👋 Welcome to the Division III February newsletter! 🚨 As a reminder: The 2026 Division III Convention

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DIII Newsletter

Smart Brevity® count: 5 mins...1343 words

👋 Welcome to the Division III February newsletter!

🚨 As a reminder:

  • The newly created Division III compliance webinar is at 1:30 p.m. Eastern time on Feb. 11, detailing the Division III legislative process and rule-making basics.

  • Athletic Trainers/ACHA are encouraged to complete the Division III Health and Safety Survey, that was direct emailed to them in early Dec., by February 6.

  • Nominate a student-athlete for the CSC Student Program.

    • Held each June alongside the College Sports Communicators Convention, this fully funded Division III program offers hands-on experience, networking opportunities and a pathway into athletic communications.

    • Nominations close on 5 p.m. March 13.

  • Submit nominations for the 2026 LGBTQ of the Year awards by June 1.

Now onto the newsletter.

🚨 This Month’s Musts

Generic NCAA calendar graphic

February is Black History Month

  • The NCAA will feature student-athlete stories across our platforms. If you have a student-athlete story for us to amplify, please submit it here.

NCAA and D3SIDA Recognition Award

  • This award honors the best work — including press releases, feature articles, videos and other materials — produced by Division III campus and conference athletics communication offices.

  • Each honoree will receive a $1,500 credit to attend the annual College Sports Communicators convention in June.

Next steps: Submit entries to d3identity@ncaa.org by Feb. 15.

👉 Applications open: Leadership development programs

The NCAA has opened applications for its spring leadership development programs, offering aspiring sports leaders valuable skills and industry connections. Programs include:

Apply by 5 p.m. Feb. 27.

Apply Here

🗓 Save the Date

  • Participants will learn about themselves as administrators, gaining skills and tools to grow in their current roles.  

Apply by 5 p.m. March 13. 

Apply Now

🔄 Convention Recap

Convention

The Division III membership adopted 13 legislative proposals and one resolution, as well as ratified various pieces of noncontroversial legislation.

  • For the first time, a playing rule exemption was ratified.

➡️ Check out the Division III convention homepage for the final voting grid and roll call vote report.

Business Session Recap

‼️ NEW: Educational Columns

Have questions about any of the proposals that were adopted? You can now find the question-and-answer guide for each 2026 Convention proposal as published as an educational column in LSDBi.

🔄 Division III Legislative Cycle

We may have just wrapped up voting for 2026, but the 2027 Division III legislative cycle has begun.

🗓 Submit legislative proposals for the membership’s consideration in 2027:

  • July 1 — Get your idea in by this date, and it can benefit from the public comment period.

  • July 1–Sept. 1 — Public comment period (accessed through LSDBi).

  • Sept. 2 — Feedback from comment period given to proposal sponsors.

  • Sept. 15 — Alternate submission date for proposals.

  • Nov. 15 — Publication of the Official Notice.

  • January 2027 — Membership vote!

Have questions or need more information about submitting proposals?

👉 Join the DIII monthly compliance webinar on Feb. 11.

👏 Celebrate these honorees

NCAA Honors

🏆 Congratulations to Division III’s  four current and former student-athletes honored at the Convention:

  • Silver Anniversary Award:  Nick Ackerman, men’s wrestling, Simpson. 

  • Inspiration Award: Francesca Loiseau, Marymount (Virginia). 

  • Impact Award:  Ella Brissett, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, and Matt Wrather, John Carroll.

  • LGBTQ of the Year: Massachusetts Boston and coach Mitchell McPartland, University of Chicago.

🏆 On the Horizon

NCAA

🏅Milan Cortina Olympics

The 2026 Winter Olympics begin Feb. 6. Check out the current and former NCAA student-athletes competing via this interactive dashboard.

🗓 Save the Date: Division III Week is April 6-12

What: Division III Week is an opportunity to observe and celebrate the impact of athletics and of student-athletes on campuses and the surrounding community.

Get involved: During the week, every Division III member is encouraged to conduct an outreach activity in one of three categories:

  • Academic accomplishment, athletic experience or leadership/community service/campus involvement.

🎓 NCAA Graduation Data Collection open March 1

  • Beginning this year, the data will be collected in Compliance Assistant 2.0. 

  • Please reach out to your institution’s NCAA Application Administrator to get access to the application.

What’s next: Updated Technical Instructions and FAQs to follow. Contact Sadie Martinez with any questions.

✏️ 2026 NCAA Regional Rules Seminar

  • When: May 13–15 in Atlanta.

  • Note: At least once every three years, an active member school must be represented at the NCAA Regional Rules Seminar — Via in-person attendence or an NCAA-provided live stream.

📰 Member Manual

Football field

NIL Assist

NCAA NIL Assist, developed in partnership with Teamworks, is a free platform that provides student-athletes with NIL resources.

  • It features an NIL market data dashboard, a service provider registry with reviews from student-athletes and comprehensive education materials.

Why it matters: Student-athletes, parents, service providers, NCAA members and the general public can access valuable education and data to navigate NIL opportunities effectively.

Access the Dashboard

2026 NCAA DISC Program relaunch

What they're saying: We are pleased to announce the relaunch of the NCAA DISC Program, which helps student-athletes, coaches and administrators understand their behavioral styles, use a common language to relate to others and strengthen relationships in team, workplace and athletics settings.

  • What’s next: Workshops and accompanying assessments are now available on a rolling basis for all NCAA-sponsored sports and divisions.

Learn More

⚾ 🥎 NCAA LiveStats portfolio for baseball and softball

The NCAA, in collaboration with Genius Sports, is preparing to roll out a new NCAA LiveStats software product for baseball and softball.

  • What’s next: This effort will begin with a beta season during FY26, where a limited number of NCAA member institutions will be invited to use and test the software in parallel with their existing statistics solutions.

  • A full national release will take place in FY27. As with other NCAA LiveStats software, NCAA members will be able to access and use the baseball/softball product at no cost.

🧬 Sport Science Spotlight

SSI Spotlight

📘 SSI Key Publications

The NCAA Sport Science Institute’s Key Publications page covers topics such as mental health, concussion safety, catastrophic injury prevention and cardiac care.

  • The page also features guidance on doping and substance misuse, harm reduction for gambling and sports betting, and SSI Spotlight webinars.

🍎 Nutrition Fact Sheets

The NCAA and the American Sports and Performance Dieticians Association and the Sports and Human Performance Nutrition Organization revised the following nutrition fact sheets:

🏈 Official Business

Football Field

Sports Betting 🏈

Reminder: With the Super Bowl occurring soon, remember that betting on a pro sporting event is prohibited for administrators and student-athletes, and it risks eligibility.

Sports Betting Resources

Playing Rule Updates

Women’s Bowling 🎳

  • The NCAA Women’s Bowling Committee is accepting rules change proposals to be considered for the rules survey in March and discussion at its annual meeting in April.

    • The committee is interested in your ideas and concerns relative to playing rules you think need to be changed.

  • Submit by Feb. 10.

Submit Proposal

  Softball 🥎

⏰ Know Before You Go

Division III

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

  • Feb. 10 — 2026 Convention Recap.

  • Feb. 11 — Compliance: DIII legislative process and rule-making basics.

  • March — Sports betting.

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

📆 Key Dates — February through April

Calendar

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, athletics direct reports, directors of athletics, 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
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