post/3lsvt2nn5ik2z

QuoteUnfortunate news concerning Siena Heights University and its impending closure. Per 2023-24 EADA, school had 1,075 undergraduates, 729 athletes (67.8%). In 2022-23, the school reported 1,095 undergraduates, 684 athletes (62.5%).
https://www.sienaheights.edu/siena-heights-university-announces-closure/

[Cross-posted from the 2025 Schedules Thread]

This is the Planes, Trains, and Automobiles version of a schedule

Whitman

If this is accurate, Whitman has to have agreed to the craziest three game travel schedule I have ever seen.  First, they fly from either Walla Walla or drive 45 minutes to Pasco (or 2.5 hours to Spokane) to fly to Colorado Springs or Denver and play at Colorado College on Thursday, Sept 4.  Second, they hop on a plane in Colorado Springs or Denver and travel to (I assume) Austin and then take an hour bus ride to Belton, Texas to play Mary Hardin-Baylor on Friday, Sept. 5th.  Third, they fly from Austin to Los Angeles or Burbank airports and drive 1-2 hours (depending upon traffic and time of arrival) to Thousand Oaks to play Cal Lutheran on Sunday Sept. 7.  Then they have two weeks off before conference play.  I'm envisioning some travel agent's Rubik's cube of one way flights on regional jets to pull this off.  Three games in four days in three different time zones and 5000+ feet changes in elevation.  Maybe the Admissions Office was offering a subsidy to any coach who could visit several different metropolitan areas for recruiting events this year?

Beyond the logistical nightmare of the trip, that's a nice opportunity to play three strong schools from three different conferences.  Whitman traveled to SoCal last year and beat Chapman and La Verne, while losing to Redlands, so Cal Lutheran should be a good matchup for them. 

Classy statement from SCAC Commissioner on the last day of Trinity and Southwestern's membership in the conference

Whitman

If this is accurate, Whitman has to have agreed to the craziest three game travel schedule I have ever seen.  First, they fly from either Walla Walla or drive 45 minutes to Pasco (or 2.5 hours to Spokane) to fly to Colorado Springs or Denver and play at Colorado College on Thursday, Sept 4.  Second, they hop on a plane in Colorado Springs or Denver and travel to (I assume) Austin and then take an hour bus ride to Belton, Texas to play Mary Hardin-Baylor on Friday, Sept. 5th.  Third, they fly from Austin to Los Angeles or Burbank airports and drive 1-2 hours (depending upon traffic and time of arrival) to Thousand Oaks to play Cal Lutheran on Sunday Sept. 7.  Then they have two weeks off before conference play.  I'm envisioning some travel agent's Rubik's cube of one way flights on regional jets to pull this off.  Three games in four days in three different time zones and 5000+ feet changes in elevation.  Maybe the Admissions Office was offering a subsidy to any coach who could visit several different metropolitan areas for recruiting events this year?

Beyond the logistical nightmare of the trip, that's a nice opportunity to play three strong schools from three different conferences.  Whitman traveled to SoCal last year and beat Chapman and La Verne, while losing to Redlands, so Cal Lutheran should be a good matchup for them. 

Siena Heights, an NAIA school in Adrian, Michigan that routinely plays DIII schools in the area such as Adrian and Albion, announces it is closing after this upcoming academic year

QuoteSiena Heights University, with the full support of the Board of Trustees and General Council of the Adrian Dominican Sisters, will close at the conclusion of the 2025-2026 academic year.

Senior leadership has assessed the financial situation, operational challenges, and long-term sustainability. Despite the dedication of our board, faculty, staff, students, alumni, and supporters, continuing operations beyond the coming academic year is no longer feasible.

"For 105 Years, Siena Heights University has been a beacon of light in a world sometimes cast in darkness," said Dr. Douglas B. Palmer, President. "The spirit of Siena Heights will continue long after the institution itself closes its doors because it lives in every graduate, faculty member, and staff person who has been on campus – whether in-person or online."

