UMHB has announced its new head coach, as Sam Patterson, most recently an assistant at D1 Oral Roberts, is taking the reins of the program. Also spent 13 years at Baylor, including 7 as the video coordinator.

Press release from UMHB: https://cruathletics.com/news/2025/4/21/mens-basketball-sam-patterson-named-mens-basketball-head-coach.aspx

Yes, that's a good point on the athletic fees, Ron. Completely my bad on misinterpreting the scholarship structure. It does appear MavChamp was correct in noting that in Texas, funding is given to state schools for athletic operating expenses, but scholarships themselves stem from the athletic fees, fundraising, and donations. I do remember Sul Ross needing approval from the Texas State System Board of Regents before it could apply and begin the transition to Division II, because at the time, it sounded like their athletic budget would need to be expanded, and the board would need to approve that aspect before steps towards D2 could be fully taken.

I think the D3 model makes better sense, especially at a football school, for a number of reasons. It wouldn't be the biggest surprise if SRSU eventually opted to return to D3...it would certainly help if a couple of LSC schools decided to go D3 as well and expand the ASC's West Texas footprint.

Agreed. I just think from their standpoint, scholarships go a long way in recruiting, especially as a public school. Not impossible to recruit without them, considering they were D3 for as long as they were, but it's hard to see where the benefit would be to SRSU returning to D3.

And yeah, the travel thing may have been used more for PR reasons than it actual reality, but I think about the future ASC setup. If SRSU returned to make it 7, they'd still need 4 non-conference football games and 13 non-conference basketball/soccer/volleyball.  In non-football sports, you hardly even have to play outside your league in the LSC. That saves money, because you're not spending several thousand to fly your men's basketball team to Colorado/Oregon/California or bus them to Arkansas for two games. Financially, it'd work fine with football...but it's all the other sports that would be of concern compared to the LSC schedule.

UMHB WR TJ Rone enters the portal. Played in 20 games over 2 years in Belton, with 63 receptions for 625 yards between 2023 and 2024. First-Team All-ASC this past season.

https://x.com/TerrenceRone/status/1912165929779146908

Fair points! I wouldn't mind seeing SRSU return to D3.

What I will say is that, as we all know, recruiting to SRSU is ridiculously hard. Let's be honest, building a winner in Alpine takes some recruiting ingenuity and a coach who builds a culture that makes players want to buy in. Winning conference championships just isn't the expectation there. Not from fans, administration, or those in the community. Winning is great and celebrated there, but there's real financial implications involved here that go beyond W/L records.

Going D2 as a public institution opens up your recruiting pool significantly more than in D3, and combined with shorter travel, saves money in the process. Now you have more interest from prospective student-athletes (because of the scholarships), which helps with retention. You don't have to drive to ETBU or LETU any longer, which cheapens the cost of bus fees and hotel stays. Getting non-conference games becomes easier because the LSC is so large, the majority of your games in all sports come in conference play.

If it was a private school, that'd be a different story. But the scholarship money is coming from the state. And the state will continue to fund those scholarships, whether they're having success or not. It's 1 trip per year (for football only) to the Pacific Northwest. Which is doable when you're basically staying on the western side of the state for the rest of your schedule.

I think there's a missing part of this conversation too. With NPI, you simply cannot afford to lose games. There's less emphasis on SOS with the current dials and more emphasis on win percentage. If you're advising a team with playoff hopes on who they should play (especially in a league with at least one other true playoff contender), you're absolutely going to advise playing Southwestern over UMHB. It's simple math.

The reward for beating Southwestern compared to beating UMHB is less (if we're just looking at it based on expected season performance). But you run a much lower risk of taking a loss. For as much as the scheduling struggles disappoint me, you can't fault head coaches of other programs for just doing what puts their team in the best position to earn a playoff bid.

Oh, for sure. I'd love to see UMHB go up against a first-year FCS program and see how they stack up. No doubt it'd be competitive and something both fan bases would enjoy (from a UTRGV perspective, UMHB has the recent national titles, deep playoff runs, etc, so it'd be a quality opponent both ways).

The timing is what concerns me. Bethel will be very good again, potentially better than last year with a few of the guys returning for them. UW-Whitewater will no doubt have their same, hard-nosed, strong personnel and likely in the top 2 of the WIAC. Putting another massive challenge in the middle of that and risking injury for a game that won't help your playoff resume in any way is the only aspect that would make me cautious about that. There's no shame in playing 8 or 9 regular season games.

This is unpopular, but in the NPI era, there's zero reason to play teams outside D3. It counts for nothing other than your own record. Has no bearing on making the playoffs, getting a better playoff seed, etc. While it's good to get in-game reps and play a full schedule, the question becomes how much you want to risk injury to key players in a game that doesn't matter.

An FCS program would be a great test, no doubt. But what's the point of playing an FCS team right before you play what will potentially be your only D3 non-conference game 7 days later?

UMHB is hosting Bethel (TN) on Sept. 6 at 6 pm. So Week 1 is already accounted for.

Some solid recruiting news for UMHB Football: Cru secured a commitment from Chattanooga grad transfer Jacob Klein. 6'7, 300-pound versatile offensive lineman that comes to Belton with 3 years of eligibility. Expect him to have an impact this coming season.

https://x.com/kleinjacob_/status/1908183610785399181

After one of the best seasons in program history, McMurry will be in search of its next head coach. Drew Long has accepted the head coaching role at Houston Christian, a D1 program in the Southland Conference. Congratulations to him on the opportunity!

https://hcuhuskies.com/news/2025/4/2/womens-basketball-wbb-hcu-hires-drew-long-as-head-womens-basketball-coach.aspx

A few names I've seen in the portal recently:

Matthew Puodziukaitis, Saint Vincent (3 years)
Carter Reese, Ohio Northern (2 years)
Antonio Redding Jr., Delaware Valley (1 year)

Very excited about the 8-team tournament we'll have at Trinity (TX) this coming season in December! Trinity's first year in the SAA will coincide with the expansion of the annual Leslie Robinson Classic in San Antonio on Dec. 20-21, featuring 4 teams that won in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, including 2 Sweet 16 teams. Definitely some traditional powers in attendance as well. Mark your calendars now!

Saint John's (MN)
UW-Stevens Point
Marietta
Mary Washington
Hardin-Simmons
St. Thomas (TX)
Schreiner
Trinity (TX)

Pretty impressive career for Haley at Del Val. Will leave as the program's third-leading scorer in career points, No. 2 in career field goals, and obviously the all-time leader in steals. 19-point, 16-rebound double-double on Senior Day as well!

Speaking from the perspective of a Top 25 voter, this week was interesting. Not a ton of losses through the ranked teams (and all 3 teams that lost likely won't drop much, if at all), but teams like Elizabethtown and Ohio Wesleyan will more than likely jump up a couple spots because of impressive wins. What stood out to me was how many teams in the RV category lost. Bates, La Crosse, and Mass Dartmouth especially. I'll definitely be looking to move Colorado College back into my ballot this week.