Quote from: Jake Feldman on March 05, 2026, 11:12:04 PMFor the D3 split, I'd do it by the average athletic budget in each league.

The real question is why? Is it someone at the NCAA's job to dictate that things are an even playing field? If you go D3, you go knowing that it's a REALLY large tent, somewhere around 430 schools if I remember correctly. If you want to see teams competing for national championships, or even playoff wins, you're gonna need WAY more than 2 divisions.

The thing is, and I've said this before, the one thing you can always control is your conference. That's always going to be your best bet to partner with like minded institutions - academically, geographically, size, money, etc. If you choose to let a school that's 10 times your size, or has a 100 times your budget in, or is much more or less academically selective, you've made that bed and you lie in it. Win your conference, that's as even as you're going to get.

It's insane to try to balance competition in a division which doesn't have any checks and balances that aren't entirely self-imposed (NESCAC and WIAC roster limits are about the only thing I can think of). If you follow this particular thread closely you know that many, maybe even most, of the schools in d3 need all the help getting students they can. Separating divisions to indicate which sports are "major ones" seems like a good way to alienate anyone interested in sports that aren't that.

I'm not saying it's not an interesting or even noble pursuit, but it's also fruitless because D3 does 0 to police the field and make things equal, and if you start trying to do that, you'll just end up alienating someone, and more or less just go back to the idea of "win your conference".

Quote from: Jake Feldman on March 06, 2026, 01:27:31 PM

Quote from: Ralph Turner on March 06, 2026, 12:01:48 AMBut OTT is competitive in other sports in the OAC. The women play RMC in the first round of Hoops tomorrow.

So, what would be a good all-sports equivalent of Mt. Union-Otterbein or St. John Benedict-Hamline in football?

You'd likely want to use the learfield cup standings to figure that out: https://nacda.com/sports/2018/7/17/directorscup-nacda-directorscup-current-scoring-html.aspx, from a quick glance Johns Hopkins at no. 2 and Haverford College at number 129 seems a pretty big divide. Wash U to CWRU also seems pretty large from 3 to 98.

Quote from: IC798891 on February 12, 2026, 03:06:09 PMWhich essentially amounted to giving someone a track scholarship but then strongly encouraging them to also join the football team.

That would work out MUCH better if your D1 sports were football or oddly essentially cheerleading. The old scholarship limits were barely enough to give partial scholarships to fill out a roster. The new roster limits are much higher, but my thoughts are the vast majority of programs aren't going to offer that many scholarships, especially if they're not making any money off the sports. And all but power 4 schools are probably going to opt out of that, and just stick to the old scholarship model.

https://blog.sportsrecruits.com/2025/06/13/ncaa-roster-limits-explained-what-every-recruit-family-needs-to-know/

As much as I'd enjoy it, I don't see anyone filling out a rowing program with 68 full scholarships. I say this mostly because I've never once seen collegiate rowing on television, espn+, or even on youtube. I watch a lot of weird sports, so if I've never seen it, it's probably not bringing in any money - and throwing a full FCS football team's worth of scholarships at a sport like that just seems laughable.

I feel like all this is just a call to have more situations like Franklin and Marshall (wrestling), JHU and Hobart (lacrosse), Union/RPI/Clarkson/CC etc. (ice hockey). Where the NCAA leaves it up to the institutions to decide if there is a single sport they'd rather sponsor at a higher level. 

This way everyone can have their basketball or football or whatever team they want, and then every other sport can be D2 or D3. I think we're headed that way anyway, but I'd like to see it be something like you get two options; you can pick your 1 per sex sponsored d1 sport (ala JHU lacrosse), or you gotta sponsor them all at that level (the power 4s of the world) - no in between.

I think there would be a lot of upside to this, for those 200 or so schools the AD mentions.

Quote from: DriftlessDuhawk on February 03, 2026, 05:11:19 PMA little surprised that UWL is choosing to go this route. Feels like a WIAC job in a bustling college town, that has very recent history of success on the national stage, would be able to allure some up and coming head coaches away from lower tier programs.

Well, these are the finalists, so there might have been candidates exactly like you were describing that didn't make the cut. The WIAC is certainly different than most conferences. Having someone familiar with all of the hoops that being in the conference comes with might be more important than head coaching experience to an AD/hiring committee.

Quote from: hazzben on January 26, 2026, 10:07:30 AMKeep in mind, his HC just left Susquahanna for Albany as well.

Yeah, I mean, I'm not saying that everything we knew about scholarship football has been completely thrown out the window, but the mighty Hoosiers of Indiana have proven that things change ON A DIME in scholarship football today. If a school is willing to throw a little cash at things, and get the right coach, and right players from the portal, there is no reason why a team can't add a ton more wins even in the first year. Building through recruiting and player retention is for suckers.

Fortunately, D3 football does not have that same setup, although the top brass in d3 are routinely pulling in near if not actual, triple digit recruiting classes, so you never know. There is just a lot more opportunity for talent to "osmosis" itself to the right level now, and if you poach a good coach from a good program (Curt Cignetti (JMU) or Tom Perkovich (Sus)) no reason to believe they aren't going to bring their best players as well, as an immediate upgrade. Or that the school they came from are going to be just as committed to plugging those holes and have continued success.

All of that is to say, you have a good point - what you did last year is just that. There are no guarantees that a program will stay near the top. 

Quote from: faunch on January 24, 2026, 10:40:19 AMWould you rather be a beast on playoff level D3 team or an ok running back on a below average D1 team?

