D2.ticker Top Ten - the most clicked stories of the past week |
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#10: Minnesota Duluth and Slippery Rock will kick off the next two football seasons in week 0. (link) |
#9: Lewis AD John Ashaolu sits down with College.town’s Anthony Grassi at the 2025 NACDA Convention to discuss his vision for the department and look back at his first year leading the Flyers, which he categorized as adventurous. As Ashaolu worked to create alignment with university leadership, he credits President David Livingston and Provost Christopher Sindt with being two of the most competitive people on campus, which makes his job easier. “When my president and my provost are attending athletic competitions and I'm bringing things to them and say, ‘Hey, we need to improve on this,’ and they're finishing my sentence saying, ‘We need to improve this facility, or we need to renovate this,’ before I even finish my sentence. That just makes my job a little bit easier. […] They see it. They're present at our athletic competitions. They have conversations with our coaches. They're super invested. They know that Lewis is right now fifth in the Learfield Director’s Cup. How can we stay there? How can we stay a top 10 Learfield Director’s Cup program?” To help reach President Livingston’s goal of improving from having one Sweet 16 or Elite Eight team to at least one or two in the Final Four each year, Ashaolu borrowed a mantra from Kent State (DI) AD Randale Richmond that “a really good athletic department is coach-led, student-athlete-centered and administrator-supported.” Lewis is working to add more staff in communications, facilities and more and upgrade facilities to support the growth of the Flyers’ portfolio. More on BOSCA. (link)
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#8: UC Merced names Stevenson (DIII) Men’s Basketball HC Gary Stewart for the same role leading the Bobcats. (link)
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#7: Augusta unveils a number of facility enhancements, including the completion of the exterior upgrade to Christenberry Fieldhouse, the new Alvin and Ivette Harris Sports Performance Center, new seating and batting cage for Baseball and a new batting cage for Softball, with construction on new permanent seating beginning this fall. (link)
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#6: Wisconsin-Parkside cut the ribbon on its Omair Ahmed Student-Athlete Commons with renovated locker rooms and updated uniforms. (link) |
#5: Arkansas-Fort Smith Asst. AD for Compliance/SWA Tommye Robinson is no longer with the Lions. (link) |
#4: UC Merced tops all DII schools in the 2026 U.S. News & World Report “Best Colleges” rankings, ranking tied for 57 in the country. Other top DIIs include Colorado School of Mines (T-80), UT Dallas (T-110) and Thomas Jefferson (T-132). Full rankings. (link)
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#3: RMAC Interim Commissioner Lexie Vernon sits down with College.town’s Anthony Grassi to dive into the RMAC Presidents Council’s position statement on the future of DII. Asked how DII can insulate itself from the “craziness in Division I,” Vernon states the division has been very reactive, in particular to the series of lawsuits facing the NCAA that are irrelevant to the reality for DII student-athletes. “So for us to have to react and change policy and override really core, fundamental things that are important to how we run our programs and how we're able to run our programs, the resources that we have to run our programs, is really concerning. So, I think it's about trying to draw a really bold line between the two subsets of the NCAA. Exactly what that looks like, I think we're curious to hear what others think around the country.” On the potential for the SCORE Act as a solution, Vernon is supportive of the protections against student-athletes being designated as employees, “but in terms of protections for student-athletes, it's really Division I centric and we see it as almost – I don't want to call it necessarily a bailout – but something that doesn't impact us, doesn't have a place. And in turn, that trickle-down that is going to happen is not necessarily going to be good for us in practice. […] We're worried about the legal precedent that it can set and then the trickle-down, that fallout that we would see at the Division II level, within the RMAC and how that impacts our day-to-day operations.” In conversations with legislators, Vernon acknowledges a disconnect exists in understanding how different the reality is outside of the Power 4 and DI, adding: “That's what we really hope to insert with starting these conversations and bring everybody a little bit closer to the middle for an understanding of how we have to be proactive and how we can establish policy that's different from Division I and particularly those that have opted into the house settlement within our Power 4, Group of 5 institutions and continue to provide a really great experience for our student-athletes long, long into the future.” Tons more on the specifics of the position statement, including employment, eligibility, transfers and more. (link)
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#2: Upper Iowa Women’s Volleyball HC Jim Dietz resigns in his second season, citing personal reasons. AC Sarah Hull will serve as Interim HC. (link)
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#1: Young Harris has been ordered to pay the Peach Belt $240K plus interest after the Georgia Court of Appeals upheld that the PBC’s constitution and exit fee provision were valid. Young Harris informed the league in November 2022 it would withdraw with less than two years’ notice, meaning the school would owe $240K, which is two times the new member initiation fee as agreed upon in the 2020 amendment to the Peach Belt constitution. (link)
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