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» 😁 Here We Go, Monday, Here We Go. 

» 📆 What’s Happening This Week. The DIII Presidents Council meets Wednesday, while the Board of Governors convenes on Thursday.

» What We’re Hearing. “Almost every administrative structure in college sports is held together with duct tape and string. I don't think there is a long-term right now. It's built to survive for the next three years. Beyond that, like everything else ... who knows?” - Matt Brown, Extra Points

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TOP STORY
1. College Football Unlikely to Boost Campus Enrollment, Per Study

by Daniel Libit, Sportico

“America’s institutions of higher learning should not expect to Hail Mary—or simply hike—their way out of the national college enrollment crisis, according to new research.

A study published this month in the academic journal, Research in Higher Education, based on a data analysis at the University of Georgia, concluded that adding a football team has not proven to give a university a leg up in attracting new students (and their dollars).

The study’s authors looked at NCAA and U.S. Department of Education data for 36 NCAA member institutions that added football to its athletic department between 2002 and 2018—from public Division I universities such as South Alabama to private D-III schools such as Becker College (Mass.), which ended up shuttering in 2021. They found that, on average, adding football did not have any positive effects on long-term enrollment—or the enrollment of Black students, specifically—nor did it have a “significant effect” on tuition and fee revenue.”

» Surveying The Field. “To the extent that there was any football-related enrollment boost, the authors wrote, it “appears to be concentrated in the year that colleges added the team. Subsequently, it simply fades out. This would appear to make the promised gains of football evanescent at best.”

» Reality Check. “This conclusion cuts against conventional wisdom—and some previous research—about the institutional benefits of adding a football program, particularly for tuition-dependent schools. ”

» What They’re Saying. “This is the closest we can come to saying, what would have happened to a college if it never added football,” the study’s lead author Welch Suggs, an associate professor at Georgia, said in a statement. “It’s often said that sports is the front porch of the university. But what we’re seeing is that colleges that didn’t build that front porch are likely getting the same number of students and tuition dollars as those that recently did.”

» Continue Reading 

FINANCES
2. Technology Rules Approved in Football

by Greg Johnson, NCAA

“Optional technology rules in football, effective for the 2024 season, were approved by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel on Thursday.

For all three divisions, teams have the option of using tablets to view in-game video only. The video can include the broadcast feed and camera angles from the coach's sideline and coach's end zone.

Teams can have up to 18 active tablets for use in the coaching booth, sideline and locker room. Tablets cannot be connected to other devices to project larger additional images and cannot include analytics, data or data access capability or other communication access. All team personnel will be allowed to view the tablets during the game.”

» Two-Minute Warning. “The panel approved adding an automatic timeout when two minutes remain in the second and fourth quarters.”

» First-Down Timing Rules. “After a year of review, Division III committee members decided to adopt the timing rules where the game clock would continue to run when a first down is gained in bounds. The game clock will stop when a first down is gained during the last two minutes of either half.”

» Read More

STUDENTS

3. Meet The Man Responsible For Bringing Disorder to College Athletics … and Who Could Shape Its Future

by Ross Dellenger, Yahoo! Sports

“On Thursday, within a matter of a few hours, the current unruly state of college athletics was on full display.

The NCAA’s transfer portal buzzed to life with dozens of new additions who’ve been lured away by financial inducements from booster-led collectives. The state of Virginia passed legislation that defies NCAA rules by permitting its schools to directly compensate athletes starting July 1. And finally, a national association filed a third complaint with the National Labor Relations Board seeking to make athletes employees.

Meanwhile, within an auditorium on the campus of Howard University, the man who at least partially controls any future college athletics model — the guy perhaps responsible for both bringing disorder to the landscape as well as determining a more stable future — took the stage for a 90-minute panel discussion.”

» Court Awareness. “Dressed in a dark suit and striped tie, Jeffrey Kessler peered through spectacles at the audience before him. Kessler, 69, is the lead attorney in what is shaping up to be the most revolutionary case in NCAA history — an antitrust lawsuit that seeks billions of dollars in retroactive monetary damages to former athletes for name, image and likeness (NIL) pay. The case has the potential to, for one, cost the power conferences and NCAA enough money that many fear bankruptcy and, secondly, topple all NCAA compensation rules related to NIL.”

» What’s Next. “For one, he believes the industry finds itself in this predicament because of surging salaries for coaches and administrators. Like so many fans and stakeholders, he supports leaving the NCAA basketball tournament untouched. He showed public support, even, for [NCAA President Charlie] Baker’s Project DI proposal to compensate athletes. “He gets it,” Kessler said.”

» The Big Picture. “Kessler spoke deeply about athletic department finances, outlined the four most likely possibilities of a new college model and repeatedly declined to discuss any potential settlement. But several athletic administrators, briefed on the matter, say they are preparing to share revenue with athletes as part of a potential settlement — an outcome much preferred over the lingering possibility of athlete employment.”

» Quotable. “The reason we get tied in knots is because we conflate those schools who have developed these gigantic independent commercial businesses with the schools who are still just educational institutions with extracurricular activities.

» Keep Reading

VOLLEYBALL (M)

4. And Then There Were Four

It will be Stevens vs. Cal Lutheran and Vassar against NYU in the Division III Men’s Volleyball semifinals this weekend in Dubuque, Iowa.

NYU (20-7) stunned the DIII volleyball world with a five-set victory over top-ranked Southern Virginia (29-1). The Violets face a rematch of the UVC final against Vassar (25-7), a five-set victor against Wentworth (31-2), in the semifinals.

The other semi pits defending national champion Stevens (33-1) and the Kingsmen of Cal Lutheran (24-5). The Ducks took out Juniata in four sets in the quarterfinals, while CLU went the distance to dispatch Loras.

The semifinals are slated for Thursday with the national final scheduled for Saturday.

» Complete Bracket

NEWS
5. Lightning Round

» 🗞️ News. The Brandeis women’s basketball team has sent a letter to head coach Carol Simon stating they will leave the team if she does not resign.

» 🗞️ News. “The Faculty Council and Ad Hoc Exigency Committee at Northland College submitted a curricular downsizing plan to the Board of Trustees on Monday as a last ditch effort to save the small, Wisconsin liberal arts college.”

» 🏃‍♂️ Track and Field. WPI grad student David Reynolds set a NCAA DIII record in the two-mile run, crossing the line in 9:26.35.

» 🤽‍♂️ Water Polo. Augustana captured the CWPA DIII women’s title with a 14-10 triumph against Austin. Casey Barragan was named the tournament MVP. Macalester took third place with a 14-10 victory over Washington & Jefferson.

» 🚣‍♀️ Rowing. Congrats to Puget Sound for capturing the Northwest Conference title.

TRANSACTIONS
6. Comings and Goings

• COLLEGE CONFERENCE of ILLINOIS and WISCONSIN - Announced that Milwaukee School of Engineering will join as an associate member in women’s wrestling

• FERRUM - Sam Miller named assistant football coach

• KEENE STATE - Steven Enright named head men’s basketball coach

• KING’S - Mickey Rehring named assistant football coach

• MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME - John O’Leary named head women’s cross country coach

• PENN STATE HARRISBURG - David M. Callejo named chancellor

• UNIVERSITY of NEW ENGLAND - Announced addition of men’s and women’s tennis as varsity sports beginning in 2025-26

• YORK (Pa.) - Nate Gibboney named head men’s soccer coach

1 THING
7. Worth Another Look

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