A short story in the NCAA News today says that Wayne Burrow is leaving the national office’s championships group effective at the end of the week. A source tells D3football.com that he is leaving the NCAA entirely.

Photo by Ryan Coleman, D3sports.com Wayne Burrow accepts a token of appreciation from Carey Harveycutter and the City of Salem at his final Stagg Bowl luncheon.

It is not like me to wax poetic about the NCAA liaisons. They hold the purse strings of the NCAA and have to enforce the budget rules that the Division III member schools and conferences have put in place. But I’m going to wax about Wayne.

While Wayne certainly did many, many things with the NCAA in his long career there, his lasting impact upon Division III football fans is the attention he paid to the sport and the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl. While the NCAA is certainly a target of wrath from misunderstanding fans, Wayne’s work elevated the level of Division III football’s championship game and worked with the City of Salem for more than a decade to make this a centerpiece event for not just Division III football, but Division III athletics in general.

As the article notes, he has worked as the liaison for D-I baseball, D-III football and D-I swimming and diving. He also had been the championships manager for D-II baseball, D-II women’s basketball, men’s and women’s fencing, men’s gymnastics, women’s lacrosse, D-III women’s soccer, D-II swimming and diving, women’s water polo and D-I wrestling.

To me, it was clear that Wayne brought a lot of the Omaha mentality from his time as the Division I baseball championships liaison into his work with Salem. From all I’ve heard, every time the Stagg Bowl is able to be played at a time other than 11 a.m. ET, it’s been because Wayne used his influence behind the scenes to nudge the game into the later time slot. If Wayne weren’t committed to the Stagg Bowl in Salem, Va., it may not have stayed beyond the first couple of contracts, but instead, the long-term relationship has helped the city gradually improve the stadium and the events surrounding the Stagg Bowl to what we see today: better lights, field turf, video replay board, new locker rooms, the whole nine yards.

Wayne’s last year as the football liaison was 2007 and we do have high hopes for Shonna Brown, as there are certainly many places where she can have an impact herself on the Stagg Bowl.

But Wayne is missed by Division III football already. And we wish him well in his next endeavor.