Stories from the summer

I know Wabash isn’t the only program to do something like this — in fact, I interviewed one coach for Kickoff (coming next week!) who does something similar with his program, even giving up a day of practice to get it done. But reading Matt Hudson’s take on the seniors’ retreat to West Virginia seemed interesting and worth sharing.

It gives us an opportunity to talk about the upcoming season, and really bond with the guys that you came in with. After all, my class started with about 60 guys, were down to around 35 after one year, and now we sit with 20 after inheriting 2 from last year’s class (a great thing, because they’re both studs). So since we’ve all been through football together for the last 3 years, we all have great relationships, and I think it shows, both on and off the field.

Follow the link above for the full post.

Ten years of D3football.com

A decade ago at this time, I was throwing the proverbial switch and getting ready to unleash D3football.com on the World Wide Web.

Lycoming def. Widener, 1998It had been a project we were attempting to keep secret, which was difficult to do, assembling 220-some football schedules, quick facts and the like without being noticed. In the weeks before our July 7, 1999, launch, we saw the competition, Division III Football Online, really ramp up its preseason coverage, much better than it had done previously. And since we were moving into what was basically another site’s established territory, we were concerned there would be a backlash.

That potential backlash had kept us from expanding Division III Basketball Online and adding a football site the year before. We did talk very seriously about doing it for the 1998 season, and there was definitely some split opinions among our inner circle at the time, which was basically me, Jim Stout and Ray Martel. But Ray and I took a break from our coverage of Catholic University football to cover the Widener-Lycoming game that fall, a classic in which Lyco rallied from a 13-2 deficit after starting with the ball on its 1-yard line with a little more than three minutes left, and we knew we had to cover this sport more often.

When I took over Division III Basketball Online in November 1997 I had this illusion that I could do it a few hours a night, a few nights a week, which would make the site more up-to-date than it had been previously and everyone would be happy. But that illusion quickly faded and by that time, the site already took up 20-30 hours a week during the basketball season. So I had a pretty good idea what I was getting into.

Your response, the fans’ response, to D3football.com was overwhelming, from the opening days. It eventually passed D3hoops.com in traffic and popularity and really drives the whole D3sports.com network. Thanks for being a part of it and choosing to follow NCAA Division III football with us. It’s been a very rewarding decade, getting to go across the country and see great football games, meet people, find good stories and bring them back to you.

And while this site is still really a labor of love, and may well never be my full-time job, I don’t love it or Division III football any less.

Spread the word.

View from the inside at Colorado College

It came without warning, the dropping of Colorado College football. It appears the school might not have even had the courtesy to call its own conference and let them know that football and softball were going away, as was women’s water polo, not an SCAC sport.

In fairly short order, we’ve lost three Division III football programs, after we’d lost just three in the previous decade. Mass-Boston and Swarthmore were cut loose after the 2000 season, while New Jersey City shut it down after the 2002 season.

Chris Jarmon, who has been blogging since choosing Division III on a blog we’ve previously cited called The D3 Experience, tells the story of Colorado College football being eliminated.

He’d been writing all season as Colorado College struggled and finished winless. But this was basically a surprise to everyone on campus.

Jarmon isn’t letting his career end: “As soon as I heard the news, I knew I had to transfer. Football means almost everything to me, and I couldn’t live with myself not knowing I’d exhausted all playing opportunities. To be honest, I don’t know how I’m going to live without football once my senior season is over. So to not play my remaining three seasons would be the biggest regret of my life.”

Read the full story.

This makes Jarmon’s blog even more interesting than expected. But not in a way he wanted.