#10: Attorneys Douglas DePeppe and Brandon Leopoldus submit that the House settlement could jeopardize up to 25K Olympic sport roster spots across DI, roughly 13% of the 190K student-athletes currently competing at this level. “The Complaint emphasized that many student-athletes come ‘from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds’ and were being ‘deprived of the educational opportunities and economic benefits that the market would pay.’ However, the proposed settlement creates harm to these exact same student-athletes in a manner that is likely antithetical to antitrust law. The proposed settlement would implement roster caps that could eliminate opportunities for thousands of DI athletes, particularly in Olympic sports. Because of this, the proposed settlement does not adequately represent the interests of all class members given that the preliminary settlement defines multiple settlement classes including an ‘Additional Sports Class’ covering all Division I athletes outside of football and basketball. … Further, the settlement's structure may effectively create a new form of anticompetitive restraint by forcing schools to reduce athletic opportunities in order to fund payments to a small subset of athletes. This appears to conflict with the NCAA's stated goal of creating ‘a safe, and equitable environment that allows student-athletes to reach their full potential in academics, athletics and life.’” They conclude: “While many complain about the pay for play influences and demise of college sport, more sunlight needs to fall upon the NCAA and athletic directors with their knives out priming to cut nonrevenue sports rosters.” (link)
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#9: West Alabama taps former Southern Illinois (DI) Women’s Volleyball HC Ed Allen as its next HC. (link) |
#8: MSU Denver highlights a pair of promotions as Assoc. AD for Operations Jerrid Oates has been elevated to Deputy AD, while Athletics Media Producer Eric Lansing has been named Asst. AD for Communications. (link)
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#7: West Texas A&M hires Grand Valley State Athletics Corporate Partnerships Director Zoe Spencer as Assoc. AD for Branding & Strategic Initiatives. (link)
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#6: Northwest Missouri State President Lance Tatum sits down with MIAA Commissioner Mike Racy and KQ2's Chris Roush to discuss the state of the NCAA and DII and changes he would like to see, starting with what he hopes is a topic of conversation at the NCAA Convention: “I think it's really imperative on the NCAA to open up this conversation about what a new structure would look like. Could we combine parts of Division II and parts of Division I to create a new classification because even within Division II there's a broad separation between those schools that invest heavily at the upper tier of Division II and those that are not really interested in competing in football, so to speak? So I think the time is coming. I'm really interested in January's NCAA convention to hear what the Division II leadership is open to. Are they willing to open up a conversation about a total restructure? I think it goes back to is there a conference or a convention of conference schools to come in and to really rebuild the constitution of the NCAA and figure out is amateurism something that we're going to be able to hang on to or do we go to a model where perhaps we play outside of the NCAA structure in certain sports even all the way down into the Division II level?” Continuing: “You're going to have two polarizing groups: those that want no change and those that want to totally blow up what is currently in place, but I think the real work is going to be done in the middle. It's going to be the levelheaded CEOs and conference commissioners who come together and say what are we trying to achieve, what is the true experience that we're trying to build for students, and if it involves pulling pieces out in order to preserve another core segment of that then I think I’m certainly willing to have that conversation. I don't personally want the NCAA to be disbanded. […] I think the danger though is if we don't evolve then we're going to have to deal with the consequences that come from not wanting to engage in that side of the conversation.” Asked what the NCAA looks like in three to five years, Tatum hopes: “It looks like an association that really does support this idea of amateurism and student-athlete experience and that that's going to be different today than it was 25 years ago. […] The situation is not going to be rectified at the state level right because the states that are deeply invested in the success of their flagship universities are never going to let another state get the advantage on them and so I think a lot of this is going to be driven to a more federal level. […] My hope is that we can find the right mixture of state and federal legislation and guidelines that give us a platform where student athletes can compete.” (link)
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#5: Valdosta State Football HC Tremaine Jackson has accepted the same position at Prairie View A&M (DI) after a 30-9 record through three seasons including a DII national championship appearance this past weekend. (link)
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#4: College of Staten Island selects Columbia (DI) Assoc. AD for Intercollegiate Sports Programs Matthew Scally as its next AD, starting January 2. (link)
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#3: Western New Mexico President Joseph Shepard will resign after an ethics investigation into wasteful spending. (link)
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#2: The NCAA Board of Directors has voted to appeal the Diego Pavia court ruling but is also granting a waiver for junior college players in a similar position as Pavia, paving the way for the extension of the careers of hundreds of former junior college players. A statement from the board adds that DI leaders are “committed to advancing [player eligibility] discussions during January governance meetings.” Yahoo's Ross Dellenger adds: "Should be noted that this encompasses all 'non-NCAA' schools, which would include an athlete's stint at an NAIA program as well." (link)
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#1: The final DII fall Learfield Directors’ Cup standings are led by Grand Valley State, followed by Wingate, Colorado State Pueblo, Cal Poly Pomona and Colorado School of Mines rounding out the top five. The RMAC leads all leagues with five schools in the top 15. (link)
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