The Athletics Money Monster

 

written by STEVE ULRICH your must-read briefing on what's driving the day in NCAA Division III >> Good Wednesday morning. Make it a great day. >> Today's Word Count: 1,563 > six minutes. >> Would you be interested in sponsoring D3Playbook? Give us a shout for all the details. >> Thanks for reading D3Playbook. Is your staff reading D3Playbook? Share the love and the info.   Sign Me Up, Please! TOP STORY 1. The Athletics Money Monster by Eric Kelderman, Chronicle of Higher Education "The way American colleges manage their most lucrative sports is crumbling under the weight of its own commercial success. The signs are legion. The Supreme Court ruled 9-0 last summer that the National Collegiate Athletic Association, with its decades-old ban on player compensation, could not limit educational payments to athletes. State lawmakers nationwide defied the NCAA by passing laws that allowed athletes to make money from their names, images, and likenesses. And the National Labor Relations Board’s top lawyer recently declared what much of society has come to internalize: College athletes who bring in the most revenue for their institutions are employees and should be treated as such. The NCAA’s supremacy is coming undone, and the resulting impact on higher education could be profound, says Eric J. Barron, president of Pennsylvania State University. He and others warn that as the association’s authority recedes, a corporate structure may emerge to control college football or that Congress could enact sweeping legislation to oversee all college athletics." >> Court Awareness: "Therein lies the irony. College presidents, shaking their heads at the association’s missteps, are also nominally in charge of it. The question now is whether presidents, particularly those at the 65 institutions at the pinnacle of college sports, will step up as individuals or as a group to make changes that benefit athletes, bring accountability to their programs, and fill the power vacuum left by the receding role of the NCAA." >> Between The Lines: "Presidents who oversee the most-successful athletics programs have also changed the association’s governance in a way that limits restraints on their commercial efforts. In 1996, the association voted to change its governance structure to give each of its three divisions more control over the rules and policies specific to them, and place presidents at the top of each division’s separate board of directors. The change was made to accommodate Division I members (which include the largest and most-successful programs), that felt their interests were not best-served by including the lower Divisions II and III in making decisions, according to the authors Daniel Covell and Sharianne Walker in their book Managing Intercollegiate Athletics." >> Reality Check: "One common thread emerges from 25 years of presidential control: runaway revenue for the most prosperous institutions. That shouldn’t be a surprise, says Walker, dean of the College of Business at Western New England University and an expert in athletics governance. “Presidents are paid to look out for their own institutions,” she says." >> Worth Noting: "Governing boards and alumni boosters expect winning teams; presidents who dare cross them, even for the sake of the institution’s values and integrity, may find themselves out of a job. That dynamic has forced any number of university presidents into a moral dilemma: look the other way in the face of wrongdoing or be forced out after seeking accountability." >> The Final Word: “They’re purposefully choosing not to figure it out,” Victoria Jackson, a sports historian at Arizona State University and former NCAA athlete says. “It’s a great disappointment that college presidents haven’t taken over this issue; that should have started a long time ago.” >> Continue Reading SWIMMING 2. Conference Championship Primer   by Anne Lepesant, SwimSwam "It’s February! Time for the myriad college swimming and diving conference championships. For much of NCAA Division III, this is the first real championship season in two years. Some of the 2022 meets may be held without spectators due to the lingering COVID pandemic and the varying protocols of different host schools, but there might also be more streaming options available, too. Through all the ups and downs of the last two seasons, one thing you can count on is SwimSwam’s NCAA conference championship primer. We’ve done our best to include every D3 meet, but it’s a changing landscape and we may have some omissions. If your favorite meet isn’t on this list, let us know and we’ll add it below. This Weekend's Meets Allegheny-Empire, Rochester, N.Y. CCIW, Pleasant Prairie, Wis. Centennial, Lancaster, Pa. Landmark, Germantown, Md. Liberty, Ithaca, N.Y. Metropolitan, Brunswick, N.J. Michigan, Holland, Mich. Midwest, Grinnell, Iowa Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn. NESCAC (Men), Waterville, Maine NEWMAC, Cambridge, Mass. Ohio, Arkon, Ohio Presidents (Men), Grove City, Pa. SAA, Birmingham, Ala. SCAC, Garland, Texas SCIAC, La Mirada, Calif. SUNYAC, Buffalo, N.Y. WIAC, Brown Deer, Wis. >> SwimSwam Primer ICE HOCKEY 3. Still The Ones   No change at the top in the latest USCHO.com Division III ice hockey rankings, as Adrian and Middlebury remain No. 1. Men Adrian (20), 24-1 Utica, 20-2-1 Geneseo, 18-2-1 Augsburg, 21-2 