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Alverno will exit the NACC and join the Coast-To-Coast as its eighth core member starting in 2026-27. President Christy Brown: “Joining the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference marks a milestone moment for Alverno — as it opens new doors for our student-athletes, coaches, and college community to compete, grow, and shine on a national stage. This move reflects the Alverno spirit — bold, determined, and ready to rise to new challenges while building lasting connections with other respected institutions. I am proud of our student-athletes and grateful to our athletics leadership for charting this next chapter in our journey.” (link)

Concordia (TX) removes the interim tag from AD Matt Wallis who has been leading the department since March. President Kristi Kirk: “Matt's leadership reflects Concordia Texas's mission to prepare leaders for lives of service. His years of dedication to the Christ centered values of the University, as well as the values of D3 Athletics, combined with his proven ability to grow programs and mentor coaches and student-athletes, make him the right person to lead CTX Athletics into the future.” CTX promotes Women’s Basketball Assoc. HC Brianna Marstaller to HC as Wallis transitions to the AD role. (link)

Mount Saint Mary promotes Assoc. AD/SWA Samantha Howe to become the Knights’ next AD. Howe: “I want to thank [outgoing AD] Shane Bell for his leadership and dedication to our athletics program. I am also grateful to President Gervasi for trusting me with this opportunity. I look forward to building on the strong foundation in place and continuing to support the success of our student-athletes.” (link)

More from Lyon AD Kevin Jenkins’ Small College Conversation, as he is now in his 40th year with the college. On the impact of being there for four decades: “The history and the knowledge that I do have has been valuable to help piece together the connections between athletics and enrollment and things whenever or advancement. When we do have new people come in in those departments, it's easy for me, with being there a long time, to be able to talk to them and again, get them on board with what we're doing in athletics.” As he transitioned from coach to the dual coach/AD role and then became AD full-time in 2013, the move to full-time administration came as he felt he needed a fresh start after 27 years as a coach, more of his time was being spent on the entire department, and his president agreed the AD should be a full-time role. Since then, Lyon has added a number of sports, including Football and Track & Field, with the department now consisting of over 400 student-athletes that make up between 60-65% of the student population. Full conversation on BOSCA. (link)

Yahoo’s Ross Dellenger shares details regarding compromises made between the power conferences and 10 non-FBS leagues during last week’s commissioner meetings in Chicago. “First, you should know that the 10 non-FBS conferences that formed a coalition, which we’ll call the Coalition of 10, requesting portions of the SCORE Act be amended, are now fully supporting legislation with a letter sent to lawmakers on Monday. That support only came after the compromise reached last week. The compromise is two-fold: (1) The power leagues agreed to amend the voting threshold for any proposal that changes Division I membership standards from a majority to a super majority (roughly 80%). This eases concerns for officials in non-FBS conferences, who expressed concern that the power leagues – which make up 65% of the new NCAA governance structure – could collectively change membership standards after a five-year moratorium on standards ends. (2) The SCORE Act requires all Division I schools to sponsor 16 sports, which is the NCAA FBS minimum. However, those in non-FBS operate under a minimum of 14, and 40 of those schools have fewer than 16 sports. The compromise here is that those non-FBS leagues can operate under the NCAA’s standard of 14.” (link)

NCAA Basketball Tournament expansion is moving closer to a reality, reports Ross Dellenger for On3. With potential to begin for the 2026-27 event, “eight games are expected to be added to the current ‘First Four’ played over Tuesday and Wednesday of the first week of the event.” It won’t be called the “First Twelve,” however, as one high-placed executive tells Dellenger: “We’ll call it the opening round.” The new opening round will feature “24 teams playing in 12 games over the two days, with six games each at two sites (Dayton, the current home of the First Four, plus another likely more basketball-centric Western location). Those involved in the negotiations caution that plenty of this could change through the course of continuing talks with TV partners Warner Bros. Discovery and CBS. [...] Why 12 games? The entire goal is to keep the first round of the tournament at 64 teams. [...] In the opening round, the split is expected to remain the same: 12 lower-seeded automatic qualifiers and 12 at-large selections meeting one another. However, that could always change during the course of negotiations. Under this 12-and-12 plan, eight additional teams would be extracted from the main bracket, plus the eight new at-large selections derived from expansion. Basically, eight more at-large teams, previously secure in the first-round field, are now having to play an extra, play-in type game to reach the weekend tournament.” More. (link)

Dickinson launches the All Devils Rise campaign to try to raise $150K to launch a fueling station for student-athletes and upgrade the athletics hall of fame. (link)

USCAH launches its Accreditation Program initiative designed to advance and validate institutional standards of excellence in athlete health, safety, well-being, and performance. With more than 30 organizations already established as candidates, USCAH Accreditation provides colleges, universities, National Governing Bodies, and other athletics organizations with an independent, comprehensive framework to safeguard athletes, while reflecting best practices plus evidence- and consensus-based standards endorsed by leading sports medicine organizations, scientific academies, and sport governing bodies encompassing standards across six core areas: Governance & Leadership, Athlete Health, Medical, and Performance Services, Education & Training, Compliance & Risk Management, Athlete Well-Being, and Data & Continuous Improvement. (link) 

It’s Personnel…
➤ North Carolina Wesleyan Asst. AD for Internal Operations Mike Armbruster is no longer with the Battling Bishops. (link)
➤ American Rivers Commissioner Marie Stroman has been named to the DII and III Playing Rules Oversight Panel. (link) 

Coaches.wire…
➤ Albertus Magnus names American International (DII) HC Jessica Harrison as its new Women’s Lacrosse HC/Asst. Coordinator for Student-Athlete Success. (link)
➤ Hiram hires Vermont State Castleton GA Anna Hamid as its new Women’s Ice Hockey HC. (link)
➤ Marian promotes Women’s Ice Hockey AC Joe Gerarden to HC. (link)
➤ York (NY) names former Nassau CC (NJCAA) HC Eamon Sheerin as the Cardinals’ new Cross Country/Track & Field HC. (link)
➤ This morning’s Coaches.wire is paced by changes to hoops, baseball and track & field/cross country coaching staffs, but plenty of other sports show coaching staff movement from the past few days. (link)

More Higher Ed…
➤ Kean and NJCU have officially signed a definitive merger agreement. The deal which will see NJCU become Kean Jersey City is subject to final approval by Middle States Commission on Higher Education, the New Jersey legislature and the U.S. Department of Education. (link)
➤ Chicago will sell its Center for Research in Security Prices to for $375M. Of note: “Proceeds from the transaction will provide vital long-term support for research and education, and the agreement will include years of continued access to CRSP’s data for Booth [School of Business] researchers.” (link)
➤ WashU has laid off 316 employees and eliminated 198 unfilled positions since March to save over $52M annually, citing federal research cuts, operational redundancies and more. (link) 
➤ UC Santa Cruz is partnering with Cabrillo College (3C2A) to build a new housing project to house 240 UCSC students as the university works towards its goal of providing more than 40% additional housing by 2035. (link)