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🗞 In Today’s Playbook. Decision Day at the NCAA Convention. Management and Presidents Councils Discuss Divisional Analysis. Preseason Baseball All-Americans. Big Red, Bears Top Tennis Polls

✅ Convention Week Special. D3Playbook is free this week for all. If you like what you see, please support us with a subscription.

It’s time to vote at the 2026 NCAA Convention as Division III votes on 17 proposals.

The most controversial piece of legislation appears to be the “redshirting” proposal

2026-2. Specify that a student-athlete would be charged with a season of eligibility if the student-athlete competes at any point during the traditional season | Atlantic East, Empire 8, Little East | PC opposes

We understand that the wait for a multisport conference to receive an AQ could also be a close vote, while the two-AQ proposal is not expected to pass.

2026-7. Reduce the wait time for a multisport conference to receive an automatic qualification from two years to one year. | sponsored by C2C, CNE, MASCAC | Management Council (MC) opposes

Follow the vote on our twitter feed @D3Playbook or @SouthernMaineAD as our friend, John Sutyak, annually covers the Convention floor vote.

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“At the 2026 NCAA Convention in the Washington, D.C., area, the Division III Management and Presidents Councils discussed the Presidents Council's analysis of the division.

At the Convention, the councils, Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, Presidents and Chancellors Forum attendees, and the delegates at the Issues Forum engaged in initial discussions of the analysis.

On Wednesday, Presidents Council Chair Jim Troha, NCAA President Charlie Baker and NCAA Senior Vice President for Business Performance Brian Higgins led the Presidents and Chancellors Forum attendees in a roundtable discussion that provided feedback on the organization of the analysis (e.g., timeline, oversight body approval and implementation processes).”

» Why It Matters. “During the Issues Forum, delegates identified tension points created by current legislation and policies. Additionally, the Presidents Council noted that while campus budget constraints, staff recruiting and retention issues, and an ever-evolving higher education landscape are important issues, the division's governance structure is not designed to solve these issues and, therefore, will not be the focus of the analysis.”

» Dues Assessment. “The Management and Presidents Councils approved the Strategic Planning and Finance Committee's request to continue to pause the Division III membership dues assessment through fiscal year 2027.”

» Livestreaming. “This fall, Division III championships on ncaa.com had an almost 10% increase in minutes watched, with 12.4 million.”

» Council Member Changes. Marc Camille of Albertus Magnus is the new chair of the Presidents Council, while Rob Larson of Luther assumes control of the Management Council.

“Forty schools placed a student athlete on the 2026 D3baseball.com Preseason All-America team with none placing more than two on the squad. The team is chosen from previous years' All-American and All-Region nominations.”

First Team

C-Aaron Holland, Jr., UW-Whitewater
1B-Liam Daly, Sr., Purchase
2B-Jack Gold, Jr., Pomona-Pitzer
3B-Aidan Conley, Jr., Emory
SS-Jackson Sgro, So., Haverford
OF-James Domer, Sr., Pitt-Greensburg
OF-Jamie Padilla, Sr., Shenandoah
OF-Erik Sundgren, Sr., Denison
DH-Joel Kennedy, Sr., Manchester
UTL-Ben Prather, Sr., Centre
SP-Ryan Greifelt, Jr., Webster
SP-Brit Kostura, Sr., Baldwin Wallace
SP-Evan Scully, Sr., Endicott
SP-Austin Ziance, Jr., Marietta
RP-Liam Stewart, So., Shenandoah

» Complete Teams

The spring season is just about upon us and the Intercollegiate Tennis Association has released its preseason coaches’ top 40 poll for Division III men’s and women’s teams.

» Top 10 (M). 1-Denison, 2-Chicago, 3-Tufts, 4-Claremont-M-S, 5-Case Western Reserve, 6-Emory, 7-Bowdoin, 8-Swarthmore, 9-Middlebury, 10-Amherst | Complete Top 40

» Top 10 (W). 1-Washington U., 2-Chicago, 3-Pomona-Pitzer, 4-Emory, 5-Claremont-M-S, 6-Wesleyan, 7-Johns Hopkins, 8-Middlebury, 9-MIT, 10-Bowdoin | Complete Top 40

» Basketball (W). Congratulations to Bryn Mawr as the Owls ended a 244-game Centennial Conference losing streak with a 73-68 overtime victory against Washington College. It was the Owls’ first conference win in 18 years. Jenny Briggs led BMC to his historic win with 26 points.

» Honors. Salute to the College Sports Communicators Lifetime Achievement Award winners from DIII - Scott Guise (York, posthumous), Ken Johnson Jr. (MIT, posthumous), Ann King (Sage, posthumous), and Chris Wenzler (John Carroll, posthumous).

» Football. North Central DL John Sullivan has been named the recipient of the Cliff Harris Award as the nation's top small-college defensive player in NCAA Division III.

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