Football-wise, playoff team. Pocketbook-wise - free schooling all the way - below average team. Chances(albeit slim) to make the NFL - below average team (when was the last D3 draftee?).  Academics-wise, it depends what you like, but I'll give Albany and Susquehanna a draw, even if that's probably not true in actuality, with Albany being the better ranked and generally regarded of the two institutions (not that rankings are everything).

The equation has more than one variable, otherwise, who would ever go anywhere other than the bluest of blue blood division 1 programs; totally for free and make some of that sweet NIL and revenue sharing money?

With that said, U Albany wasn't good last year, but as recently as 2023 they went to the FCS semi-finals, so it's not as if there isn't some recent success.

Quote from: CarollFan on January 22, 2026, 05:28:52 PMUWW picks up a QB from UWO.

https://www.beloitdailynews.com/sports/former-hononegah-star-qb-cole-warren-transferring-to-uw-whitewater/article_e2c471e7-0d01-4caa-89c6-527cf20f154f.html

The writer of that article must be a real fan of geography and D3 sports

"Warren quickly moved him up the depth chart and by the Titans' second game in 2024, he was inserted into the lineup against No. 21-ranked Linfield University (Ohio) trailing 10-7 in the second quarter."

Quote from: mucgrad06 on December 28, 2025, 10:25:50 PM

QuoteI have to wonder how all these transfers got accepted at JCU? Didn't JCU announce they were leaving the OAC because, sniff, the "academics" were better, or something to the effect their new sister schools were more like them. Wait until a few NCAC members go belly up in the next few years. Wittenburg is on life support, and a few more are so desperate for students anyone who can pay is accepted. The NCAC admins will soon realize JCU is going to, every year, win the conference in nearly every men's and women's sports: basketball, track, wrestling, golf, swimming, cross country, baseball and soccer. NCAC sports is now a one school show.

John Carroll won't be beating Kenyon or Denison in swimming anytime soon.

And Wabash has a very strong wrestling program (not that the NCAC sponsors that sport). I think you're overstating how competitive the NCAC is, generally. Hell, by the transitive property of losses, UMU would have been roughly somewhere between 2-4 in the NCAC this year IN FOOTBALL (JCU beat both Wabash and UMU by 3 and DPU by 4). If the NCAC hadn't had any recent national success, I'd buy that argument, but the truth is there are always competitive teams across all the sports in the NCAC.

As I said when JCU was picked to be third in the NCAC in the preseason, there is a reason they play the games. On paper it's easy to say that a group should be setup, but making it happen in reality is a different beast.

Does wrestling bring in that many tuition-paying students beyond the costs of the program?

It's one of the cheapest overall costs-wise, as wrestling does not need intense setup. It usually runs with 1-3 (paid) coaches, and for men's wrestling at least, there are 10 weight classes, that you could ideally be 3-4 guys deep in. Women's would be similar, and if you're offering that as well, you could use all the same equipment and even coaches.

So while it's not a cash cow, it should almost always, bring in far more than it costs. Depending on your overall tuition payment per student, you're looking at a decent chunk of change.

Both Wabash and UWSP's bookstores leave a lot to be desired. I sometimes like Wabash's stuff, but more often find they don't get things in my size, even if they do. UWSP is very cookie cutter, and the only time they have stuff worth getting is from the "pop-up shops" that others have mentioned. I definitely enjoy the stuff they had on https://www.homefieldapparel.com/ and would love if they did that for my beloved Wabash, and my other alma-mater UWSP.

Went to the Isthmus Bowl today up here in Madison, WI, essentially to just watch some more d3 football, but also do a little scouting for next year. Wash U played a pretty clean game, but they looked small compared to UW Stout. They came out shooting but eventually I think they just got bogged down under Stout's big o-line.

Wash U was a very well coached team, who played mostly mistake free football. I'm excited to think how good the NCAC is going to be top to bottom next year. JCU, DPU, WabCo and Wash U is going to make for a very tough set of outs. That's 2 playoff teams, 1 bowl winner, and 1 bowl runner-up all in one conference.

As the Culver's Isthmus Bowl was in my neck of the woods, and it wasn't too cold, figured I'd go. Got treated to what turned into a great game. Congrats to the Stout Blue Devils for a big win, securing a winning season, and taking home a bowl trophy after a tough loss last year.

As a Wabash alumnus (and also UWSP) I look forward to seeing Wash U in the future, as they had a very good team, but Stout just took over with the ground game midway through the second quarter and just never looked back.

If you ever get a chance to make it to the Isthmus bowl, it's a pretty neat opportunity, and was a nice venue, so my suggestion - do it!

Once again congrats Stout on a very good season in a very tough conference.

Alright, as this board seems a bit dead at the moment, given it's bell week, let's hype this thing up! DPU vs Wabco, two 8-1 programs with what is almost guaranteed a playoff spot on the line. It's a big match-up, that should hopefully be a good game. Just based on how Wabash has looked the last few weeks, I'm a little worried as a Bash grad - I felt like we've looked a bit unorganized, but also getting Oberlin the week before the bell means that we'll likely go in fully healthy.

I'm excited - let's do this!

Quote from: JCUStreaks70 on October 08, 2025, 03:08:00 PM1886 Lager, brewed by Great Lakes in honor of the one and only JCU!

Channeling my inner d3fanboy, I'm surprised that there isn't a 2016 IPA, for that 1 win over UMU between 1989 and today. Or a 3 ale for JCU's all time wins over UMU since 1920.