The current effort to map the future of Division III may produce a story that will be worth telling for years to come. But many believe that Division III already has a pretty good tale to tell, and they are pushing to find effective ways to spread that story to new audiences.

A variety of initiatives -- involving everyone from conference commissioners to NCAA committee members to front-line personnel like sports information directors -- are equipping the division to earn wider public recognition for its member institutions and, more importantly, its student-athletes.

Those initiatives range from tapping into technology -- especially cable television and the Internet -- to capitalizing on the promotional potential of events such as NCAA championships to tell Division III's unique story.

"We have to promote our uniqueness," said Zak Ivkovic, executive director of the City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC), which actively has sought ways to tell its own story in the ultra-competitive New York City media market. "That doesn't mean we have to compete against Division I or Division II for the same story, because we're not the same story. We're a different story and unique, and we've got something we should promote."

"Ultimately, this is about publicity for the Division III model and the Division III philosophy," said Dan Dutcher, NCAA vice-president for Division III. "This is about telling folks there is a division that believes in the primacy of academics and believes in athletics as an educational vehicle for student-athletes. It believes that athletics exists primarily for the competitors and the campus community, not for entertainment purposes or financial purposes.

"That's not necessarily a well-understood story, nor is there as much public appreciation for that as there should be. That's what we're trying to accomplish."

Why tell that story? The simplest answer is this: Division III members want to tell it.

"Division III has a story to tell," said Steve Wallo, director of athletics at Lewis & Clark College and chair of the Division III Championships Committee, which recently has been discussing ways to improve the visibility of the division's 22 championships -- primarily for the benefit of participating student-athletes (see story on page 18).

"Division III has a sports-in-perspective attitude, and we think it would be healthy for that message to be out there -- that there is a level of college athletics at which we're making healthy and balanced choices."

That impulse to spread the word has manifested itself in the division's strategic plan, which lists promotion of the Division III identity alongside such objectives as improving student-athlete welfare, enhancing race and gender equity, and improving membership education and professional development.

"We've had something about identity in the Division III strategic plan going back to when that plan was created, coming out of restructuring," Dutcher said. "The creation of the current structure gave us an opportunity to better distinguish our model and story from the other divisions."

That inclusion in strategic planning means that Division III is devoting resources to promoting its identity -- financial and otherwise.

Exposure brings opportunity

This year, Division III awarded its first initiative grants specifically for the purpose of identity promotion.

One was awarded to the Middle Atlantic States Collegiate Athletic Corporation (MAC), an umbrella organization for three Division III conferences that has struggled with explaining its unique structure.

The MAC is seeking to preserve the identity of its three distinct conferences -- the Freedom, Commonwealth and Middle Atlantic Conferences -- while also promoting the links among the 16 members of the conferences through the umbrella corporation.

"We have institutions that have had great success at the national level, and the MAC is well-known in our area," said Ken Andrews, executive director of the corporation. "But we have people saying, oh, Messiah's in your conference? Well, they've won national championships in soccer. Oh, Scranton is in your conference? Well, Messiah and Scranton are in separate conferences, but their success hasn't translated into conference success; it basically resides with the institutions. People know that the University of Scranton has had an excellent basketball program over the years, but it doesn't tie to the Freedom Conference whatsoever.

"We really are missing out on the association between the institutions in the conferences and the conferences themselves."

Funds awarded by the NCAA are enabling the corporation to attack one specific aspect of that problem -- creating a new logo that represents the conferences as distinct, yet integral, parts of the corporation. The initiatives grant is being used to hire a design company to create that logo, taking the corporation's unique characteristics into account.

Ivkovic's CUNYAC also received a grant, which is being used to help fund a monthly television show focusing on student-athletes, as well as cable and radio telecasts of a weekly basketball game and a variety of conference championships.

In a market where professional teams and Division I programs are plentiful and grab most media and public attention, Ivkovic concedes the CUNYAC faces huge challenges in gaining notice for its schools' athletics teams. But he quickly points out that the object isn't just publicity, but thanking student-athletes for the sacrifices they make to participate in Division III athletics.

"We're happy where we are and we're happy to do the little battles, because the kids understand how difficult it is here," he said. "They see your efforts and they see the end result -- having some TV and radio, and having their names in the paper, and trying to promote the positive stories that we have within our conference. They really appreciate that, because they see that it takes a lot of effort to do that."

That impulse to reward student-athletes also is behind efforts by the Division III Championships Committee and sports committees to improve promotion of championships -- and by doing so attract attention to the participants.

"In any type of championships situation, there is more focus, more excitement, more activity around the event," Wallo said. "So if you can use the event as a springboard into an article somebody writes that weaves in that a student-athlete is going to med school, or whatever the hook might be -- that it's a little bit different (in Division III) than in other divisions -- there's an opportunity there. Any time there's exposure, there's opportunity."

