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JUNE 12, 2025 | composed by STEVE ULRICH

What administrators, coaches, parents and fans are reading. #whyD3
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🏖️  Good Thursday Morning DIII. And welcome to our summer schedule. We’ll be sending your newsletter on Mondays and Thursdays with an occasional breaking news update.

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TOP STORY
1. Emory Wins Directors Cup

“Emory University becomes just the seventh different institution to take home the Learfield Directors' Cup, capturing first for the 2024-25 year with 1,198.75 overall points. The Eagles scored in 18 total sports (3 of 4 countable sports), including 12 teams with top 10 finishes. One score was omitted from the final standings, men's cross country. Emory claimed the title in women's golf and added third place finishes in men's golf and women's tennis.”

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FEATURE
2. How Middlebury’s Hope Shue Became the Most Decorated Player in DIII Women's Lacrosse

by Corbin McGuire, NCAA

“Hope Shue spent four years climbing — the lacrosse rankings and record books, the rigorous challenges of a neuroscience degree and, once every fall, Chipman Hill.

The milelong uphill sprint is a fall tradition for the Middlebury women's lacrosse team, passed down year after year as a rite of passage and reminder. It's not about who reaches the top first. It's about pushing forward when it hurts, together.

"You truly can't explain the pain of running up that hill," Shue said. "But when you get to the top, it feels like such a wave of emotion and gratitude for what Middlebury women's lacrosse is."

» Field Awareness. “Shue's last climb up Chipman Hill preceded her final ascent to historic status in women's lacrosse. She finished her career at Middlebury with four national championships, three Elite 90 awards, two Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association National Player of the Year honors and back-to-back years being named a finalist for the Honda Division III Athlete of the Year. She joined NFL quarterback and North Dakota State alum Carson Wentz as the only NCAA student-athlete across all sports to win at least four national championships and three Elite 90 awards — given to the student-athlete with the top GPA at each of the NCAA's final championship sites.”

» By The Numbers. “Shue, who broke school records in goals (306) and points (391), carried the same mentality to the classroom, where she majored in neuroscience. Along the way to graduating with a 4.0 GPA, she claimed her three Elite 90 awards and multiple College Sports Communicators Academic All-America honors.”

» What They’re Saying. “Shue said she often hears high school athletes wondering where they belong. For her, Division III — and Middlebury, a small college in Vermont, specifically — was the right fit. "Academics definitely meant a lot to me. I think the Division III experience is so unique because I've been able to really prioritize academics. Our coach and program emphasize being a student first and an athlete second.”

» Read More

COACHING
3. 'I Know It Can Be Done': Rockford 2-Sport Star Becomes College Coach at Age 25

by Matt Trowbridge, Rockford Register Star

“Madi Hecox had 10 names to choose from on her lineup card in some games as North Central University’s interim softball coach. Other games only nine. But never more than 10. If you were on the team, you were in the lineup.

Still, Hecox did something that hadn’t been done in over a decade at this tiny NCAA Division III school in Minneapolis: The former RVC and Rockford East star led the Rams to a pair of road wins this spring at conference rival Martin Luther as the interim coach. That was the first time since 2013 that NCU had won a single regular-season series in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference. Those were also the only two conference wins all year for a team that finished 4-31 overall.

Now comes the really hard part: Madi Hecox, at age 25, is a college head coach. This historically struggling program is hers now.”

» Reality Check. “The rebuilding task looks monumental if you only look at the softball program. But Hecox sees a campus of 700 students two blocks from the Vikings' U.S. Bank Stadium and 20 minutes from the Mall of America. She sees a basketball team that averaged over 20 wins from 2021 to 2023. She sees her school has been OK in several other sports. And says that it can now happen in softball, if the sport with four coaches in four years can now settle on her.”

» Quotable. “Every good coach wants to be a winning coach, but I know it's not going to happen overnight,” Hecox said. “I will not let my value be determined by what my record is. It’s hard to magically create a winning program. It is easy to look at records — that’s what everyone sees to decide if she is a successful coach or not. But there are victories even in losses. The key is continuing to grow no matter what the scoreboard says.”

» Keep Reading

NEWS YOU CAN USE
4. Lightning Round ⚡️ 

» Ice Hockey. Washington Capitals’ head coach Spencer Carbery is the recipient of the NHL’s Jack Adams Award as its top coach for 2024-25. Carbery is a 2006 graduate of St. Norbert.

» Finances. “Facing both federal and state funding cuts, University of Minnesota officials are looking to raise tuition and cut academic program funding to balance the budget. A $5.1 billion budget proposal for fiscal 2026 would raise in-state tuition prices for undergraduates and graduates by 6.5% at the university’s Rochester and flagship Twin Cities campuses, with slightly lower increases on undergraduate tuition at the Morris campus.”

TRANSACTIONS
5. Comings and Goings 

ADRIAN - Alana Mortimer named assistant women’s lacrosse coach
BREVARD - Ryan Wilkes named director of broadcasting and media relations
CAIRN - Kevin Smith named head women’s soccer coach
CAPITAL - Jared Tice named president
CATHOLIC - Glenn Østen Anderson named faculty athletics representative
CENTRE - Morgan DeSpain named associate athletic director for business operations and compliance
COLORADO COLLEGE - Chris Brown named associate athletic director
EASTERN - Eric McNelley resigned as athletic director
FDU-FLORHAM - Elise Parisi named head tennis coach
GENEVA - Nate Heidengren named head tennis coach
GORDON - Jen Bayreuther named head swimming coach
GREENSBORO - Patrick Westervelt named head cross country coach
HUSSON - Amanda Nelson resigned as director of athletics. Chris Grotton named interim athletic director
KALAMAZOO - Andi Phelps named head volleyball coach
KEUKA - Jake Scott stepped down as head men’s basketball coach
KNOX - Preston Roth named head golf coach
LaGRANGE - Carter Brand named head men’s lacrosse coach
LAWRENCE - Adam Gonzaga named head football coach
LEWIS & CLARK - Shanan Rosenberg named head men’s basketball coach
MACALESTER - Rich Glesmann named head men’s basketball coach. Chase Johnson named head tennis coach
MARIAN - Derek Aspinall named head field hockey coach
MEDGAR EVERS - Brian Nigro stepped down as head men’s basketball coach
MESSIAH - Dan Carson resigned as head men’s lacrosse coach
MILLSAPS - Andrew Foltz named head swimming and diving coach
MOUNT ALOYSIUS - Michelle Ross named head softball coach
MOUNT MARY - Brady Hunt named cross country coach
NEBRASKA WESLEYAN - Mary Yori announced her retirement as head softball coach
NORWICH - Shavonne Leacy named assistant women’s ice hockey coach
OLD WESTBURY - Joe Pellicane named head women’s basketball coach
REGIS - Antoinette Hays announced her retirement as president at the end of the 2025-26 academic year
ROCKFORD - Kevin Diemer named assistant men’s basketball coach
SWEET BRIAR - Donna Hodgert named director of athletics
VTSU LYNDON - Robin Andrea named head women’s basketball coach
WAYNESBURG - Madey Hill named assistant women’s soccer coach
WILMINGTON Brian Kingsbury named head men’s lacrosse coach
WISCONSIN-La CROSSE - Allison Harvey named staff athletic trainer

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