D3Playbook: An Uncertain Financial Future

D3Playbook
APRIL 8, 2020 | written by STEVE ULRICH
your must-read briefing on what's driving the day in NCAA Division III

Our goal is to keep you - the influencers in DIII athletics - apprised of what's happening around Division III - the games, polls, news, happenings, awards, calendar of events, and much more. We hope you enjoy D3Playbook and that you'll share this with your friends, colleagues and co-workers.

>> Good Wednesday morning! Passover begins at sundown. Chag Sameach!

>> Today's Word Count: 1,156. An easy morning read and a great list, if I do say so myself.

>> Thanks for reading D3Playbook. Please recommend us to a friend or co-worker. Or share with your staff and bring them up-to-speed on what's happening in DIII.

1. An Uncertain Financial Future

by Janet Lorin, Bloomberg BusinessWeek

"The coronavirus pandemic threatens to remake U.S. higher education, speeding the closure of small, financially weak colleges and forcing others to make tough decisions about what they can afford. Even state schools may no longer be immune as tax revenue falls.

The most immediate challenge is one that could soon spiral into a crisis: It’s hard to sign up this fall’s freshman class when families can’t travel to visit campuses and many international students are shut out of the U.S. The longer lockdowns continue, the more uncertain schools are about the size of their classes, how much aid they’ll need to offer to fill seats, and the tuition revenue they can count on. “Everybody’s worried,” says Kevin Cavanagh, vice president for enrollment management at Bloomfield College outside Newark, N.J., which draws about 1,700 students, mostly black and Hispanic. “You don’t know what the variables will be.”

Most colleges are already assuming that if they open in September, they’ll have fewer students, says Richard Ekman, president of the Council of Independent Colleges, a trade group for small schools. If they don’t open in the fall and classes remain online, they could lose a lot of their edge—with no prospect of Frisbee on a grassy quad and limited one-to-one interaction with professors and peers, many students may prefer online classes at less expensive public or community colleges, or wait a year."

>> Quotable: “We don’t know how much of the campus experience is related to the classroom,” Ekman says.

>> A Key Stat: "During the last recession, fundraising for colleges overall declined 12% over one year, according to data collected by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. “We expect to see declines of charitable support of higher education giving in the next two fiscal years,” says Ann Kaplan, who directs the group’s annual survey of fundraising."

>> Of Note: “Higher education is not going to be the first thing on a governor’s list” of funding priorities, Susan Shaman, co-author of The College Stress Test, says. “There will be so much less tax revenue, and so many states depend on sales tax. There is no sales tax if there are no sales."

>> An Important Read

2. Our Top 10 List

Inspiration. A sudden brilliant, creative, or timely idea.

Being the humble sort ... I'll go with creative and timely as I took yesterday's look back at a list of the top-10 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament games and hinted that we may put together a list of the top-10 Division III tournament games ... with room for audience participation.

Today ... we start with the women's tournament. We researched games dating to 1982 - the first year of the NCAA championship event. We reached out to our resident expert on D3 women's hoops - Gordon Mann - for his wisdom and assistance. So here we go.

1. NYU d. UW-Eau Claire, 72-70, in 1997 final

Marsha Harris went coast-to-coast, scoring a layup with 1.5 left for the win. See the championship-winning basket.

2. UW-Whitewater d. Amherst, 64-62, in 2013 semifinal

Mary Merg hit two buzzer-beaters for the Warhawks - a three-pointer to force OT and a runner to win the game.

3. Hope d. St. John Fisher, 65-63, in 1993 final

Dina Disney made two free throws with no time on the clock for the victory.

4. Elizabethtown d. #1 Cal State Stanislaus, 66-65, in 1989 final

Sue Kreider made one of two pressure free throws with :02 left.

5. Central d. #1 Saint Benedict, 60-59, in 1993 semifinal

Emilie Hanson scored on a rebound in the final seconds to lift the Dutch, who won the national title the next night.

6. Trinity (Texas) d. Eastern Connecticut, 60-58, in 2003 final

Allison Wooley hit the game-winning jumper with :11 left.

7. #2 Howard Payne d. #1 Hope, 53-49, in 2008 quarterfinal

Meia Daniels scored 37 points for HPU which won the national title.

8. Capital d. UW-Oshkosh, 59-55, in 1995 final

The Crusaders rallied from 12 down to become first team to go undefeated and repeat as national champions.

9. Wilmington d. #1 Bowdoin, 59-53, in 2004 final

Quakers outscored unbeaten Polar Bears, 11-0, over the final 3:08.

10. Washington U. d. #1 Amherst, 86-75 (OT) in 2010 semifinal

The Bears rallied from 12 down midway through the second half and outscored the Mammoths, 22-11, in the extra frame.

>> Between The Lines: With one exception, we focused on Final Four games. Now it's your turn. Think you have a game that belongs on the list. Email it to D3Playbook@gmail.com. Have a clip to go along with it? Even better.

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3. #WatchD3

Our campaign to have past Division III athletics contests made available to those quarantined and looking for quality viewing continues.

But before we release today's feature ... we post our featured game(s) at 11:30 a.m. EDT (8:30 PDT) on our twitter feed ... you might be wondering how our engagements (interactions, clicks) have been on Twitter.

Top Five #WatchD3 Engagements
1,379 - 2019 Football 2nd Round Game: North Central vs. Mount Union (4/4)
230 - 2017 Softball Final: Virginia Wesleyan vs. St. John Fisher (4/5)
228 - 2014 Women's Basketball Final: FDU-Florham vs. Whitman (4/2)
184 - 2020 Men's Basketball: Saint John's vs. St. Thomas (4/5)
76 - 2019 Cross Country championship (4/6)

Today's Feature

1981 Men's Basketball Final

Augustana vs. Potsdam State
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPFQLX9i2XM

all we ask is that you add #WatchD3 as a hashtag when you post a video from a past game at your institution.

4. Comings and Goings

Gregory L. Fenves named president at Emory.
John N. McKeegan named president at Mount Aloysius.
Joel Baptista retired as men's golf coach at Massachusetts-Dartmouth.
Morgan Crespo named head women's soccer coach at Centenary (La.).
Brandon Lewis-Graham named head cross country and track and field coach at Centenary (La.).
Danielle Kilboy named head athletic trainer at Otterbein.
Mike Show named head men's golf coach at Clarks Summit.
Tom Biscardi and Clayton Swint named assistant football coaches at Ithaca.
Ryan Jirgl, Chris Clift, Ben Dixon and Ryan Swingle named assistant football coaches at Oberlin.

5. Yesterday's Trivia Answer

N.C. State's David Thompson and UCLA's Bill Walton.

6. 1 Boss Thing

Bruce Springsteen and Andrea Bocelli each plan to reach their fans with music — The Boss as a guest DJ and the tenor with a live performance.

Bocelli will perform Easter Sunday on a livestream from the main historic cathedral in Milan, Italy.
Springsteen will appear on SiriusXM’s E Street Radio today at 10 a.m. ET.

>> Reality Check: Not a lot of work getting done at Wednesday at 10.

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