D2.ticker - Eliminate the barrage of articles & time-consuming searches. Efficient DII athletics news in a daily email. |
| |
|
#10: Ursuline will add Men’s Cross Country and Track & Field as its first men’s sport programs, starting next fall. AD Cindy McKnight: “The addition of men’s teams is a major step in the growth of the Ursuline Arrows athletic program. Men’s Cross Country along with Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field is a wonderful complement to our current athletic and academic offerings. We are excited to bring the Arrows name into men’s sports within the Great Midwest Athletic Conference and I am confident that they will continue our Arrows tradition within the NCAA.” UC plans to have 10-15 student-athletes for these teams under the oversight of current HC Alaric Best who will jump up to Director of Cross Country and Track & Field with AC Joe Caraciolo to serve as Men’s HC. (link)
|
#9: Acrobatics and tumbling, triathlon and stunt are trending toward NCAA championship consideration, according to sports sponsorship data released by the NCAA last month. Charlotte (DI) Executive Assoc. AD/SWA/Committee on Women’s Athletics Chair Ragean Hill: "I'm inspired by the rising sponsorship in emerging sports, which brings crucial support and visibility to women's athletics. The increase in sport sponsorship plays a pivotal role in creating equitable opportunities for female athletes and in amplifying the success of programs that drive inclusivity and representation across all levels of competition.” Additionally, women's flag football has applied to the program to become an emerging sport. The Committee on Women's Athletics reviewed the sport's application at its fall meeting and anticipates making a formal recommendation to the divisions in February when it meets again. (link)
|
#8: Embry-Riddle AD Rachel Burleson sits down with D2.ticker’s Anthony Grassi at the 2024 Women Leaders in Sports Convention to discuss her first 100 days in the chair and a lot more. Burleson’s process for her first 100 days was similar to when she took over at Franklin Pierce seven years ago, while she had a better idea of what would happen. “When I went in for my interview, I had a 100 day plan and I had that this is what's going to happen when I get the job, two weeks, after 30 days, after 60 days after and it's amazing how much of that was true, but also how much of that was not. […] I was able to give an assessment to our head coaches. to our administrative staff and to our student athletes – different assessments and then being able to put those together and find trends. I think what is so exciting about this institution is how much those things align. What the coaches say and what the administrative staff says and what the student-athletes say is very much the same. There's a lot of the same goals, a lot of the same challenges and so when you see those things align as best as they do, that gives me a clear path.” Asked about the ability for ERAU to be a model DII athletic department: “It's really about making sure that we have the right people in place, which we do we have really good people at Embry-Riddle, but people that believe in the Division II make-up, that we have appropriate staffing to make sure that we're giving the experiences to our student-athletes that they deserve and that they should have and then making sure that we are funding it and giving them the community outreach that they deserve.” More on BOSCA. (link)
|
#7: Washburn rolls out its $250M “Forever Washburn” campaign with nearly $140M already raised. Athletics-related initiatives include $2M for a turf outfield for Baseball and scholarships for Men’s Soccer and Women’s Golf. (link) |
#6: Savannah State selects former Edward Waters SID Joshua Jackson as its new Asst. AD for Media Relations. (link) |
#5: The American Enterprise Institute has ranked more than 400 current and former college presidents who served between 2000–01 and 2022–23 on how well they improved access, affordability, and student success over the course of their presidency. The rankings reveal that some presidents were “superstars” at improving access, affordability and student success. These presidents cut tuition costs, expanded access to low-income and racially underrepresented student groups, and increased graduation rates. But some presidents performed poorly in these areas, with a handful overseeing steep declines in graduation rates, affordability, and access. According to the AEI’s Cody Christensen, the “wide spread across the rankings suggests that higher education boards should begin using performance metrics to hold college presidents accountable for the changes in the outcomes of their students.” The report also found that 20.1% of all current presidents are female, 79.9% of all current presidents are white, 9.7% are black, 2.2% are Hispanic, 8.2% are Asian and the average length of tenure is 7.6 years. For all presidents during the course of the study, the average tenure was 7.95 years. Christensen: “The goal of these rankings is to provide high-level, publicly available information that highlights the best leaders, similar to how public information about private companies (such as stock prices, quarterly revenues, and growth projections) is used to judge the best leaders of private companies. The rankings also reveal which college presidents are consistently low performers, helping oversight organizations keep institutional leaders accountable.” Full study and rankings, which for DII leaders is topped by Missouri S&T Chancellor Mohammad Dehghani. (link - summary & methodology, link - rankings)
|
#4: Of note from last month’s DI Council meeting, the council adopted legislation to permit DII Men’s Hockey programs to compete in the DI Championship if no DII championship is conducted. Further: “the opportunity for Division II institutions to participate in the Division I championship in other sports in which Division II does not offer a championship was eliminated.” This change is effective August 1, 2025. (link)
|
#3: Lynn announces plans for new Baseball and Softball fields as part of the university’s campus master plan. Baseball HC Rudy Garbalosa: “I knew that a new baseball facility was in our 2025 master plan, but as President Ross spoke about the specifics and described how far planning on this project had come already, I was in shock. The new ballpark will be a game-changer for our student-athletes—it will greatly enhance the experience of our student-athletes and elevate our competitive level in one of the best baseball conferences in the nation.” (link)
|
#2: Chico State Men’s Basketball HC Greg Clink resigns as the Wildcats are set to tip-off the season on Friday. Clink: “My wife and I made this decision a while ago that if I didn’t get the athletic director job, I was going to retire. And the reasoning, it’s really a family decision. […] The timing of all of this really revolved around the AD search, but it was important to me that I left the program in a great state. And I’ve really felt like I’ve done that.” AC Cevin Meador will succeed Clink. (link)
|
#1: Regional Rankings:
+ The first ranked Football regional rankings have been released, with Charleston, Wingate, Ferris State and Colorado State Pueblo atop their respective super regions. (link) + The final Field Hockey rankings are led by Shippensburg and Assumption. (link)
+ Charleston, Coker, Saginaw Valley State and Cal State LA sit atop their respective Men’s Soccer super regions. (link)
+ The latest Women’s Soccer regional rankings are led by Gannon, Missouri Western, Adelphi, Maryville, Florida Tech, Colorado School of Mines, Columbus State and Cal Poly Pomona. (link) + Check out the initial Women’s Volleyball regional rankings to see what teams are under consideration. (link) |
|
|
|
