Future of Division III

[DagarmanSpartan]

I heard on a radio show that the NCAA had just made a rule change.

In the past, summer international trips were limited to only once every so many years.

But now, teams are apparently eligible to make a trip EVERY summer if they wish.

I wonder if this means that CWRU football, which takes a trip to Italy to play an Italian "pro" (term used very generously) team every five years or so, will start making that trip every year.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

The divisions are now allowed to have different rules on things like this.  As far as I know, the annual trip is currently a D1 only thing.

[Patrick Coleman]

It's every three years in D-III.

[DagarmanSpartan]

OK, so does this mean that in D3 teams can only travel every three years, or can they now travel every summer, as D1 schools apparently can?

[jknezek]

OK, so does this mean that in D3 teams can only travel every three years, or can they now travel every summer, as D1 schools apparently can?

The 2025/2026 manual is the most recent one out.

17.32.1.5 Time Lapse Between Tours. An institution shall not engage in a foreign tour in each sport more than once
every three years. Participation during the summer is counted in the previous academic year. (Revised: 1/11/89)

Only the DI cabinet approved tours every year, so unless the DIII group does the same, the previous rule is still in effect. So no, as of right now, DIII schools cannot go every year.

[Patrick Coleman]

It's every three years in D-III.

It's every three years in D-III.

[Kuiper]

Anna Maria College Might Have to Close Within 18 Months

The state is going through contingency planning with Anna Maria College in Paxton, after determining that the school may not have sufficient finances to stay open for the next 18 months.

The Catholic college's leadership said the serious financial pressures "reflect both longstanding structural challenges in the higher education sector and the particular impact of enrollment declines on a small, tuition-dependent institution." Massachusetts has seen a spate of closures and consolidations among smaller higher education outfits in recent years — at least 24 between 2014 and 2022, according to state officials.

The Department of Higher Education on Friday posted a notice declaring that it "cannot confirm that the Anna Maria College has sufficient resources to be able to sustain operations at current levels and substantially fulfill its obligations to enrolled and admitted students for both the current and the subsequent academic year."

The notice was required under a financial assessment and risk monitoring process that grew out of the state's response to the 2018 closure of Mt. Ida College in Newton.

Anna Maria is working to develop "an orderly process in case the institution decides not to sustain operations at or near current levels over the next 18 months," the state said, and is required to come up with academic options and pathways, organize robust student support services, and communicate timely notifications to relevant stakeholders.

It didn't even last 10 days, let alone 18 months.

Anna Maria to close at the end of the semester

[Ron Boerger]

It didn't even last 10 days, let alone 18 months.

Anna Maria to close at the end of the semester

Here's a non-paywalled story:  https://www.masslive.com/education/2026/04/central-mass-college-announces-abrupt-closure-citing-financial-and-enrollment-woes.html

[Kuiper]

This gift is a reminder of sports' value to the DIII experience, whether in varsity or club form

Occidental receives $9.1 million gift, 30 percent of which is earmarked for the club rugby teams

A bequest of more than $9 million from the late Larry Layne '71 will support Occidental College's academic mission and strengthen the rugby program that first captivated Larry as a student nearly 60 years ago.

Once the gift is realized, 50 percent of it will be used for top priorities at the discretion of the president. An additional 30 percent will establish the Larry Layne '71 Rugby Endowment, providing long-term support for recruitment, staffing, equipment, facilities, and travel for this club sport. The remaining 20 percent will support the overall health of Occidental's athletics program.

A second-generation Tiger, Larry was the son of Howard F. Layne '45 and Elizabeth (Odell) Layne '46 of San Fernando. He enrolled at Occidental to play football, as his father had decades earlier, but rugby quickly became his primary passion. "When I finished all my economics major requirements, I then sort of took another major—rugby," he said in a 2023 conversation with Edgar Hirst. "I had so much fun playing rugby."

Rugby is Occidental's oldest active club sport, dating to 1965, when the men's team went 7-0 in its inaugural season under founding coach Mike Quint '58, including two wins over UCLA's JV squad.

[Kuiper]

This gives some insight into Saint Anselm's process and thinking in moving from DII to DIII and helps explain why others are doing it too (Azusa Pacific) and more may follow:

Saint Anselm commissioned a task force last fall to explore moving to Division III, Pronovost said. The rapidly evolving landscape in the NCAA due to the transfer portal and Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) compensation led the task force to conclude that moving to Division III and joining the NEWMAC was the best decision, Pronovost said.

Morissette said there were no rumblings of a move to Division III on campus before Wednesday. Players were told via text around noon that there would be emergency team meetings at 1 p.m., Morissette said.

Saint Anselm briefly explored moving to Division III in 2015. If the NCAA and Division II environment looked the same now as back then, there's a good chance that Saint Anselm would be staying in Division II, Pronovost said.

"I think one big factor is that the transfer portal has meant that we've seen a higher number of students leaving the college to go to other opportunities and new ones coming in," Pronovost said, "and that has not been the way Saint Anselm has operated historically. We have always had very strong stability at the college. ...The other big factor was that increasingly you either have to go in the direction of NIL — financial contributions to student-athletes — or the other direction, to not do that. And Saint Anselm, being a small liberal arts college, was not going to move in the direction of a D-I, paying athletics program."
Scholarships

When Saint Anselm fully becomes a Division III member, expectedly in 2029-30, its athletic scholarships will cease. The school will honor athletic scholarships for its incoming freshman class for the next two academic years.

[Ralph Turner]

In May 2028, those 2026 incoming freshmen can assess their NIL-ability at St Elsewhere St or continue toward a valued St Anselm degree.