Division III Newsletter

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👋 Welcome to the Division III July Newsletter!

🚨 As a reminder:

Update the  NCAA Directory

This includes sports sponsorship, coaching updates, personnel updates and organizational updates such as logo changes, website updates, changes in address, etc.

Why it matters: Ongoing updates to the NCAA Directory ensure members receive accurate communication and updates from the NCAA and the divisions. Contact Sadie Martinez with any questions.

A new ncaa.org is coming July 6!

NCAA communications has redesigned ncaa.org to provide a more intuitive, user-friendly experience for all audiences including student-athletes, membership, media and the public.
The updated site will feature streamlined navigation, consolidated content, improved search functionality and refreshed page designs to make information easier to find and maintain.

Now onto the newsletter.

🚨 This Month’s Musts

🗣 Calling All 2027 Convention Proposals ―Today’s the Day!

Have an idea for a 2027 NCAA Convention legislative proposal? The first deadline for membership-sponsored proposals is 5 p.m. Eastern time today.

Reminder: All proposals submitted by the deadline will receive the benefit of the public comment period in LSDBi. During the comment period, which ends Sept. 1, institutions and conferences can publicly offer feedback on items in the legislative cycle.

If your proposal is not submitted by today’s deadline, you have until 5 p.m. Eastern time Sept. 15 to submit your idea.
Proposals submitted between July 1 and Sept. 15 must be submitted with a co-sponsorship threshold of at least four multisport conferences or at least 20 schools representing at least four multisport conferences.

👉 Questions? Contact Jeff Myers or Corey Berg.

⚙️ Compliance Assistant 2.0 and Academic Portal System Updates

Compliance Assistant 2.0 became available as of June 8. The Academic Portal has been migrated, and functionality has been restored.

What’s Next: Before using the Academic Portal in Compliance Assistant 2.0, confirm your single sign-on access is set up to avoid login errors.

The prior Academic Portal will remain available as read only to cross-reference data, with no editing access. User guides and session recordings are available in the Resources section.

👉 Questions? Contact complianceassistant@ncaa.org.

📝 NCAA Division III Rules Test

Beginning July 21, the NCAA Division III Rules Test will be offline as the NCAA Learning Portal undergoes annual maintenance and updates. Users will be unable to access the application, and any data stored within it.
The 2026-27 Rules Test will be available Aug. 1. Please direct any questions to d3coachesexam@ncaa.org.

📈 Division III Analysis and Working Group

When: The working group had an in-person meeting in June and will have a videoconference in August and September. 

What: With feedback from stakeholder engagement interviews and a survey sent to Division III commissioners and athletics directors, the working group developed 36 options to mitigate the six identified tensions. The working group is requesting the Presidents Council refer some options to standing governance committees and the membership as well as move select options to a parking lot for future discussion.

Framework change concepts: The consultants introduced a process for the working group to use to explore fundamental changes if directed by the Presidents Council.

To demonstrate the process, the consultants provided a case study outlining the steps for exploring a concept to subdivide the division.
The case study demonstrated that there are many ways to divide (e.g., resources, competitive aspirations, admissions, etc.), and that a split is not a single decision but a series of decisions, each with its own tradeoffs, costs and political risk (e.g., championship impact, conference structures, rules and standards, governance oversight, mobility between identified divisions, and naming implications).

During future meetings, the working group will further discuss this case study as well as develop case studies for the following fundamental change concepts: five-year (age-based) eligibility; name, image and likeness; governance structure design; and championships automatic qualification impact on conference membership.

➡️ Next steps: The working group will meet in early August and focus its discussion on converting options into potential actionable solutions and examining framework change concept case studies.

🏆 On the horizon

Check out this Division III and NCAA programming to share with your administration and student-athletes:

✏️ Division III FAR Institute

What: Division III will provide funding for 30 faculty athletics representatives to attend the institute to receive professional development and networking opportunities.

When: Nov. 8-10 in Indianapolis, held in conjunction with the FARA annual meeting, Nov. 9-10.

➡️ Next steps: Commissioners, presidents/chancellors, athletics direct reports, directors of athletics and senior woman administrators can nominate on Program Hub by 5 p.m. Eastern time Aug. 17.

👉 Questions? Contact Eric Hartung.

🧪 NCAA Fall Legacy Lab

What: The NCAA Legacy Lab empowers athletes to integrate their playing fields with entrepreneurship, offering them the tools to build lasting legacies. This program focuses on personal branding, business acumen and applying sports skills to the business world.