The University's top priority will be students' academic progress and working with partner institutions to establish transfer pathways that allow as little disruption as possible. Faculty and staff will be supported with transition assistance. The intent is to have as full and vibrant an academic year as possible, including academics, athletics, support services, and extracurriculars.

Southern Maine

When you're a DIII soccer program in Southern Maine and you don't want to travel too far, you're going to play a lot of the same sort of schools every year.  So, Southern Maine dutifully serves as the punching bag of Bowdoin, Colby, and Bates every year and then plays an assortment of relatively local non-conference opponents such as Maine Maritime, UMaine Fort Kent, University of New England, Husson, Thomas, and University of Maine Farmington.  This year, they drop MIT and add Rivier and have to hope they can amass more than 2 wins this season.

Rutgers-Newark

It always feels like Rutgers-Newark has been underperforming compared to its natural advantages (cost of location).  They did have a decent 11-8-4 record in 2024, but in recent years they seem to come up short compared to NJAC powers like Montclair State and Rowan.  They drop Randolph-Macon, Mary Washington, Union and Lycoming and pick up an opening game against Redlands, plus Farmingdale State,  Penn State Harrisburg, Manhattanville, Manhattanville, and NYU.

Quote from: markerickson on June 28, 2025, 11:33:00 PMI wonder to what extent international students will opt against playing in the US, whether immigration's analysis of social activity and/or media posts will influence ability to study and compete in America, or if the landscape remains the same.

I doubt it affects the incoming class (unless they literally are denied visas under the Administration's new policies), but it could chill future international recruits.

Quote from: Kuiper on June 12, 2025, 07:40:44 PMNot a full schedule, but Denison coach Brandon Bianco revealed on his interview with Simple Coach that they are traveling to the NJ/NYC area the first weekend of the season to play Stevens on Friday night and then Stockton on Sunday and then the second weekend (which we already knew about through their opponents' respective schedules) they are hosting Franklin & Marshall on Friday night and Johns Hopkins on Sunday.  Three NCAA tournament teams in the first four games with a fourth game against a team that made the NJAC championship game last season is one way to open the season after graduating 11 contributing players from last year's team.

The full schedule is now posted on its website and it's still a doozy

Denison

As previously mentioned, Denison starts with a trip to New Jersey to play Stevens and Stockton and then comes home to host Franklin & Marshall and Johns Hopkins, but the non-conference schedule doesn't get a ton easier after that.  They host Berea next, but then travel to Otterbein, host Centre, and then play Marietta and Capital away.  Conference play isn't exactly kind either.  They open by hosting Kenyon and they close by traveling to NCAC newcomer John Carroll right about when the win whipping off Lake Erie will be revving up for winter.

Quote from: Ron Boerger on June 28, 2025, 10:44:04 AMAccording to Politico, the enhanced college endowment earnings tax in the upcoming federal budget has been scaled back in the Senate and will now (if passed and approved by both houses and signed into law) impact only colleges with over 3,000 "tuition-paying students", up from the current 500.  The Senate parliamentarian also ruled that the previously proposed exemption for religious schools (Hillsdale, Notre Dame, etc) violates the Senate's rules for what can and cannot be included in bills that go through the reconciliation (simple majority, cannot be filibustered) process.

The maximum tax on endowment earnings in the current version of the bill making its way through the Senate would be 8% rather than the 21% proposed in the House.

Of course, any difference in bills passed by the House and Senate will themselves have to be reconciled, so even if the Senate does approve this version things could change before the final (disastrous) budget is approved.

Has anyone compiled the list of schools that will now be hit by the tax under the Senate version?

