After Atalanta

The annual NCAA convention is taking place in Nashville right now. Of note is the proposal in front of DIII schools right now to limit the use of male practice players in women's basketball. Donna Ledwin, commissioner of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference, has this compelling editorial at Inside Higher Ed which explains the proposal and offers reasons as to why it is worth supporting, including how it fits in with the educational mission of Division III. The issue of limiting male practice players has been controversial since it was first mentioned last year some time but most of the discussion and coverage has focused on DI athletics where nearly everyone--including, and maybe even especially, female head coaches like Joanne McCallie of Duke--have balked at the idea of eliminating men from their teams. It will be interesting to see how the DIII administrators vote--assuming the discussion does not get tabled again. DI coaches are still not allowed to text message recruit...

ESPN.com has done a series on DIII athletic programs. This part of the series focuses on schools that have one successful DI program that benefits the other DIII sports in the program and the school as a whole. The article points to the value of such a configuration within the athletic department and there are definitely good things to be said for running one or two big programs. You're only a little bit into the craziness of big-time programs; a little less influenced by alumni dollars; a little less likely to compromise the welfare of your student-athletes and the reputation of your school for the sake of a win. But some of the bonuses the article cites include greater diversity because the larger programs will recruit across the nation and sometimes in foreign countries. What is meant by diversity is ambiguous. If your big program is hockey your foreign recruits are most likely Canadians and sometimes Scandinavians. These players bring a certain amount of cultural diversity but ...