Future of Division III

[jknezek]

This. If I was the HCAC I'd be going all out to lure in Centre. Centre has always been a tough geographic fit, the HCAC is probably their best bet overall. As for swimming/diving, I suspect they could affiliate somewhere. One sport with lots of travel is better than all sports with impossible trips.

The HCAC holds a S&D championship, so that would let the kids compete for individual and team championships, and as you qualify for nationals solely on times (diving is different and still has regional qualifiers) there wouldn't be any need to affiliate elsewhere.  You can travel for dual meets and other competitions as desired. 

And looking at last year's results, they had six men's teams compete, seven women's including Manchester, so joining would preserve that status quo.

Edited mine too late. This would make more sense...

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Asbury makes a lot of sense to me.  It's a decent geographic fit and I'm not sure the CCS will hold together anyway.

[jknezek]

Asbury makes a lot of sense to me.  It's a decent geographic fit and I'm not sure the CCS will hold together anyway.

HCAC is down to 6 for football after this defection. It's enough, but no margin for error. Asbury doesn't help with that issue.

[WUPHF]

Asbury makes a lot of sense to me.  It's a decent geographic fit and I'm not sure the CCS will hold together anyway.

I was just going to say that...

If I am the President of Asbury, I am cancelling meetings to make calls today.

If I am the President of Spalding, I might e-mail, because what do I have to lose?  Also, I could give football a try...

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Asbury makes a lot of sense to me.  It's a decent geographic fit and I'm not sure the CCS will hold together anyway.

HCAC is down to 6 for football after this defection. It's enough, but no margin for error. Asbury doesn't help with that issue.

For smaller conferences these days, I think beggars can't be choosers.  Get the teams in, figure out the AQs later.  This is the UEC model, right?

There are always SLIAC football teams to grab if you get desperate.

[WUPHF]

There are always SLIAC football teams to grab if you get desperate.

I wonder if Greenville ever reached out to the HCAC.

That affiliation must be much better than the commutes to Minnesota.

[y_jack_lok]

There are always SLIAC football teams to grab if you get desperate.

I wonder if Greenville ever reached out to the HCAC.

That affiliation must be much better than the commutes to Minnesota.

You're talking football only, right?

[d3boardssearcher]

They couldn't do just football only in the HCAC. I believe that new core member requirement rule that passed last year would mean they have to join a league fully as long as that league is not a single sport conference.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

They couldn't do just football only in the HCAC. I believe that new core member requirement rule that passed last year would mean they have to join a league fully as long as that league is not a single sport conference.

I don't think that's true.  The rule was just to force core members to play a conference schedule in every sport they sponsor.  It doesn't effect affiliate members.  I believe you still only need four core members in a sport to get an AQ (as long as you meet the minimum total).

The whole rule was entirely because Johns Hopkins women's tennis team refused to play in the Centennial Conference, trusting they'd get an at-large into the national tournament every year anyway.

[d3boardssearcher]

I definitely could have misread that rule when it happened.

[Berewyn]

I'm not saying it's anyone's first choice, but ... if the HCAC drops below the AQ minimum for football, there's at least the possibility that the remaining schools could become affiliate members of OAC football per the two conferences' new strategic alliance.

[jknezek]

Hiram College showing up in an article that they probably weren't thrilled about. Does get more positive at the end, and not much here we don't already know about stress on smaller colleges, but the parade of news continues:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-31/us-colleges-are-relying-on-endowment-cash-just-to-get-by

[MCScots2013]

Publications are going to beat this dead horse for the foreseeable future.  Who can blame them, though?  Highly clickable topic and too easy to pick a small private college then look up their financials. Has to be a go-to when a deadline is coming up or you need to push something out for a quick payday.     

[AndrewB]

Publications are going to beat this dead horse for the foreseeable future.  Who can blame them, though?  Highly clickable topic and too easy to pick a small private college then look up their financials. Has to be a go-to when a deadline is coming up or you need to push something out for a quick payday.     

Wouldn't shock me if the school helped with the article.  Might get alumni to open the wallet for donations.  Any publicity is good publicity. 

[IC798891]

Publications are going to beat this dead horse for the foreseeable future.  Who can blame them, though?  Highly clickable topic and too easy to pick a small private college then look up their financials. Has to be a go-to when a deadline is coming up or you need to push something out for a quick payday.     

Wouldn't shock me if the school helped with the article.  Might get alumni to open the wallet for donations.  Any publicity is good publicity. 

Wildly untrue.

I can promise you, that admissions and enrollment office is not happy that they're in this article. You're trying to convince prospective students and their parents to spend tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of dollars of their money on an education from your institution. Getting painted as a cash-strapped institution engaging in risky financial behavior is not the way to do that.

As for alumni giving, there's probably two ways that could break. The first would be, as you highlight "Oh man, my institution is in trouble? I had no idea! I'll help out."

But the other would be "Well, they're clearly not good at managing their finances. Why should I throw good money after bad?"

Donors give for lots of reasons. But the common thread running through all of them is giving to something they believe in. Whether that's the institution as a whole or some subset of it (like an athletic team), you're going to get a worse response if your opener is "we're broken, fix us!" as opposed to "We're thriving, come be a part of it!"

That doesn't mean that institutions can't ever claw their way back. That alumni won't rally to save something. But it is absolutely not the position you want to be in.