#10: Missouri Western State taps Regis Softball HC Nicole Thompson for the same role in St. Joseph. (link) |
#9: Bemidji State AD Britt Lauritsen sits down with The Bemidji Pioneer’s Jared Rubado for a long Q&A about the Beavers’ position in the NSIC, scholarship funding, the transfer portal and more. On the portal and funding: “When we are in our Division II sports, especially as one of the lowest-funded institutions in the NSIC, finding that level of competitiveness is always a challenge. Our coaches have to figure that out year in and year out. There's always that concern of whether or not we can keep up with that.” Given no school is fully funded in all sports, Lauritsen notes there is an opportunity to make significant competitive growth in a short amount of time with just a bit more funding. Asked how NIL plays a part: “There are opportunities to get involved in the NIL space at an entry level that is impactful for our student-athletes. Probably about 80% of our student-athletes are paying 90% or more of their tuition and fees and room and board. We're not fully funded, so NIL is life-changing and impactful, even if it's a couple of meals here or there. To me, NIL is a place of opportunity for us if we can dial in on what it looks like to educate our region and our community about what NIL can do.” On the competitiveness of certain programs that may be struggling: “For me, one of the hardest things for my competitive brain to remember is that outside of the win-loss record, there are still things to win and lose in a program. I have to keep my eye on the most microscopic level of wins and losses within the program and within the culture of a program so I can try to make those assessments from there. As long as I've got coaches who I feel like are rowing in that same direction with me, that's a good movement.” More. (link)
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#8: Missouri-St. Louis removes the interim tag in naming Chelsey Mulligan as the new Tritons HC. (link) |
#7: Bentley AD Vaughn Williams joins Connect/Fox Sports’ Bryan Fischer from the 2024 NACDA Convention to discuss the DII landscape, NCAA President Charlie Baker’s leadership, what’s on deck for the Falcons and more. On the future for DII: “I am encouraged. There's a lot of emerging sports, there’s things that are opening up and obviously to have the AQ and do those types of things so I think we continue to head in that direction. Having access to championships is critically important. […] I'm encouraged about how it's going and I think we're going to continue to look at the model and see how we can get it better.” Asked what is on deck for the Falcons: “We're starting to put the foundation and pieces for resource and revenue generation and collaboration across campus has been great so I think we're well on our way to set the foundation and move and get the partners on campus in our community to continue to help us do what we do. I'm proud of our student-athletes. They've handled it extremely well. This is the highest we've ranked in the Learfield Directors’ Cup in quite some time and I think sky is the limit for Bentley and the Falcons.” Check out the full conversation on Connect. (link)
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#6: Florida Southern names Saint Leo Baseball HC Rick O’Dette the eighth HC in program history. (link) |
#5: Texas Woman’s announces Texas Wesleyan (NAIA) Women’s Volleyball HC Jessica Ransom as HC. (link) |
#4: Chadron State narrows its AD search to four finalists: Austin Peay (DI) Senior Assoc. AD for Championship Resources Emannuel Reinsch, former Post AD Ronald Palmer, Georgia Southwestern Senior Assoc. AD Signe Coombs and New Mexico (DI) Senior Assoc. AD for Revenue Generation William Randolph Price. All four candidates will visit campus over the next two weeks. (link)
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#3: South Dakota Mines names former Colorado State (DI) Senior Assoc. AD for Development David Crum as its next AD, starting July 1. President Jim Rankin: “With David's experience and background, South Dakota Mines athletics are poised to excel not only in their sport, but in the classroom. He has a profound understanding of the world of collegiate athletics that will help elevate our student-athletes in their sport, in the classroom, and in their futures. I am excited to see what the future of Hardrocker Athletics holds under David's leadership.” (link)
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#2: MIAA Asst. Commissioner for External Affairs Marshall Fey is no longer with the league. (link) |
#1: Dave Campbell’s Texas Football’s Cory Hogue updates on a pair of AD searches from the Lone Star state. West Texas A&M is down to six candidates: two internal candidates, an RMAC AD, an LSC AD and a pair of DI administrators. At Texas Permian Basin, the Falcons expect to announce a candidate “before the end of August or early September.” (link)
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