Is DIII conference realignment becoming a thing?

John Carroll University's move to the NCAC suggests it could be

While much deserved attention is heaped upon the seismic conference realignment taking place in Division I, palace intrigue, at least from an outsider perspective, is brewing around realignment in Division III. The primary drivers for this movement, however, are not television markets and broadcast revenues. Instead, it might be merely a case of survival of the fittest institutions.

The consolidation has been ongoing, but it is Thursday’s announcement that John Carroll University (JCU) is leaving the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) for the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) this week that should create concern among Division III traditionalists. The OAC is the nation’s third oldest athletic conference, founded in 1902. Only the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (1888) and the Big Eighteen Ten Conference (1895) are older. The OAC was the first conference home for Ohio State University.

And while many original OAC schools - Oberlin, Ohio Wesleyan, and Kenyon - now compete in the NCAC, the OAC has not had a school depart since Hiram College left for the NCAC in 1999. To the OAC’s credit, Commissioner Sarah Otey reacted professionally to the news the Blue Streaks were divorcing them. 

It is true the NCAC was likely seeking one more school following Allegheny College’s departure in 2022 for the Presidents’ Athletic Conference. The addition of JCU brings the conference back to 10 institutions. And, the move, theoretically, positions JCU for athletic success.

JCU finished 28th in the 2022-23 Learfield Directors’ Cup standings, higher than any NCAC school (Denison University was 34th). University of Mount Union, from the OAC, was 20th. Much of the talk I heard about JCU moving is so it can win in football. Mount Union has dominated the OAC for decades. So, this move gives JCU, theoretically, a chance to move up in the Directors’ Cup standings.

And while athletics may be the driver here, academics should not be overlooked. Using U.S. News & World Report (USNWR) rankings as a metric, the NCAC is simply much more competitive academically. Two-thirds of the NCAC - Denison, DePauw, Kenyon, Oberlin, Wabash, and the College of Wooster - are ranked among the top 75 National Liberal Arts Colleges in the country. 

Indeed, the second paragraph in the JCU press release speaks directly to academics.

“Membership in the prestigious North Coast Athletic Conference aligns John Carroll’s nationally competitive athletic programs with other liberal arts colleges and universities that share a focus on rigorous academics and high-level athletics. The Blue Streaks will become the 10th member of the conference which includes institutions from Ohio and Indiana that serve students well beyond the Midwest.”

Athletically, however, the NCAC is not as dominant as only two schools - Denison and Kenyon - cracked the top 100 in the Learfield Directors’ Cup standings last year. The OAC, by comparison, had five schools in the top 100: Mount Union, John Carroll, Ohio Northern, Otterbein, and Baldwin Wallace.

This got me thinking about the landscape of Division III athletics which has 434 total members, many of them small, private liberal arts-based institutions. Where does the sweet spot between elite academics and competitive athletics exist? In other words, how many of those 434 schools really provide the “rigorous academics and high-level athletics” that JCU aspires to according to its release?

What I found between the overlapping circles of Top 100 U.S. News Liberal Arts Colleges, Top 100 Universities, and Top 100 Learfield Directors’ Cup schools was a small group of 40 individual institutions from 14 conferences that excel in both, at least based on the metrics of USNWR rankings and Learfield Directors’ Cup standings. That represents less than 10 percent of the overall population of Division III institutions.

(1) - Considers both Top 100 Liberal Arts Colleges and Top 100 Best National Universities

Meanwhile, primarily outside of these conferences, plenty of realignment is occurring in Division III, and some of it appears to be in response to university closures. Consider the state of New York, for example. Cazenovia College (North Atlantic Conference) and Medaille University (Empire 8) both ceased operations at the end of last academic year. Medaille had joined the Empire 8 from the United East prior to the 2022-23 year.

To replace Medaille, the Empire 8 will add both SUNY-Brockport and SUNY-Geneseo from the SUNYAC for the 2024-25 academic year, along with SUNY-Poly from the NAC, giving the Empire 8 Conference 12 schools.

Six weeks after Brockport and Geneseo announced they were leaving, the SUNYAC replaced them with SUNY-Canton and SUNY-Morrisville both from the NAC, keeping the conference at 10 full members. For Morrisville, next season will be its third conference in as many years. The Mustangs moved from the United East to the NAC for the 2023-24 year. 

The NAC, meanwhile, lost Cazenovia when it closed, but added Morrisville and Eastern Nazarene College from the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC), giving the NAC 14 schools for this year. However, barring further movement, that number drops to 12 next year when Canton and Morrisville leave.

Membership in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) will also be somewhat transient in the next two years. Mitchell College and New England College both joined this year from the NECC, which ceased operations. For now, the GNAC has 16 schools, but will lose Johnson & Wales University to the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) next year, giving the conference 11 schools.

Speaking of the CCC, the University of Hartford joined for this year as a provisional member after reclassifying from Division I, ostensibly replacing Salve Regina University which left for New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC). Salve Regina’s move is the only one which involved one of the 14 conferences highlighted. 

In a below-the-radar move, the Southern Athletic Association (SAA) will add both Southwestern University and Trinity University as full members for the 2025-26 academic year giving the conference, one of the 14 included above, 10 full members. Both schools were ranked among USNWR’s Top 100 liberal arts schools and Trinity finished 19th in the Directors’ Cup standings, and should raise the overall academic and athletic profiles of the conference. Trinity has been an affiliate in football in the SAA since 2017 and Southwestern joined as an affiliate this year.

But, back to JCU’s announcement. The conference to which a university belongs says a lot about what the university values and how it sees itself. The Ivy League has had the same eight schools since the 1950s. The NESCAC last added a school, Connecticut College, in 1982. The NCAC prides itself on creating an inclusive environment for scholar-athletes (note the distinction from student-athlete). From my perspective, JCU’s move strikes me as a strategic decision for the university. 

NOTE: THIS IS MY PERSONAL OPINION HAVING STUDIED THIS STUFF FOR YEARS. I AM NOT SPEAKING ON BEHALF OF MY EMPLOYER. 

Several schools in the OAC, including my employer, are struggling with budget deficits and possible declining enrollment. The opportunity to align with stronger academic institutions while maintaining high-quality athletics should be appealing to any university. More so than their Division I counterparts, Division III institutions content with a situation because that is the way it has always been may find themselves scrambling to articulate who they are and what they value. 

Plenty of narratives exist to illustrate the current economic and fiscal challenges facing small private colleges: Bloomberg, Forbes, U.S. News, and Inside Higher Ed, have all written about it. The Chronicle of Higher Education and the Urban Institute have recently examined the role sports might play in supporting small private colleges.

A decade ago, these conference movements might not have registered as big news, but the environment has changed. I can’t help but feel more consolidation is on the horizon, some of which might be strategic and some of which might be merely survival.