The NCAA Needs The Power Five. Do They Need the NCAA?

 

written by STEVE ULRICH your must-read briefing on what's driving the day in NCAA Division III >> It's Wednesday! Welcome March >> Thanks for reading D3Playbook. Please refer a friend or two. Tell them what they are missing.   Sign me up for D3Playbook TOP STORY 1. The NCAA Needs The Power Five. Do They Need the NCAA? by Joe Moglia, Sportico "As he takes over the NCAA presidency this week, Charlie Baker faces a critical challenge: With more money than ever coming in from TV deals, Baker’s toughest order of business will be convincing the Power Five schools that they still need the NCAA. This may be a hard sell, however, since there are ample reasons for the Power Five schools to chart their own course independent of college athletics’ governing body.  After its failure to lead on NIL, the NCAA lacks the credibility - and more important, the authority - to direct the operations of high-earning college football programs. At the same time, the athletics directors at these schools are swiftly realizing they are running a business, and the NCAA may not have a role to play in that much longer.  "I predict the Power Five will break away from the NCAA within the next three years." >> Field Awareness: "Let’s start with the obvious. Power Five football programs generate billions of dollars in TV revenue, and that income is only expected to grow. And there’s no reason to think that trend will reverse anytime soon. There’s a structural reason for this. In practical terms, college football functions as the minor leagues for the NFL." >> Shot: "Like it or not, college football - especially at the level of the Power Five - is driven by money now, not fanciful ideas about student-athletes. College football is a business, and athletics directors need to stop pretending that it isn’t if they want it to be fair and to maximize its positive impact on universities and athletes." >> Chaser: "The NCAA is neither competent nor empowered to handle revenue and deals at this level, or to foster a system that protects football programs and fairly compensates players." >> Quotable: "You’ve got two incredible businesses with the NFL and college football, and you don’t want to do anything to screw that up. The NCAA has shown over and over it simply can’t handle the pressure. And as those football programs become more like businesses, they need to bring in business people to run them." >> Continue Reading A MESSAGE FROM CHI ALPHA SIGMA   Chi Alpha Sigma is the only national scholar-athlete society that celebrates four-year collegiate student-athletes who have excelled in both the classroom and in athletic competition. Founded in 1996 and with 320 active chapters nationwide, Chi Alpha Sigma recognizes undergraduate college student-athletes who participate in a sport at the varsity intercollegiate level, achieve junior academic standing or higher after their fifth full time semester, and earn a 3.4 or higher cumulative grade point average. To apply for your chapter today contact Executive Director, Kellen Wells-Mangold, at kellen@ncahs.org or visit chialphasigma.org. CONFERENCES 2. MIAC-UST Split 'Good For Everybody' by Patrick Reusse, StarTribune | Luke Harris, Carleton | photo by Nathan Klok "There was a call from a St. John's connection early in April 2019. You figured the matter must have some urgency, since the call came at 6:30 a.m. "The MIAC presidents are getting ready to throw out St. Thomas,'' he said. "They have the votes to do so.'' The announcement St. Thomas would be leaving came seven weeks later. It's only the middle of the second college sports season since St. Thomas left and already both entities are on the way to getting much of what they wanted from the divorce." >> Situational Awareness: "St. Thomas was the All-Sports winner for both men's and women's competition for 12 consecutive sports seasons: fall 2007 to spring 2019. No Tommies now, and take a glance at this weekend's MIAC playoffs: Carleton was the No. 1 seed in men's basketball; newcomer St. Scholastica in men's hockey. There were other breakthroughs: St. Benedict with its highest women's hockey seed ever at No. 3; Hamline now in the women's basketball playoff field when it was abysmal for numerous winters in the 2010s." >> What They're Saying: "I think when you see how well St. Thomas has done right away in Division I, winning a fair share, not being overwhelmed as I guessed it might … I think it tells you where the Tommies were compared to most of us in the MIAC." - Jason Verdugo, Hamline. >> Worth Noting: "When you have a program with the very strong athletic history of St. Thomas, its departure will create opportunities for others," said Jeff Swenson, AD at Augsburg. "The MIAC is still a great Division III conference. When you see our former Auggie assistant, Ryan Kershaw, do what he's done in his first season as head basketball coach at Carleton, you see that opportunity come to the front in a big way.'' >> Read More 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 Donation to D3Playbook VOLLEYBALL (M) 3.   Top Five Remain In Place Louden Moran, Stevens | photo by Mike McLaughlin   The latest AVCA Division III men's volleyball top five looks a lot like last week's top five with Stevens, Vassar, Juniata, Carthage and Springfield all in their same spots. Stevens (20), 17-2 Vassar (3), 13-1 Juniata, 15-2 Carthage, 9-3 Springfield, 15-2 Messiah, 15-2 New Paltz, 13-5 St. John Fisher, 13-5 New York U., 9-4 North Central, Ill., 10-3 >> Hit Me With Your Best Shot: Vassar leads DIII in hitting percentage at 36.1, with Springfield (35.7) and King's (35.7) ranking second and third. >> Unbeatens: King's is the last remaining undefeated team in the DIII at 17-0 and one of two teams with spotless records in men's volleyball (Hawaii, 13-0). >> Complete Poll BASEBALL 4.   Gulls Remain No. 1 Kavi Caster | photo by FOTOJOE Photography The first regular-season poll of the DIII baseball season is out, courtesy of D3Baseball.com, and Salisbury retains its preseason No. 1 ranking. Salisbury (21), 5-0 Birmingham-Southern (2), 8-1 Eastern Connecticut (2), 3-0 LaGrange, 5-2 Baldwin Wallace, 5-1 UW-Stevens Point, 0-0 UW-Whitewater, 0-0 Rowan, 0-0 Endicott, 0-0 Trinity (Texas), 5-4 >> Complete Poll A MESSAGE FROM MORNING BREW   2.6 million people wake up to this newsletter every morning There's a reason over 2.6 million people start their day with Morning Brew - the daily email that delivers the latest news from Wall Street to Silicon Valley. Business news doesn't have to be dry and dense...make your mornings more enjoyable, for free. Check it out! Powered by Swapstack STREAMING 5.   Wednesday Watchlist What we are watching online today. Game times are Eastern Time.   BSB: #18 Christopher Newport (10-1) vs. #23 Randolph-Macon (5-0), 2:00  WLX: #8 Franklin & Marshall (0-1) vs. #13 Messiah (2-0), 4:00 NEWS 6.   Lightning Round     Tennis Case Western Reserve's James Hopper was named the most outstanding player at last weekend's ITA DIII Men's National Team Indoor Championship.  Track and Field MIT's Ryan Wilson and Mount Union's Kenadee Wayt were selected as the USTFCCCA Athletes of the Week.   Football The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference has established a Championship game that will pit the top teams between two pods – dubbed the 'Sun' and 'Surf' divisions – to determine the conference's official champion and recipient of the automatic qualifying berth to the NCAA Championships.   Happy Birthday Cake and candles for Caleb Kolby, assistant director, NCAA; and Teelah Grimes, assistant AD, Delaware County Christian School. Do you know someone celebrating a birthday soon? Drop us a line at D3Playbook@gmail.com. TRANSACTIONS 7.  Comings and Goings   ALBION - Todd Hibbs named director of athletics BETHANY - Jordan Barton named head women's volleyball coach RANDOLPH-MACON - Carly Gettler named head women's soccer coach UNIVERSITY ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION - Dick Rasmussen announced his retirement as executive director as of June 2024 UTICA - Todd Pfannestiel named president   Thanks for starting your day with us.  What did you think of today's newsletter? Please invite your friends to sign up for D3Playbook

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