[Cross-posted from the 2025 Schedules Thread]

Gettysburg

In part because of their central location, Gettysburg often seems to get some pretty good non-conference games.  It hasn't really helped them advance much in the Centennial recently, but they did show signs they may be in the upswing last season with a win against Johns Hopkins, a 3-4 barnburner loss to Dickinson, and a tie against Muhlenberg.  With their top scorers and starting GK graduating, though, it will be interesting to see if that was a turning point or the high point.  They drop Sewanee, Carnegie Mellon, Carthage, Penn State Brandywine, and Cal Lutheran and add Widener, Neumann, Rowan, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, York, and King's. With Lebanon Valley, Lycoming, and Southern Virginia still on the schedule, it looks like a step-up.  In conference, Muhlenberg, Dickinson, Hopkins, and F&M in a two week stretch could make or break their season.

William Paterson

After finishing above .500 for the first time since 2018 (9-8-3), William Paterson's schedule gets a bit of a glow-up, as the kids would say.  They drop Endicott, Gordon, Saint Elizabeth, Brooklyn, Keystone, Baruch, and Delaware Valley, and after easing in 2025 with Penn State Brandywine, they add Stevens, Christopher Newport, Virginia Wesleyan, Centenary, Ursinus, and Drew.

Gettysburg

In part because of their central location, Gettysburg often seems to get some pretty good non-conference games.  It hasn't really helped them advance much in the Centennial recently, but they did show signs they may be in the upswing last season with a win against Johns Hopkins, a 3-4 barnburner loss to Dickinson, and a tie against Muhlenberg.  With their top scorers and starting GK graduating, though, it will be interesting to see if that was a turning point or the high point.  They drop Sewanee, Carnegie Mellon, Carthage, Penn State Brandywine, and Cal Lutheran and add Widener, Neumann, Rowan, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, York, and King's. With Lebanon Valley, Lycoming, and Southern Virginia still on the schedule, it looks like a step-up.  In conference, Muhlenberg, Dickinson, Hopkins, and F&M in a two week stretch could make or break their season.

William Paterson

After finishing above .500 for the first time since 2018 (9-8-3), William Paterson's schedule gets a bit of a glow-up, as the kids would say.  They drop Endicott, Gordon, Saint Elizabeth, Brooklyn, Keystone, Baruch, and Delaware Valley, and after easing in 2025 with Penn State Brandywine, they add Stevens, Christopher Newport, Virginia Wesleyan, Centenary, Ursinus, and Drew.

[Cross-posted from the 2025 Schedules Threa]

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

Coach Cartee and CMS aren't playing around when they set up their schedule.  Last year, they went to Minnesota and took on defending national champion St. Olaf and a regional power Mary Hardin-Baylor and this year they travel to Texas on opening weekend and take on Trinity and Southwestern and then travel the next week to eastern PA and take on Messiah and Gettysburg.  If you have the money, that's usually kind of what you have to do under the NPI because playing a 12 game schedule against SCIAC teams is probably not going to get much in the way of SoS credit. 

This year, however, if CMS (playing Trinity, Southwesterm, Messiah, and Gettysburg), Redlands (playing Rutgers-Newark, Swarthmore, Virginia Wesleyan, and Christopher Newport), Occidental (playing Babson, MIT, and UMass Boston), Cal Lutheran (playing Colorado College and Whitman), and even Chapman (playing DePauw and Wheaton (IL)) are all successful on their road trips and their opponents go on to have strong years, the SCIAC's SoS might be the highest it's been in a long time.  That's a lot of solid to very strong opponents (and tough places to play away).

Interestingly, Cal Lu did the exact same Texas/PA swing in 2024 as CMS is doing in 2025.  I know Trinity routinely invites Region X opponents, but it seems like Messiah might be doing that now as well.  It didn't really do Cal Lu any favors last season, when it only got a point from Gettysburg in the four games, but it did beat CMS 4-2 a few days after returning from the road trip.  My sense is that it wore Cal Lu out and contributed to their inconsistency.  It raised their highest level so they could hang with almost anyone, but it made average SCIAC conference games more difficult because they were tired and took them for granted, which might have accounted for losses against La Verne, Pomona-Pitzer, and Cal Tech.  We'll see how it affects CMS.

