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NCAA President Charlie Baker has sent a letter imploring Congress to grant the Association protections around eligibility standards for college athletes. From Baker’s letter: “I write to bring your attention to the ongoing attack on the essential eligibility and academic rules that are the foundation of college sports. This year alone, we have seen dozens of challenges to these rules, jeopardizing college sports as we know them. The NCAA’s eligibility and academic rules are what ensure that college sports are played by college student-athletes, and that a strong connection remains between college athletics and academics. [...] The courts’ chiseling away of the NCAA’s ability to enforce eligibility rules is destabilizing and threatening college sports. [...] Congress must take action, and legislation must include limited antitrust protection to allow the NCAA to promulgate fair, sensible eligibility and academic rules.” Full letter. (link) 

More details from last month’s Presidents Council and Management Council meetings, as the Management Council agreed a broad analysis should be conducted around DIII membership requirements, AQ requirements, eligibility and enrollment requirements, financial stability and the “ability to compete at the conference and national level.” The Presidents Council concurred, pointing to key issues of championship access, eligibility standards and membership criteria. Those conversations will begin at the Presidents and Chancellors Forurm and DIII Issues Forum at the 2026 NCAA Convention in Washington DC. The FY26 budget is up $1.5M year-over-year. More. (link)

The NCAA has warned schools that the ongoing government shutdown may end up disrupting the fall championships with the Association having sent a memo to its member schools this morning saying it is “monitoring the impact and risk” of the ongoing shutdown. The 2025 fall championships require more than 1,000 trips to more than 350 preliminary and final sites, according to the memo. While headquarters did not go into any specifics about how its travel team intends to mitigate travel issues, the organization said it is “exploring” its options “since this is an issue that cannot be controlled by the national office or the membership. Rest assured that the national office staff is committed to working on these potential issues so the student-athletes, coaches and administrators can have great experiences competing for national championships this fall.” (link)

More on this topic - and as you likely know - the Federal Aviation Administration has ordered airlines to cut flights at 40 airports around the nation as air traffic controllers miss paychecks. Around 780 flights were canceled today as of this afternoon, equivalent to 3% of all flights, with CNBC’s Leslie Josephs and Laya Neelakandan adding: “According to the FAA’s order, the flight cuts will increase to 10% over the next week, beginning with 4% on Friday, 6% by Tuesday, 8% by Thursday and finally 10% on Nov. 14.” (link)

Three DIII student-athletes are utilizing the division’s pilot program that permits students to compete for an institution while being enrolled at a separate institution that has a formal agreement with its athletic institution, per the AP’s Steve Megargee. Two of these student-athletes are competing in Cross Country and Track & Field at St. Norbert while attending nearby Bellin College to study nursing. Both Cora Anderson and Madison DeCleene participated in senior activities to finish last season, thinking it would be their last but have been able to compete due to the new pilot program. DeCleene, who runs cross country and track, runs 5-6 miles twice a week in place of team practice due to her coursework, while Anderson, who competes in field events, practices her footwork on her own when she cannot throw. HC Don Augustine on balancing scheduling with this new pilot program: “For soccer practice or basketball or football practice, you can’t really do multiple days a week where you’re on your own. I think it’s going to benefit some of the individual sports. If you get a golfer or a tennis player or track and field or cross country athletes, some of those sports are going to see a little bit of a bump maybe more than some of the team sports.” More. (link)

Yahoo’s Ross Dellenger reports “nearly 60 Division I schools - including 24 in the power leagues - have logged votes in the NCAA’s digital portal to rescind the decision to permit athletes to wager on pro sports. Schools have until Nov. 21 to vote. A two-thirds majority of the 361 active DI schools is needed to rescind.” (link)

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps has paused its Men’s Swimming & Diving program. In a statement to SwimSwam: “CMS Athletics became aware of concerning behaviors within the Stags Swim & Dive program and, as a result, paused athletically-related activities to conduct a thorough review to ensure alignment with our community values and expectations. Before returning to the pool, we are currently allowing time for guided, intentional reflection on the responsibility, both individually and collectively, to meet those expectations and to maintain a positive team culture. The CMS Men’s Swim & Dive season has not been cancelled.” (link)

Fundraising & Facilities…
➤ Franklin & Marshall receives a $7.5M donation from Board of Trustees Vice Chair Ken Mehlman to support a new Mehlman Strength, Conditioning, Wellness, and Performance Center. The project includes a new 20.5K square-feet  of health and wellness space, plus renovations to 10K square-feet of space in the existing Alumni Sports & Fitness Center that will connect to the new space. Construction on the new facility is set to begin in late 2026 or early 2027. AD Lauren Packer Webster: “As our athletic reputation soars, it serves to validate the excellence of the entire F&M experience. We’ve seen that play out many times over the past few decades. With each athletics facility investment, we’ve seen an immediate return in terms of team performance. We've done the work to position ourselves for the next level of sustained success.” (link)
➤ Catholic’s Giving Challenge brought in a record $774K for athletics. The Cardinals brought in over $200K in challenge gifts and Baseball alone raised $155K. (link)
➤ Saint Mary’s (MN) raised a record $245K from more than 1,500 donors during its first Cardinal Challenge. (link)
➤ Check out progress on LeTourneau’s Athletic and Human Performance Air Dome. (link)

We offer our deepest condolences to the Rowan community following the passing of Women’s Volleyball HC Deana Jespersen. (link) 

Legal Matters…
➤ Former RIT Track & Field student-athlete Sadie Schreiner has filed a lawsuit against RPI, claiming the institute did not let her compete as an unattached athlete during a meet in March. Schreiner alleges RPI’s general counsel expressed concern about action from the Department of Education and potential actions from not enforcing the administration’s executive order. Schreiner is also suing SUNY Geneseo and the NCAA over similar claims. (link)
➤ With an active lawsuit against the college and a number of key athletics staff from a former student-athlete, Swarthmore is requiring all student-athletes to sign a Transgender Policy Acknowledgement Form to comply with the NCAA’s transgender participation policy. (link)

Deal Digest…
➤ Thiel teams up with ARI Athletics to support its recruiting and athlete management. (link)
➤ Adrian inks a deal with Influxer to provide customized NIL merchandise. (link)
➤ The ODAC partners with Officially Human to “restore respect to game officials.” (link) 

Nichols Women’s Basketball HC Dan Nagle steps down after four years in the role. AC Ava Limonciello will serve as interim HC for this season. (link)

SUNY Morrisville taps Women’s Basketball AC Ryan Mahanna as Interim HC. (link)

Coaches.wire…
➤ Loras selects former club golf pro Steve Reilly as its new Men’s and Women’s Golf HC. (link)
➤ Thiel names high school HC Michael Kernan as its new Softball HC. (link)
➤ William Smith taps high school HC Rusty Virkler as its first Women’s Flag Football HC. (link)
➤ This morning’s edition of Coaches.wire covers the coaching staff changes across all sports from the past few days. (link)