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Willamette AD Leslie Shevlin sits down with The Collegian to talk about her return to the university after a year at Williams. Shevlin states her desire to return was part-job, part-family: “I wanted to be an athletic director where my family wants to be, in the Pacific Northwest and Salem. […] I’ve been wanting to be an athletic director for a while, but while I was at Williams [College], I didn’t apply for a bunch of jobs to get out. I was planning to be there for a bit. … It was [the opening of] this job specifically that brought me back.” On what the future holds, Shevlin is going to be mindful of the changes she will make. “If I see something that needs to be adjusted, and it’s critical to student-athlete health and safety, we’re going to make those changes. But outside of that, I need my coaches’ inputs. I need conversations with my boss before we make any big changes that will affect student or coach experience. So I will, again, not this January, but a year from this January, hope to have a … kind of strategic 10-year plan for the athletics department. I have my vision, but again, it’s gotta fit with the goals of the institution. Or it’ll always be a challenge.” (link)

The WIAC will move conference championships and tournaments to a pay-per-view model on the WIAC Network for this year on a trial basis. Commissioner Danielle Harris: “The WIAC has the best fan support in NCAA Division III, with thousands streaming our contests every week. By adding a nominal fee during post-season competition, we can continue to offer first-class championship experiences that our student-athletes and our fans expect and deserve. Additionally, regular season contests will continue to be free of charge.” (link)

Across the Athletics Universe…
➤ USA Today’s Steve Berkowitz reports “U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken has ordered that a hearing be held Nov. 6 ‘on objections to the continuation of the’ going-forward, injunctive aspects of the NCAA-House settlement, which also is on appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit of Appeals. Several new objections to settlement and manner in which it is being implemented have been filed in recent weeks, including those concerning roster limits and schools' decisions on whether to give athletes a designation that would let them not count against the limits for another school.” (link)
➤ On3’s Ross Dellenger writes the NCAA’s “five-for-five” DI eligibility plan to end redshirts has been tabled for now with attorneys advising “college officials against passing such a monumental change while fighting more than two dozen lawsuits from players seeking more years of eligibility.” Dellenger continues: “So… the mounting eligibility cases are preventing a change to the eligibility rule that may prevent more eligibility cases? Maybe. Some argue that a change to the ‘five-for-five’ may trigger more lawsuits. Any ‘five-for-five’ concept would likely eliminate redshirts, waivers and other exceptions for additional seasons of eligibility. That alone could elicit more legal challenges. [...] The point is, if you expand to five years, where does it truly end? Where is the line drawn? The existing four-year eligibility rule is tethered to the traditional four-year academic calendar. Can you legally justify a change to five years by tying it, as well, to the academic calendar? These are questions with complicated answers or no answers at all, which may further prevent any change to the rule.” More. (link)

The DIII Championships Committee has finalized championship bench sizes for all sports, with all but Football, Basketball, Baseball and Ice Hockey allowing all rostered student-athletes. For those sports that allow all rostered student-athletes, all additional personnel in the area must have a specified role. The group has also begun collaborating to host a joint Women’s Lacrosse Championship in 2027 and 2028. Full report. (link)

U.S. Soccer has released its NextGen White Paper, authored by the NextGen College Soccer Committee (NCSC), outlining recommendations for changing college soccer. Recommendations include regional conference realignment with promotion and relegation; a full-school-year competition calendar; professional player eligibility; and enhanced commercial opportunities. From the report: “We have reached an inflection point where proactive change is required. … Without these shifts, college soccer risks dwindling relevance in the U.S. soccer ecosystem and reduced support within college athletics.” Sportico’s Luke Cyphers explains the NCSC is pushing for at least some of the proposals in the report to be in operation in men’s soccer as early as the 2026-27 academic year. “That includes competition that spans the full academic year, rather than the current lone semester. That new, longer year – with a mandated break in December and January – would allow for more months of supervised training but a less condensed playing schedule, with fewer games per week and more recovery time. It would be capped by a national tournament in the spring, which itself could be a source of revenue and attention, akin to the baseball and softball College World Series. Such a tournament could have a home, like Omaha, Nebraska, and Oklahoma City for the men’s and women’s annual CWS finals, or move around, like the NCAA basketball tourney.” (link); Tons more in the full report. (link)

