FB: Presidents' Athletic Conference

[mikefln]

I've often wondered to what extent the proliferation of D1AA/FCS and D2 programs in the Northeast is part of the reason that NY/PA/NJ went from regularly producing D3 title contenders to producing almost none. Prior to 2000, a team from one of those states played in the Stagg Bowl 23 out of 28 years.  Some of that is explained by regional brackets, but certainly not all. A lot of the difference-maker kids who would have have been playing at Ithaca, Union, Rowan, W&J, etc. once upon a time are, these days, playing at UAlbany,Stony Brook, Wagner, Fordham, etc. (all former D3), Monmouth/Robert Morris type schools (new programs) or Lafayette/Lehigh-type schools (which used to be non-scholarship).  There was a little bit of this elsewhere - for example, the Pioneer League teams that moved up in the Midwest, but they're all non-scholarship.

As a data point, consider that three of the best QBs to play D3 in NY since 2000 - Jason Boltus, Joe Germinero, and Shane Sweeney - were all transfers from just one of those schools: UAlbany. (There's also Tyler Szalkowski, another UAlbany transfer currently tearing it up at Utica).

What proliferation of D1AA/FCS and D2? What programs have been added since 2000? The one-time d3 teams you mentioned left about three decades ago.

Mt Union started its championship run in 1993. They eliminated most teams from the East Region. UMHB started its playoff run in 2001. The WIAC moved from NAIA to NCAA and began winning championships in 1992. NWC (Linfield) moved to NCAA in 1996. The relevant proliferation of programs was in D3.

In 2000, Villanova stood as the only Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) program in Pennsylvania offering athletic scholarships. During the 1990s and 2000s, non-scholarship FCS teams in the Patriot League and Northeast Conference (NEC) regularly struggled against top Division II Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) programs, which utilized athletic scholarships to build deeper, more athletic rosters. The competitive landscape shifted in the 2010s when the Patriot League introduced athletic scholarships and NEC schools expanded their funding, bringing parity to cross-divisional matchups. Today, fully funded FCS scholarship advantages have created a substantial talent gap over most PSAC programs, making modern FCS transitions—such as Mercyhurst's move to the NEC—appear premature based on historical competitiveness.
While Mount Union established a historically dominant dynasty, Eastern Division III programs were once central forces in the national championship picture. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, teams such as Ithaca, Rowan, Washington & Jefferson, Allegheny, and Lycoming were regular participants in the Stagg Bowl. Over the last two decades, however, the national power center shifted firmly toward the Midwest which did not have such growth of FCS or D2 scholarship opportunities. Outside of SUNY Cortland's national championship victory in 2023, Eastern programs reaching the Division III title game have become a rarity compared to their former prominence.

None of this takes into account the demographics of less college age kids in the East.