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#10: West Texas A&M AD Doug Lipinski sits down with D2.ticker’s Anthony Grassi at the 2025 NCAA Convention to discuss his early tenure in Canyon, how his time at Grand Valley State prepared him to step into the chair and more. After 22 years at GVSU, Lipinski enjoyed his role as Deputy AD for External Relations the last eight years, but “as a former student-athlete and coach, you're competitive. You want to take that next step. For me, I have that continuous improvement philosophy, so every day I'm trying to get better. I don't know how I'm going to get better tomorrow, but I'm going to try to get better. So I think with that you get to a point in your career and you're like, ‘Okay, let's do this.’” In evaluating the opportunity at WT, first, the move was right for his family, second, the needs of WT matched his skill set; and third, there was vertical alignment of the institution. His focus now is modernizing the athletic department as it relates to the structure and personnel, technology to be efficient and effective, and the Buffaloes’ competitive advantage. “Our job is to showcase and create the greatest value we can for the athletic department to the institution so when they view us they say, ‘Listen, they bring over 100,000 people to campus through camps and clinics, we win, our social media accounts are doing well,' and so we need to be able to showcase that value. You can't expect an institution or a president or whoever to invest in athletics if you can't showcase your worth.” More on BOSCA. (link)
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#9: Saint Augustine’s has lost its accreditation appeal with SACSCOC and the university will now work towards a 90-day arbitration process to ensure students graduating this spring can graduate from an accredited institution. The university has also secured “up to $70 million in sustainability-focused funding at competitive market rates and terms […] to eliminate past debt, invest in campus improvements, and implement its long-term strategic plan.” Vice Chairman Hadley Evans: “This funding is a game-changer. We now have the financial leverage to protect SAU’s legacy, enhance academic offerings, and create sustainable revenue streams through strategic campus development.” (link)
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#8: Northwest Nazarene names Indiana Wesleyan (NAIA) VP for Student Development and Athletics Mark DeMichael as its new president. (link)
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#7: Seven Sonoma State student-athletes have sued the university, Interim President Emily Cutrer and Cal State University System Chancellor Mildred García for intentional misrepresentation, fraudulent concealment, fraudulent inducement, negligent misrepresentation and more. The suit claims the institution recruited these student-athletes, most of whom enrolled this academic year, with the knowledge these programs would be eliminated and that the parties involved failed to follow appropriate regulations to make these decisions. The lawsuit seeks to prevent SSU from “unlawfully cutting athletics and numerous academic programs, severely damaging the college careers of countless Sonoma State students.” (link)
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#6: Walsh will discontinue Sprint Fotball after this academic year. AD Christina Paone: “This was not an easy decision, but after thoughtful consideration, we believe it is the best course of action. We remain committed to providing a robust and competitive athletic experience while ensuring that our programs align with the University's mission.” (link)
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#5: Maryville has cut the Men’s and Women’s Swimming programs, per SwimSwam’s James Sutherland. (link) |
#4: Missouri Southern will not hire Kelly Richardson as its new Women’s Volleyball HC as she has decided to not accept the role. AC Joshua Moore will serve as Interim HC through the 2025 season. (link)
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#3: San Francisco State will eliminate Baseball, Men’s Soccer and Women’s Track & Field, effective July 1, as the university faces a 7.95% CSU budget cut and enrollment challenges. The total savings are projected at between $800K and $1M annually and come as “we have not seen the donor interest materialize at the level needed to sustain these three teams.” Of note from the Athletics Task Force, SFSU owes $1.2M in debt to the institution and calls for “earmarking $120,000 (up to $240,000 when revenue is available) annually” towards that deficit. In addition to cuts to scholarship funding, the department has signed a five-year, $50K annual deal with San Francisco Federal Credit Union to go toward scholarships as it works to reduce scholarships offered by 2026-27. Also, in moving Wrestling from the RMAC to MPSF, travel expenditures will drop by 25-40%. (link, link - task force recommendations)
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#2: Extra Points purveyor Matt Brown: “Hearing from multiple industry people I trust that several D1 schools are having SERIOUS internal talks about reclassifying out of D1 before July/House. I’d be a little surprised if nobody ends up doing it this year. Budget cuts may force some hands. Not sure what schools end up going through with it or not…nobody wants to be first. And to be fair, some of these situations are more about the SCHOOL being in very rough shape than just House/Rev Share/athletic expenses. Not much you can do in an enrollment/revenue crisis.” (link)
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#1: The DII Basketball brackets have been released. On the Women’s side, Bentley, Cal State Dominguez Hills, Edinboro, Grand Valley State, Pittsburg State, North Georgia, Texas Woman’s and Union are the number one seeds. (link); Columbus State, Daemen, Dallas Baptist, Missouri S&T, Nova Southeastern, Point Loma, Washburn and West Liberty are the top seeds in the Men’s Basketball bracket. (link)
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