Hobart, 18-4-2 Elmira, 17-5-2 St. Norbert, 20-5 Babson, 16-5-2 Wilkes, 16-4-1 UW-Stevens Point, 18-5-1 >> In and Out: Endicott is back in the poll at No. 15, replacing Colby. >> Last Line of Defense: Endicott GK Conor O'Brien leads DIII in save percentage (.957) and goals-against average (1.16). His 15 wins between the pipes is one shy of the national lead. >> Complete Poll Women Middlebury (14), 18-0 Plattsburgh (1), 19-2-1 Elmira, 21-2-1 UW-River Falls, 21-1 UW-Eau Claire, 21-2 Gustavus Adolphus, 17-3-2 Nazareth, 22-1 Colby, 15-3 Endicott, 15-4-1 (tie) Norwich, 18-7 (tie) >> Triple Crown: Nazareth GK McKinley Hoff leads DIII in save percentage (.969), goals-against average (0.25) and shares the national lead in goalie winning percentage (8-0, 1.000). >> Streaking: Elmira does not have DIII's longest win streak - but does hold the longest home (17) and road (15) streaks in the country. How? The Soaring Eagles are 0-2-1 on neutral ice this season. >> Complete Poll BASKETBALL (W) 4.  Captains at the Helm Eleanor Alix, Haverford Christopher Newport remained atop the latest D3hoops.com women's basketball poll, securing 17 of a possible 25 first-place votes. Hope edged Trine for second place with Transylvania coming in at No. 4. Christopher Newport (17), 21-0 Hope (2), 21-1 Trine (4), 20-2 Transylvania (1), 19-0 Simpson, 21-1 Whitman, 22-1 UW-Whitewater (1), 22-2 New York U., 19-1 Amherst, 18-2 Baldwin Wallace, 17-3 >> In and Out: Smith returns at No. 20 while Hardin-Simmons checks in at No. 25. >> Hot and Not: Amherst (+2), Trinity, Texas (+2), John Carroll (-5) >> Dee-fense: Three of the top five scoring defense teams in DIII reside in the Centennial Conference - Haverford (45.2), Gettysburg (47.0) and Johns Hopkins (47.4). >> Complete Poll A MESSAGE FROM D3PLAYBOOK Help us help you. We are glad that you are enjoying D3Playbook. Now won't you help us continue our work? Your gift helps us offset the costs of operating the newsletter and enable us to continue to provide the quality you have come to expect. Please contribute today.   Make A Gift to D3Playbook BASKETBALL (M) 5.   Jackets No. 1; Regional Rankings Out Sam Peek, Wesleyan Randolph-Macon is the unanimous No. 1 team in the country according to the latest D3hoops.com poll. But the bigger news is the release of the first regional rankings. D3hoops.com Randolph-Macon (25), 22-1 Marietta, 20-2 UW-Oshkosh, 19-3 Christopher Newport, 21-2 St. Joseph's, Conn., 21-0 Illinois Wesleyan, 19-4 UW-La Crosse, 19-4 UW-Platteville, 19-4 Mary Hardin-Baylor, 19-2 Mount Union, 19-3 >> In and Out: Wesleyan makes the biggest leap from out of the poll to No. 13. Wabash (20), Berry (23) and Chapman (25) appear in the top 25, while Whitworth, Nazareth, Case Western and Mass-Dartmouth fall out. >> Complete Poll Regional Rankings (top 3) Wesleyan, St. Joseph's (Conn.), Williams WPI, Mass-Dartmouth, Nichols RPI, Nazareth, Utica Stockton, DeSales, Rowan Swarthmore, Eastern, Johns Hopkins Randolph-Macon, Christopher Newport, Emory Marietta, Wabash, Case Western Reserve Illinois Wesleyan, Washington (Mo.), Wheaton (Ill.) UW-Oshkosh, UW-Platteville, UW-La Crosse Mary Hardin-Baylor, Whitworth, Pomona-Pitzer >> Complete Rankings NEWS 6.   Lightning Round   The number of undefeated women's basketball teams in DIII fell to three last night as No. 15 Wisconsin Lutheran was upended by St. Norbert, 59-56. Christopher Newport, Transylvania and Webster still have unblemished records.  Williams senior Aidan Ryan and Johns Hopkins senior Ella Baran were named the USTFCCCA DIII Athletes of the Week.   The Loras women and the UW-Oshkosh men are ranked No. 1 in the latest USTFCCCA ratings.   Vassar OH Andrew Kim was named the AVCA Player of the Week. He had 17 kills and hit .727 in a three-set sweep of MIT. STREAMING 7.  Watchlist     WBB: Penn State Behrend vs. LaRoche, 5:30 ET The Lions (19-3, 13-1) travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Redhawks (16-5, 12-2) with first place in the AMCC on the line.   WBB: John Carroll vs. Baldwin Wallace, 7:00 ET The Blue Streaks (18-3, 13-2) and the Yellow Jackets (17-3, 14-1) battle for first place in the OAC.    MBB: Washington & Jefferson vs. Chatham, 7:30 ET The top spot in the PAC is on the line when the Presidents (17-4, 12-2) and the Cougars (18-2, 13-2) meet in Pittsburgh.   MBB: Calvin vs. Hope, 8:00 ET The Rivalry. Edition No. 206. The Knights (17-6, 10-2) and the Flying Dutchmen (17-6, 10-2) meet not only for bragging rights but for the top seed in the MIAA.   MBB: Oglethorpe vs. Berry, 8:00 ET The SAA top seed may be on the line as the Stormy Petrels (17-6, 10-2) and the Vikings (19-2, 10-1) square off.   Merchant Marine at Coast Guard, 7 p.m. ET The annual battle for Academy supremacy takes place in New London. The Bears (6-1) are ranked ninth nationally and led by a pair of undefeated grapplers in 149 Tony Ulaszek and 184 Paul Detwiler. The Mariners come into the match at 5-4. TRANSACTIONS 8.  Comings and Goings   CENTRAL - Craig Douma resigned as head men's basketball coach EMERSON - William Gilligan will remain as interim president until June 2023 HOUGHTON - Esther Webb named head women's soccer coach LAKE FOREST - Jill M. Baren named president NORWICH - Announced addition of men's golf as a varsity sport beginning next fall   Thanks for starting your day with us. 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