Who’s eligible: Must be a sophomore or junior student-athlete from a Division I, II or III school and in good academic standing.

When and where: Sept. 10-13 at the national office in Indianapolis.

🗳 Administrators can nominate student-athletes by 5 p.m. July 20 in the NCAA Program Hub.

🎯 Featured Module: De-escalation Techniques: Promoting Peaceful Resolution

✅ Why share with staff in the summer?

Build confidence in handling tense situations.
Promote safety, respect, and sportsmanship.
Provide practical techniques staff can use right away.

✅ What they’ll learn:

Proven de-escalation strategies.
Techniques to reduce conflict and prevent escalation.
Ways to support a positive fan and participant experience.

👉Access it now in the Membership Essentials channel on the NCAA Learning Portal.

👋 Meet the 2026-27 Pathway Program cohort

The NCAA has selected 21 administrators across all three divisions for the 2026-27 Pathway Program, a yearlong initiative designed to prepare senior-level athletics administrators for their next career step as directors of athletics or conference commissioners.

✅ Participants will:

Examine how values shape leadership philosophy and execution within college athletics and higher education.

Build practical knowledge in budgeting, strategic planning and fundraising.

Benefit from structured mentorship with senior leaders.

Be challenged to address current and emerging issues across the collegiate athletics landscape, grounded in experiential learning.

🏆 Congratulations to the Division III recipients:

Rachel Acosta, Mary Hardin-Baylor.
Lauren Bryne-Dunn, Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association.
Liz Dennison, Hobart and William Smith.
Derek Viveiros, Bridgewater State.

Meet the Cohort

🏐 Official Business

🏐 New Volleyball Line Judge Initiative

Why it matters: The NCAA has announced the Volleyball Line Judge Initiative, in response to growing concerns regarding the availability of registered and trained volleyball line judges.

What’s next: Students who are working as men's or women's volleyball line judges on campus will be provided access to line judge specific training and education.

Learn More

🏟 Commercial Logos on Playing Surfaces

A chart outlining the placement of commercial and nonprofit logos on playing surfaces can be found here.

What’s Next: This chart will be continuously updated as Division II and III sports receive final approval of logo placements on the playing surfaces

🎳 Women’s Bowling

The Women’s Bowling Committee and Division II and Division III Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved seven rules changes for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 seasons.

What’s Next: The rules changes will be included in the 2026-27 and 2027-28 Women’s Bowling Rules Book, available Sept. 1.

📹 Webinar series: NCAA Emerging Sports for Women

Join the conversation and help shape the future of women’s sports!

Register below for the Emerging Sports for Women webinar series, which features leaders from national governing bodies alongside athletics administrators.

This series will:

Increase your understanding of the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program.

Provide tools and resources for campus administrators who sponsor or are considering sponsoring an emerging sport.

Create opportunities to engage with emerging sport leaders and other campus administrators.

To register, click the links below:

🏈 Flag Football Takes the Field: From Emerging Sport to NCAA Spotlight (2 to 3 p.m. Eastern time July 9)
🏃‍♀ Swim. Bike. Run. Grow: Advancing Triathlon Through the NCAAEmerging Sports Program (2 to 3 p.m. Eastern time July 15)
🏉 The Momentum of Rugby: Building the Future in NCAAWomen’s Sports (2 to 3 p.m. Eastern time July 23)
🐴 Riding Forward: Advancing Equestrian Opportunities in the NCAA Emerging Sports Program (2 to 3 p.m. Eastern time Aug. 5)

⏰ Know Before You Go

💻 Webinars will be from 1:30 to 2 p.m. Eastern time on the following dates and topics:

July 8 — Compliance: Division III Legislative Process and the Comment Period.
August 4 – Recap of Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, Management Council and Presidents Council meetings.

➡️ All past webinar PowerPoints are on the Division III webinar webpage.

📆 Key Dates — July through September

Thanks for reading!

This update is a tool to enhance communication between the NCAA national office and the Division III membership.

We encourage athletics directors to share this communication with their athletics department members.

Please email DIIIGovernance@ncaa.org to include an item or share comments.

This email was sent to members of the NCAA Division III Presidents Council, Management Council, National Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, directors of athletics, athletics direct reports, faculty athletics representatives, senior woman administrators, sports information directors, directors of compliance, commissioners and assistant/associate commissioners based on contact information in the NCAA directory. This email was sent by: NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association 700 W. Washington St. Indianapolis, IN, 46204, US