Check out Principia's new Panthers logo in conjunction with the college’s rebrand. (link)

It’s Personnel…
➤ Puget Sound hires Green River (NWAC) AD Shannon Percell as Assoc. AD for Internal Operations. (link)
➤ Trinity Washington names former Gardner-Webb Director of Women’s Basketball Operations Tierra Floyd as Asst. AD/SID. (link)

Coaches.wire…
➤ Elizabethtown Baseball HC Adam Sheibley steps down after eight seasons at the helm to focus on family. (link)
➤ Loras Men’s and Women’s Golf HC Will Arndt is no longer leading the Duhawks. (link)
➤ Wilmington hires former Marquette (DI) Assoc. HC Jayson Wiseman as its new Men’s and Women’s Tennis HC. (link); The Quakers also hire Dallas Athletic Club Asst. Golf Pro Zach Sudinsky as Men’s and Women’s Golf HC. (link)
➤ Coe Women’s Volleyball HC April Elsbernd has been appointed to the DII and DIII Women’s Volleyball Rules Committee. (link)
➤ Basketball, baseball and swimming & diving lead the way in coaching staff changes from the past few days. Check out movement across all sports in this morning’s edition of Coaches.wire. (link)

More Higher Ed…
➤ Plymouth State President Donald Birx will serve as interim joint president of Keene State through June 2026, with KSC Provost Kirsti Sandy and EVP of Finance and Administration Nathalie Houder to oversee the college’s day-to-day operations. (link)
➤ Elmira President Chuck Lindsay will retire at the end of the academic year. (link)

CRO.ticker Recap…
➤ Ally’s Cost of Fandom report finds that sports fans willingly pay for connection and identity, not just entertainment. On average, sports fans spend $1,600 annually, and that figure increases to nearly $2,200 for “fanatical” fans. Millennials are the biggest spenders at $2,050 per year vs. Gen Z’s $1,550, and about a third in both cohorts say fandom makes them feel more connected. The biggest budget categories are tickets (60%) and food & drink (54%), followed by apparel (47%) and travel (36%). Many fans don’t plan for it, with 43% of millennials and 37% of Gen Zers saying they have no firm sports budgets. Spending styles split by gender: women favor social, lower-cost community rituals (like watching at friends’ houses or hosting parties), while men skew toward higher-ticket experiences (traveling for games, premium seats/VIP). Fans think the best ways to grow a sport are watching to boost ratings (46%), attending in person (40%), and wearing team gear (38%). Women’s sports momentum shows up in wallets, too, as 67% of fans say their spending on women’s sports has increased or held steady. Just 24% say they haven’t spent on it at all. That said, outlays are still uneven – fans spend about $950 annually on men’s sports vs. $500 on women’s, and men outspend women on women’s sports ($600 vs. $400). Gen Z is particularly values-driven here with 31% indicating it’s important to show up as women’s sports fans, and 40% view supporting women’s sports as supporting equality and empowerment. Full report. (link)
➤ Talking Tickets! publisher Dave Wakeman introduces two simple models for building durable fandom. The Sustainable Fan Framework has five steps: define a winning vision, identify your core fan, create unbeatable experiences, leave them wanting more with tools that bring them back, and “shut up and play the hits” by repeating what fans love with intention. The Fans for Life Flywheel shows how to keep fans close and bring them closer in a loop: offer a warm welcome, create a sense of connection, deepen it into a bond of belonging, align around shared values, then feed that energy back into the next welcome. Wakeman illustrates the ideas with real examples: Pearl Jam’s fan club for core fans, “You’ll Never Walk Alone” for connection and community, the Raiders’ “Just Win, Baby!” as a clear vision, and Taylor Swift friendship bracelets as a symbol that blends connection, core fandom, and playing the hits. Additionally, Wakeman shares a few data points from his Talking Tickets Global Survey: 5.3% say rising costs are their top business concern, 36.8% use market research to find new opportunities, 37% have no brand strength metric, and pricing is split almost 50/50 between planned and ad hoc decisions. (link)
➤ Check out more in this morning’s CRO.ticker. (link); Sign up now if you haven’t already! (link)