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

Coach Cartee and CMS aren't playing around when they set up their schedule.  Last year, they went to Minnesota and took on defending national champion St. Olaf and a regional power Mary Hardin-Baylor and this year they travel to Texas on opening weekend and take on Trinity and Southwestern and then travel the next week to eastern PA and take on Messiah and Gettysburg.  If you have the money, that's usually kind of what you have to do under the NPI because playing a 12 game schedule against SCIAC teams is probably not going to get much in the way of SoS credit. 

This year, however, if CMS (playing Trinity, Southwesterm, Messiah, and Gettysburg), Redlands (playing Rutgers-Newark, Swarthmore, Virginia Wesleyan, and Christopher Newport), Occidental (playing Babson, MIT, and UMass Boston), Cal Lutheran (playing Colorado College and Whitman), and even Chapman (playing DePauw and Wheaton (IL)) are all successful on their road trips and their opponents go on to have strong years, the SCIAC's SoS might be the highest it's been in a long time.  That's a lot of solid to very strong opponents (and tough places to play away).

Interestingly, Cal Lu did the exact same Texas/PA swing in 2024 as CMS is doing in 2025.  I know Trinity routinely invites Region X opponents, but it seems like Messiah might be doing that now as well.  It didn't really do Cal Lu any favors last season, when it only got a point from Gettysburg in the four games, but it did beat CMS 4-2 a few days after returning from the road trip.  My sense is that it wore Cal Lu out and contributed to their inconsistency.  It raised their highest level so they could hang with almost anyone, but it made average SCIAC conference games more difficult because they were tired and took them for granted, which might have accounted for losses against La Verne, Pomona-Pitzer, and Cal Tech.  We'll see how it affects CMS.

Marywood moving from the Atlantic East Conference to the Middle Atlantic Conference in 2026-27

This reduces the Atlantic East to 6 schools I think (at least in men's soccer).  That's kind of dangerous territory.

QuoteThe Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Presidents are pleased to formally announce that Marywood University will join the Middle Atlantic Conference as its 18th member institution, commencing with the 2026-27 academic year. This strategic expansion further solidifies the MAC's commitment to fostering a robust and competitive NCAA Division III landscape for student-athletes across the region.

"On behalf of the MAC Presidents, it is with great enthusiasm that we welcome Marywood University into the Middle Atlantic Conference, commencing in the 2026-27 academic year," said Dan Myers, MAC Executive Committee Chair and Misericordia University President. "This strategic expansion underscores our collective commitment to growth and competitive integrity. Marywood's presence will undoubtedly enrich our conference, fostering new rivalries and enhancing opportunities for student-athletes across the region for years to come."

The Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) stands as a premier NCAA Division III athletics conference, comprising 16 distinguished colleges and universities, all firmly committed to the holistic development and success of student-athletes. With its rich and enduring history, the MAC consistently delivers an unparalleled competitive environment that not only cultivates athletic excellence but also champions academic achievement and embodies the highest principles of sportsmanship, thus thoroughly preparing individuals for lifelong success. This commitment to growth and competitive integrity is further strengthened by the recent addition of Marywood University, joining fellow Atlantic East Conference (AEC) member Neumann University, as the conference continues to strategically expand its distinguished membership.

With these additions, the Commonwealth and Freedom will each have nine competing institutions. Neumann will compete in the MAC Commonwealth, while Marywood will compete in the MAC Freedom for field hockey, soccer, volleyball, basketball, baseball, golf, lacrosse, softball, and tennis.

Arcadia

Arcadia had their most wins since 2017 last season, with a 12-6-2 record, but they did it with razor-thin margins that relied upon strong defense/goalkeeping and timely, but perhaps lucky, goals, against weaker opponents.  Their strong start of 9 wins, 1 tie, and 1 loss melted away with a 2-4-1 conference record.  This year, it looks like they decided to upgrade their non-conference schedule, as much possible within the confines of scheduling deals.  They drop some of their weakest opponents, like Pratt, Penn State Berks, and Gwynedd Mercy and add Alvernia, Rowan, Eastern, and a mid-week game against DI LaSalle.