#10: The AFCA is assisting the MIAA in surveying DII Football student-athletes about their feelings about proposed week 0 legislation that will be voted on at next month’s NCAA Convention. Per MIAA Commissioner Mike Racy, the survey had around 2,500 responses as of Wednesday, which represents 15-20% of all DII FB student-athletes, with 93% understanding and being in favor of the week 0 legislation. Racy: “Now it’s the division’s chance to put up or shut up. A real big moment in January for the Division II membership to really answer that question, ‘How much do we value the voice of football student-athletes and what they say about this important piece of legislation?’” (link)
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#9: Arkansas Tech will get a new Football scoreboard ($750K) and three new 15-passenger vans ($150K) as part of $15.5M in approved campuswide enhancements. Also included will be $420K in parking lot repairs at the Chartwells Women’s Sports Complex. (link)
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#8: FootballScoop reports Northeastern State will hire Chaffey (NJCAA) Football HC Darrin Chiaverini in the same role. Chiaverini previously served as Asst. HC and interim HC at Colorado (DI), as well as AC at Texas Tech (DI). (link)
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#7: Mercyhurst Interim Baseball HC Charlie Spano will depart to become the VP of Scouting for Pennsylvania for PBR. AC Jimmy Latona will serve as Interim HC for this upcoming season. (link) |
#6: As aspiring DII member, Jamestown (NAIA) preps its application for NCAA membership, AD Austin Hieb talks about getting up to speed on the compliance side (“the NCAA and NAIA both have rules, their rules are just different”) and anticipates hiring a compliance administrator. The Jimmies will also have help from the NSIC and Commissioner Erin Lind, who notes: “Our conference application [...] is similar to the Division II application in terms of information gathered, the leg work that need to be advanced, the strategic approach to the change. So in terms of helping them moving forward between now and Feb. 1, when they submit the Division II application, we’re here to help their leadership in whatever fashion is necessary.” On the recruiting side of the ledger, coaches downplay the lack of postseason opportunities for two seasons, with Women’s Volleyball HC Jon Hegerle indicating UJ is exploring the possibility of playing in NCCAA tournaments. (link)
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#5: Tampa selects TCU (DI) Provost Teresa Abi-Nader Dahlberg as its next president. (link) |
#4: Bloomberg News’ Nic Querolo, Danielle Moran and Marie Patino dive into the challenging economics facing small colleges and identified five metrics to “identify increasing pressures on higher-ed institutions through 2021,” with around 170 meeting at least three criteria. Those metrics: three-year average acceptance rate over 80%; three-year average yield rate below 20%; three consecutive years of falling full-time enrollment, losing at least 10%; three straight years of growing institutional aid to students, up at least 10%; and three consecutive years of operating losses. The research of 973 schools found five with all five metrics as of 2021 that are still open. One of those institutions, St. Edward’s, pushed back on these metrics noting recent enrollment and program growth, flaws in interpreting enrollment data during the pandemic and more, noting: “these traditional, outdated metrics tend to preference historically white and wealthy institutions, and ignore the positive metrics related to student success among minority-serving institutions.” Wittenberg (DIII) President Michael Frandsen, whose institution meets all five: “You have an industry with falling demand and overcapacity. We would be foolish to expect anything other than consolidation and shakeout. […] Every time I get together with presidents, more and more of us are talking about struggles. It’s real, and people who are in denial about it are going to have a real problem.” (link)
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#3: Millersville promotes Senior Assoc. AD Larry Earnesty to Interim AD, starting January 6. (link); Outgoing Millersville AD will join Teamworks as Senior Business Development Executive for DII and DIII. Teamworks VP of Business Development Kevin Barefoot: “We know Teamworks will have a massive impact within the DII/DIII market, and having a leader like Miles will allow us to grow and provide premium experiences across these institutions.” (link)
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#2: With the addition of Conference Carolinas Football in 2025, the DII Championships Committee has approved a new super region alignment that will see four conferences in each super region: CIAA, Mountain East, NE10 and PSAC in super region 1; Conference Carolinas, GSC, SAC and SIAC in super region 2; GLIAC, GLVC, G-MAC and NSIC in super region 3; and GAC, MIAA, LSC and RMAC in super region 4. The move also “reduces the range of the number of institutions in each of the four super regions (from 32 to 46 institutions to 36 to 47 institutions); and keeps most institutions within a specific super region more closely aligned to each other geographically than is the case in the current super regional alignment. Historical or perceived strength of conferences did not factor into this recommendation.” The committee also decided to maintain its position on changing the Softball schedule, in spite of DII SAAC feedback that supported a reversion to the current format in festival years. The committee believes the benefits of being aligned with the DI and DIII softball and DII baseball seasons are in the best interest of DII softball student-athletes. (link)
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#1: 44 DII schools received the Presidents' Award for Academic Excellence by achieving an ASR of 90% or higher. (link) |
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