Future of Division III

[awadelewis]

Don't kid yourself, the UL system won't let their schools go D2 or D3.  Maybe some of the FBS schools might go FCS.

Speaking as a graduate alumnus of ULL, not something the fan base is going to let happen. There is already a petition being sent around calling for the recall of both the UL System President and the LSU Law alumnus whose comments in the UL System Board meeting got these news stories started.  This sort of thing is one of the few that causes our fan base and the LaTech fan base to put aside our disdain for each other to band together against LSU.

[WUPHF]

https://lailluminator.com/2026/10/01/consultant-to-evaluate-ul-system-teams-leaving-division-i-to-save-money/

The future of Division III and higher education in general is wasting money on consultants.  Also, the past and present.

[Ron Boerger]

https://lailluminator.com/2026/10/01/consultant-to-evaluate-ul-system-teams-leaving-division-i-to-save-money/

The future of Division III and higher education in general is wasting money on consultants.  Also, the past and present.

LOL, too true.  Trinity(TX) recently hired not one but two east coast consulting firms to help redesign the school's logo and branding.  Neither firm had done anything for colleges in the region and surprise of surprises the result was such a disaster (the logo resembled a cross between BP/La Quinta and local Frost Bank, with an unintentional nod to the Butthole Surfers, a group founded by Trinity students the year I graduated) and aroused the normally placid/apathetic alumni so much that it had to be withdrawn a day or two after the announcement.  It generated more bad PR for the school than anything in decades and someone's surely going to make a case study about how not to redo your logo based on the experience.

[WUPHF]

I'll never understand why marketing and design consulting firms struggle so mightily with higher education clients.

You must engage stakeholders at all stages of the process or you will end up with far more disgruntled alumni than necessary.

I am looking at you, Mississippi University for Women.

[Kuiper]

I'll never understand why marketing and design consulting firms struggle so mightily with higher education clients.

You must engage stakeholders at all stages of the process or you will end up with far more disgruntled alumni than necessary.

I am looking at you, Mississippi University for Women.

You mean "the W," or "Wynbridge State University of Mississippi," or "Mississippi Brightwell University," or "Reneau University"?

https://www.mississippifreepress.org/the-w-will-remain-mississippi-university-for-women-as-renaming-efforts-fail-a-second-time/

[WUPHF]

You mean "the W," or "Wynbridge State University of Mississippi," or "Mississippi Brightwell University," or "Reneau University"?

https://www.mississippifreepress.org/the-w-will-remain-mississippi-university-for-women-as-renaming-efforts-fail-a-second-time/

That is exactly what I mean, yes!

[KnightSlappy]

If MUW must change the name, they should change it to MUW and if that must stand for something it can be Mississippi University W. The W can stand for the letter W which represents the history of the college being a women's college.

[WUPHF]

If MUW must change the name, they should change it to MUW and if that must stand for something it can be Mississippi University W. The W can stand for the letter W which represents the history of the college being a women's college.

I imagine that name would be blocked by the Ole Miss wing of the Mississippi legislature, but I like the idea.

[Hawks88]

If MUW must change the name, they should change it to MUW and if that must stand for something it can be Mississippi University W. The W can stand for the letter W which represents the history of the college being a women's college.

Mississippi University-Waterway. The Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway goes through Columbus and is a pretty big deal there. It seems like I saw this as a suggestion and am not sure why it wasn't really considered.

[Ron Boerger]

Moody's Ratings has downgraded Wentworth Institute of Technology, MA's issuer and revenue bond ratings to Baa2 from Baa1. The outlook is stable. Total outstanding debt as of fiscal year end 2025 was approximately $153 million. Moody's Ratings has also revised Allegheny College's outlook to negative from stable. We have also affirmed the Ba1 issuer and revenue bond ratings. As of June 30, 2026 the college had approximately $49 million of total adjusted debt outstanding.

Baa2 represents a lower-medium grade rating, and is only two notches above junk.  That would be where Allegheny finds itself (Ba1 is the "top" junk rating but also the lowest investment grade rating, which seems contradictory).  Surprising to me that Allegheny, which has a much better asset to debt ratio and lower bond debt load than Wentworth, and has been profitable the last two years, would have such a rating. 

[DagarmanSpartan]

To be honest, I never paid any attention to stuff like this until this string came along, so I looked up CWRU's ratings.

Not bad.

Aa3 on Moody's, and A- on S&P Credit.  Still an A+ on Forbes though. 

Nevertheless, room for improvement.  Wish we could be more on the financial level of Chicago, Vandy, or Emory.

[WUPHF]

To be honest, I never paid any attention to stuff like this until this string came along, so I looked up CWRU's ratings.

I mean this in the best possible way: let's just assume that Case Western Reserve is doing great financially and in terms of enrollment until we hear otherwise.

[Ron Boerger]

Case has $4.8B in assets against $1.2B in liabilities.  While that's a higher debt load than one might expect, since 2021 they are clearing over $50M a year in profit (and an astounding $239M in 2022, $116M in 2021) so you can continue to assume they are doing great financially.

[WUPHF]

Case has $4.8B in assets against $1.2B in liabilities.  While that's a higher debt load than one might expect, since 2021 they are clearing over $50M a year in profit (and an astounding $239M in 2022, $116M in 2021) so you can continue to assume they are doing great financially.

Perfect! 

Now if they would just update their Men's Basketball roster.