St Francis just announced D1 to D3 move for next year.
“This was not an easy nor a quick decision for the Board of Trustees,” said Board of Trustees Chairman Rev. Joseph Lehman in the school’s press release. “The governance associated with intercollegiate athletics has always been complicated and is only growing in complexity based on realities like the transfer portal, pay-for-play, and other shifts that move athletics away from the love of the game. For that reason, as a Board, we aim to best provide resources and support to our student-athletes in this changing environment that aligns with out mission, Catholic institution, and our community’s expectations.”
That was St. Francis NY… this is St. Francis PA dropping to D3. I don’t know long term what this looks like, but I don’t see the mid majors being content with being a farm system for the majors, or a revolving door of transfers. It’s not worth the investment. The power conferences will consolidate, it may take time - at least until the end of the current NCAA BB TV contract. At that point who knows, D3 could become seriously competitive if schools drop the charade of D1 athletics.
Yes and FB was already consolidated for all intents. The only sport keeping the mid-major/low-major conferences hanging on is BB. The current NCAAT broadcast contract is out to 203x?? I think once that runs out there will be nothing left to keep the non-power conferences in D1.
It’s interesting - in Colorado we have a D2 conference- that seems like a really nice compromise- but there are very few areas of the country that have that. It’s also totally unclear how House impacts D2. But with absence of a D2 conference to join- schools may need to jump D1 to D3 to re-align.
This is such a mess for current athletes and those in the recruiting process. A lot of schools gave Alston grants to kids ~6k support to student athletes a year- I know kids who have been told those are gone now- to be replaced with more money going to FB and BBall but nobody knows about the other sports.
Having a freshman getting some recruiting interest -trying to see where to ball may land is a very challenging exercise since those with freshman in college don’t even understand the financials for next year. We are seeing the lower levels picking up more talent for many reasons (don’t want to major in communications, transfer portal filling spots etc). It’s going to be a bumpy ride.
Roster limits will cause this. For example, in swimming, I’d expect there to be a lot of talent going to what are currently considered mid/low major D1 programs at least as long as those D1 programs hang on. If you aren’t currently on your school’s championship team you aren’t going to get a scholarship and if that’s your means to afford college - you’re gonna have to go shopping.
This is in my backyard and was chatting with a buddy about it yesterday. I’ve got to believe they will lose all of their D1 players and then become a true D3 school. The local D3 school who is in the same conference Saint Francis will join, will get crushed if they don’t lose their D1 players.
I’ll be surprised if this doesn’t happen more due to the cost of trying to compete. With it’s location and size, I can’t see a situation where Saint Francis would be able to continually compete at the D1 level.
My family is caught in the middle of this BS. One graduating this year will be in that Colorado D2 conference next year. Other daughter will start hearing from colleges officially this summer but with all of the changes, it is hard to know what to believe. The younger is P4 level athlete in D1 but who knows what that means anymore with everything up in the air.
The potential financial implications to the massive youth sports industrial complex if scholarships get extremely limited (D3 has no athletic scholarships) will be interesting.
“The massive youth sports industrial complex” is like one of those carnival games at the fair.
The parents provide the money.
The kids “win the prize”
The games with the loudest noise, most flashing lights and most unpredictable outcomes draw the largest crowds. (But not necessarily the most skillful players).
99.99% of the time the “prize” is not worth the investment. (Not the parents money, nor the children’s time).
There might, however, be some benefit to be gained in perfecting random skills.
The spectacle seems to draw a lot of attention.
But it’s profitability is massively over-rated.
D1, D2 and D3 are NCAA classifications and their are colleges at all 3 levels in (going on a limb here) all continental US states. Daughter recruited at a few D3 and 1 D1 school, that was a fun trip, they put me up in a hotel, (she stayed with the team) nice dinner out with the coaches. She played D3, at a private school, and got a large scholarship, but it was academic and would have gotten it without playing also. It can help to get into the School, MIT is one where coaches can help get players in.
NO clue how the new money rules will hit D2. Stopped payng attention to college sports mostly, At some point soon, the top 32 ish football programs will spin off, (not sure why the NFL has not set them up as minor league yet) pay the schools a cut, use the stadiums and name, and pay the players and cut the acedemics. let the other sports return to the old way. What these mega conf. have done to the lessor sports is criminal. But with trump undoing Title IX on the payout of money, it will just further kill other sports at the big schools.
Things are different here. Not unusual to classify as a day’s drive. There’s one 7 hours driving and the next is 11 hour’s driving. I would consider 7 hours within a day’s drive- so I was wrong. But I would not consider 11 hours as within a reasonable day’s drive- even if I’ve done it.
Pretty common for kids to look at college in terms of if they can drive there in a day or not.
I coach high school cross country and track. There’s MASSIVE impacts already. I have an all state cross country runner who only got one D1 offer. Kids that want to run will find programs and places to go, but they have to have killer sophomore and junior years now. Gone are the days of getting offers during your senior year. My runner was already being told “Sorry we are full due to roster limits” in August.
The RMAC (the Colorado+ some other states) conference is already one of the best in the country for running, and it just going to get even better now. Kids that could have easily run D1 are being forced to look at D2 and lower. Honestly, for a lot of kids, that’s a better gig anyway versus getting lost in the roster of a massive D1 program. But it stings a kid’s ego when everyone always hypes D1 and talks down to everything else, and he can’t get a sniff from a decent D1 program.
