UMHB Must Vacate Football Title

D3Playbook OCTOBER 11, 2019 | written by Steve Ulrich your must-read briefing on what's driving the day in NCAA Division III

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1.  UMHB Must Vacate Football Title The NCAA’s Committee on Infractions announced on Thursday that Mary Hardin-Baylor would be required to surrender victories earned by the football team for the 2016-2017 seasons, including the school’s first national championship in 2016. UMHB has announced its intention to appeal the decision. The infractions stem from events that took place during the two seasons in question. During that time, UMHB head coach Pete Fredenburg and other associate coaches provided local transportation to one student-athlete at the school. Fredenburg loaned the student the use of a 2006 Subaru. Fredenburg also loaned the car to another player for about an hour. The loans are a violation of NCAA rules regarding impermissible benefits. Upon learning of the potential violations, the university performed an internal investigation into the matters and self-reported the incident to the NCAA. As a result of the investigation, UMHB imposed a three-month suspension without pay on Fredenburg as well as a three-game suspension at the start of the 2018 season. In addition, the school placed the football program on probation for two years, enhanced compliance training and a $2,500 fine. The university sent a comprehensive self-report to the NCAA. The NCAA Summary Disposition process reviewed the report, and, in collaboration with the university and Fredenburg, agreed to the facts of the violation. This agreement precluded the need for a formal hearing before the NCAA. While the NCAA accepted all of UMHB’s corrective actions and self-imposed penalties, it added the requirement of the vacating of the program’s records for the two seasons involved. UMHB requested an expedited hearing on the matter of the season records, but the Committee on Infractions declined to remove the additional penalty. As a result, the university has elected to file an appeal to the NCAA Infractions Appeal Committee. >> Why It Matters: “Of particular concern to the COI is the fact that a football staff member questioned the head coach about providing a car to the student-athlete, but the head coach dismissed the staff member’s concern and took no action to ascertain the permissibility of his actions,” the committee said in its report. >> What They're Saying: “We have worked diligently with the NCAA during the last 20 months to complete this matter in a cooperative and honorable way, and we will continue to do so during the appeal process.” - Randy O'Rear, UMHB president >> What's Next: During the two-year probation period, the school will be required to notify all football prospects that the school is on probation. Additionally, the university is required to file a letter from the president at the end of the probation period affirming that the policies and procedures of the athletics department conform to NCAA regulations. The Crusaders will be allowed to participate in post-season play and will have no recruiting bans. >> Watch a report from KCEN-TV

2. Colleges Seek Radical Solutions to Survive When Steve Thorsett, president of Willamette University, crunched the numbers, things looked grim. Business was flagging. His flow of customers had fallen to a 10-year low, down more than 20 percent since 2015. By 2016, annual expenses had begun outpacing operating revenues by $14 million. In an increasingly unforgiving market, Thorsett needed to do more than chip away at the margins of this problem. He could make cuts, but that was complicated in his industry, and would likely only speed the downward spiral. To differentiate himself from his competitors, this chief executive determined that his operation needed to grow bigger, not smaller. So Thorsett took a classic shortcut to expansion. He found a partner that was on even shakier ground. The resulting acquisition will bring with it several hundred new consumers, allowing efficiencies of scale. The move has other strategic advantages. Rather than duplicating what he does already, the organization he procured will help Thorsett broaden his offerings in ways that many of his rivals can’t, and at a speed that most can’t match. Now Thorsett radiates optimism about the future — something rare these days among his counterparts, many of whom face challenges as bad as or worse than his. >> Situational Awareness: With low unemployment luring potential students straight into the workforce and a decline in the number of 18-year-olds, among other reasons, enrollment is down by more than 2.9 million since the last peak, in the fall of 2011, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. More than 400 colleges and universities still had seats available for freshmen and transfer students after the traditional May 1 deadline to enroll for this fall, the National Association for College Admission Counseling reports. >> What's Next: Moody’s projects that the pace of college closings will soon reach 15 per year. Yet some campus leaders, asked what steps they’re taking to avoid this fate, responded like the president of one small private liberal arts college in Pennsylvania. His school, he said, would “continue to graduate students who will make a tangible and constructive difference in the world.” >> Reality Check: “This is a business,” Thorsett said. “It’s not for profit, but we have to keep the lights on. We have to build a model that’s sustainable.” >> Between The Lines: If it seems odd for colleges and universities to try to attract more customers by promising results that people might have been expecting anyway — degrees within four years, with jobs at the end — some of their strategies underscore the magnitude of the challenges they face. >> Go Deeper with The Hechinger Report

SPONSORED MESSAGE Searching for talent for your athletic department? Need assistance with a departmental review or a strategic plan? Time to refresh your conference's policies and procedures? ASC is dedicated to small colleges and is committed to providing solutions for your concerns. Contact steveulrich.asc@gmail.com to see how ASC can help your organization.

