Future of Division III

[IC798891]

It may be of interest in this conversation to note that the Championships Committee meeting report from April included a study of Championships participation for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years and found that in both years over 77% of institutions had some kind of exposure to D3 championships (team or individual). Certainly overall athletic budgets and resources will vary but I don't think you would see a number this strong if there were many athletic programs that weren't actually trying to compete.

I think, if we injected coaches, players, and ADs with truth serums, we'd see there are four tiers of compete in D3. And most schools don't live in just one tier, but have different sports in different tiers.

1. Competing for National Championships
2. Competing for being the best in the geographic region
3. Competing for conference titles
4. Play hard, do everything right off the field, and help us with enrollment goals.

I'm sure #4 will be controversial to some, but I believe it to be true. (I also don't think it's very big.) But I'm sure we can think of examples of programs in various sports that are never really especially competitive, even at the conference level.

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[Ralph Turner]

I would include in #4 those programs in which a significant number of players appreciate the discipline that intercollegiate athletics add to their lives.