I wish Mike Flynt well, and hope he succeeds and enjoys his comeback with Sul Ross State. This blog post shouldn’t be considered a knock on him or the football team in any sense.

It’s a knock on the national media.

Unfortunately, this is exactly the kind of Division III story we’ve come to expect the national media to glom onto.

A 59-year-old comes out to play his final year of eligibility and it grabs headlines. A basketball team scores 200 points. A 34-year-old plays quarterback. A basketball player refuses to face the flag for the national anthem.

These are all interesting stories, don’t get me wrong. But they have a way of becoming the face of Division III sports. And that just isn’t accurate.

Division III fans already know this. This is for those stumbling across the site who don’t know what D-III is all about.

Division III football players are legitimate players. It’s not a glorified club team. It’s not an extension of high school. They deserve better attention from the national media.

Thankfully, there are other stories that can be paid attention to. USA Today joined other media outlets with a story on St. Vincent reviving football. The Washington Post’s Sunday magazine recently published an extensive story on reviving intercollegiate football at Gallaudet. And there are many other stories, some of which we hope to write about this season, and others which we don’t even know about yet.

Those are the things Division III is really about.