NCAA talking about creating a new division

They've always told us that the Wisconsin schools offer schollies because they are state schools and they fall under the UW system. They're the only exception to the rule. I'll give my college AD a call to see if that's still true.

Including the Blugolds, Eagles, and the Pointers.

Heck, D-III and NAIA has a playoff system, to which it has been successful and it has worked. Maybe 1-A need to check it out once in a while. ;D

 

NAIA is probably somewhere between Div. II and Div. III.

The good NAIA teams are D-2 level. In our area, Top 25 D3 teams struggle with mediocre NAIA teams, because of the lack of academic restrictions and the ability to give schollies.

 

National Association of Ineligible Athletes.

Love the NAIA. It's like the Wild West of collegiate sports.

 

Juco is pretty close to it, too.

 

Oh, there's nothing quite like playing in jucoland. Roster requirements and quality of play varying from state to state and conference to conference. Euros who play for two years, try to go NCAA and find out the NCAA considers them professional because they got per-diem from their club team when they were 16.

Heck, Division I and Division II teams play in the same conference in Kansas because no one in the conference ever anticipated that anyone would ever want to drop down and never bothered to make Division I membership a requirement. And the number of teams playing in each division in each sport varies. All the baseball teams are D-I, but only five softball teams and five volleyball teams are. And two of the men's and women's basketball programs are D-II and they're in the same division (the east). Games the D-I east schools play against Johnson County and Highland count in conference play but not for seeding in post-season play.

The basketball situation results in the following:
The Division II teams not only have to play their conference games, they also have to play two games against each of the state's two D-II independents, Brown Mackie and Hesston. They play in a four-team post-season tournament. The winner has to play the D-II Missouri champ for the right to go to nationals.

Because the D-II state tournament begins earlier, Johnson and Highland usually have to rearrange the last week to week and a half of their schedules. The conference can't ever seem to make sure Johnson and Highland play each other during that time, so D-I schools find themselves playing Monday-Wednesday -Saturday one week and then only once the next week because of it.

Meanwhile, the Region VI Division I tournament takes 16 teams, eight from each division. Since Johnson County and Highland both play in the east, all of the other eight teams automatically qualify. The west side has nine teams, so one gets left out.

Yeah, 17 teams play for 16 berths. Basically, all any school in Kansas needs to do to qualify for the post-season is either avoid finishing last in the West or make sure they don't get on probation.

Because they play mostly a Division I schedule, Johnson County's teams go after Division I-type players. I'm honestly amazed that Johnson County hasn't won more than one national championship for each of its teams since going D-II.

[/rant]

 

WIAC schools do not offer athletic scholarships. No Division III school can offer athletic scholarships. There is no such thing as a waiver. If you offer them you aren't Division III.

But because they are state schools they're a hell of a lot cheaper than most other DIII schools though.

 

So what would differentiate D-3 and D-4 schools for purposes of separating them?

D-1: Scholarships, sponsor a certain number of sports
D-2: Some scholarships
D-3: Enrollment over 2,500 full-time students ???????
D-4: Enrollment under 2,500 full-time students ???????

Basketball and football would definitely benefit from a split.

It would be nice to see the football tournament split into a pair of 16-team brackets -- more manageable than the current setup.

 

Hmmm. D-3 is non-scholarship. What would D-4 be? Players pay the school to play there?