3.  Top Campus Golf Courses GolfWeek magazine's annual list of the top campus golf courses is out ... and Division III has three representatives.  3. Taconic GC, Williamstown, Mass. (Williams) 11. Orchards GC, South Hadley, Mass. (Mount Holyoke) 17. The Course at Sewanee, Sewanee, Tenn. (U. of the South) >> Worth Noting: Courses are rated by Golfweek’s national group of players, with ratings based on multiple criteria such as memorability of the holes and the “walk-in-the-park-test.” The raters then give each course an overall rating. >> See the Entire List

4. Weekend Preview Tough to ignore the top-15 contests this weekend (all times EDT) Field Hockey: #8 Franklin & Marshall at #11 Ursinus (watch), 12:00 Football: #6 Bethel at #4 Saint John's (watch), 2:00 Soccer (M): #1 Tufts at #2 Amherst (watch), 2:30 Football - D3Football.com Mary Hardin-Baylor (vs. East Texas Baptist) Mount Union (at Wilmington) UW-Whitewater (vs. #19 UW-Platteville) Saint John's (vs. #6 Bethel) Wheaton, Ill. (at North Park) Bethel (at #4 Saint John's) Muhlenberg (idle) Berry (vs. Hendrix) North Central (vs. Augustana) Ithaca (vs. Buffalo State) Soccer (M) - United Soccer Coaches Tufts (Sat at #2 Amherst; Sun at Hamilton) Amherst (vs. #1 Tufts) Calvin (vs. Trine) Franklin & Marshall (at Ursinus) Washington and Lee (idle) Chicago (Sun at Rochester) Johns Hopkins (vs. Swarthmore) Ithaca (at Clarkson) Kenyon (vs. Denison) Penn State Behrend (vs. Penn State Altoona) Soccer (W) - United Soccer Coaches Messiah (at Widener) Middlebury (vs. Colby) Christopher Newport (at Salisbury) William Smith (at Vassar) Washington-St. Louis (vs. Emory) Johns Hopkins (vs. Muhlenberg) College of New Jersey (at Kean) Pomona-Pitzer (vs. Caltech) Wheaton, Ill. (at Augustana) MIT (Sat vs. Mount Holyoke; Sun at #24 Williams) Field Hockey - NFHCA Middlebury (vs. #17 Colby) College of New Jersey (at William Paterson) Salisbury (at St. Mary's) Rowan (vs. #16 Kean) Vassar (vs. Ithaca) Bowdoin (at Connecticut College) Tufts (at Amherst; Sun at Hamilton) Franklin & Marshall (at #11 Ursinus) Williams (idle) Johns Hopkins (vs. Muhlenberg) Volleyball - AVCA Emory (idle) Calvin (Fri at Albion) Chicago (at Elmhurst/North Central) Carthage (at Carroll) Saint Benedict (Fri at Saint Mary's; Sat at St. Olaf) Berry (Fri at Millsaps; Sat at Birmingham Southern) Claremont-M-S (Fri at Pomona-Pitzer) Colorado College (Fri vs. Illinois College/Randolph-Macon; Sat vs. DePauw) UW-Whitewater (Fri vs. Carroll/Gustavus Adolphus; Sat vs. Illinois Wesleyan) Trinity, Texas (Fri vs. UC Santa Cruz/#11 Ohio Northern; Sat vs. Mary Hardin-Baylor/Rowan)

5.  Comings and Goings Nate Conley named head men's basketball coach at Manchester. Sam Casey named head men's basketball coach at Finlandia. Travis Ponton named head women's basketball coach at Bryn Athyn Tony DeMuro named head men's and women's swimming coach at Maine Maritime.

6.  Pic of the Day                     Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images Visitors look toward lower Manhattan inside the newly renovated 102nd-floor observatory of the Empire State Building. The observatory is 1,250 feet above street level and features 360° views of New York City.

7.  1 Baseball Thing I am completely mesmerzed by this. So you think it's easy to hit a baseball? Reason #1,259 why I'm not in the majors.

Charlie Morton, 94mph Fastball and 80mph Curveball Spin, Overlay pic.twitter.com/ooI111DvAf

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) October 7, 2019

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