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Division III's Got Issues - Jan 25, 2008 | 13:15:40
posted by: Josh
At this weekend's Division III Student-Athlete Leadership Conference in Dallas, student-athletes will be asked to share their thoughts on a potential restructuring of the Division III membership. Division III is easily the largest of the NCAA's three bodies, with nearly 450 institutions and 150,000 student-athletes in the mix. As more and more institutions want to join Division III, however, there is a fear that the student-athlete experience (services, access to championships, etc.) could be compromised. This was a subject of great discussion at the Division III Issues Forum and Business Session at the NCAA Convention in Nashville a couple of weeks back and the passionate conversations will continue throughout the membership for the next year. On Monday, NCAA President Myles Brand and Division III Vice President Dan Dutcher will chat about the membership issues on a Mondays With Myles podcast. Could the Division split? Might we see Division III and Division IV? How do you feel about Division III's membership issues? 
CommentsThere???s already too much politics in college sports. If a school has the money and the desire to start a team, they should be given entry into the Division III category. The idea that access to championships could be compromised is irrelevant. The championship should be available to every school, it makes for better competition among schools and it allows for better, newer teams to emerge. It???s communism to not let more schools into the system. A split to division IV would create a lot of problems for division III schools on the West coast. In the east there are hundreds of division III member schools, but the West has a small fraction of division III members. If there were to be a potential "split" in Div III, schools on the west coast would be in a catch 22 about which division to represent. Conferences would be broken up, and division III schools with a relatively small "travel" budget would be in a bind. Division I has a cap. Division III should have a cap. And Division II needs more members. As the NAIA slowly crumbles, why not guide those schools to DII? They have been giving scholarships anyway, why not stay with a scholarship model? Why should DIII be made to shoulder this burden alone? There are too many issues with splitting DIII. Could you imagine the difficulty recruiting to a D-IV? At close to 500 members, DIII is bursting at the seams. DII is the smallest of the divisions and should bear some of the weight. What would be the difference between D3 and D4? Post a Comment |
  
It means that two very good teams with very good coaches made it to the final game.
- Marie
   
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