Realistic targets

Because most people who work or compete in Division III feel so strongly about the positive aspects of athletics competition at that level, it's understandable that they not only want to tell the story -- but tell it to everyone in the world.

The problem, of course, is finding ways to transmit the message.

"I think we may have spent too much time historically trying to tell the Division III story at the national level, where we have a lot of challenges," Dutcher admits. "NCAA data support the idea that, at a national level, we tend to be overshadowed by Division I; the public perception tends to be Division I.

"I think over time, particularly the last couple of years, what we've begun to focus on is that the best place to tell the Division III story is at the local level. That's where the Division III story probably is best understood, in the communities where Division III institutions exist -- and there are so many Division III institutions that we ought to be able to use that to our advantage."

That's the thinking behind the initiatives grants, which focus on promotional needs in specific locations -- such as the areas of Pennsylvania and New Jersey where Middle Atlantic Corporation schools are located, and the CUNYAC's New York City market.

More broadly, that's the reason why Division III -- borrowing an idea implemented recently in Division II -- will host its first meeting next summer for conference sports information representatives.

The NCAA Division III governance staff -- working with the Division III Commissioners Association and the Eastern College Athletic Conference -- will bring together one representative from each of the 43 member conferences to learn about support available from the NCAA national office in promoting programs locally, and to share ideas.

"I think that will be important, because like Division II has done, we're going to try to establish among conferences and their SIDs an appreciation for where we're at, and to have a discussion about where we want to be and how we're going to go there," Dutcher said.

Efforts won't necessarily be focused only on promotion at local levels, he added, noting that Division III remains very interested in exploring such possibilities as broadcasting championships or otherwise promoting student-athletes on the national level.

"What I hear from the membership is that the governance structure has a responsibility to explore options, and see what we can accomplish as a division above and beyond what some folks already are doing successfully at the local level," Dutcher said.

"Our model is so unique, it's such a good model, and our membership knows that and believes that. I think that's why there continues to be a belief that there is interest in our story."

Getting the job done

Ultimately, however, it will be people at the conference and institutional levels who best promote their own institutions and student-athletes -- and Division III hopes to benefit from their successes.

Even before turning its attention to supporting identity initiatives, Division III provided funds to help conferences and institutions obtain tools they need -- such as computers -- to collect and communicate information effectively.

"Pursuant to our strategic plan, during each of the last four years, we set aside money for technology enhancement," Dutcher said. "Keeping in mind that Division III membership education and communication always has been one of our top priorities, we provided technology grants up to $10,000 annually to each conference and the association of independents in an effort to build an infrastructure. It was an effort to lay some groundwork on the technology end.

"Now we need to put that technology to use. We've created the infrastructure, and now we need to find ways to use it. The Web sites should be there now for the conferences. The (compilation of) statistics and the programs to handle them should be in place after $1.1 million in Division III resources over the past four years."

Conference commissioners have been a driving force behind finding ways to put those tools to use -- and some, like Ivkovic, have succeeded in opening up new media outlets, particularly local cable television and radio.

Others, like Tom Bohlsen of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference, have been pleasantly surprised to find their institutions are beginning to draw interest from content-hungry outlets like cable systems and Internet media services.

A local office of a regional cable-television company recently contacted Bohlsen to discuss broadcasting conference games, partly because it is interested in competing with a local over-the-air channel that televises high-school sports.

As a result, that local cable outlet has pieced together a network of other cable providers serving cities where other Heartland members are located, and currently plans to offer an "experimental" telecast of a November football game between Hanover College and Franklin College.

Bohlsen said he also has talked with representatives of a firm that is interested in working with Division III conferences to provide streaming video of games and other Internet-based content.

"The people I'm talking to are saying this is going to be the wave of the future," he said. "Probably in the immediate future, a cable network will be the most practical, but on down the road, as families and homes have two or three computers, the Internet telecasts are a heck of a lot cheaper than cable telecasts, and so they see Internet telecasting increasing by leaps and bounds.

"That's a tremendous advantage for Division III, because it gives our conferences and schools an opportunity to expose the general public to the great opportunity for kids to get an education and be involved in athletics at the same time, without all the difficulties of competing at the major level. We're excited to even have an opportunity to be exploring it."

As those opportunities present themselves, Ivkovic says Division III has an obligation to explore and exploit them on behalf of student-athletes.

"As Division III administrators, we need to work hard and enhance the experience," he said. "Whether it's regular-season games in each individual conference, or the NCAA championships, we need to find a way to thank (student-athletes) for what they're doing on behalf of Division III and our philosophy. I would hope that's the end result of all the things we're doing."

The MAC's Andrews believes that even small steps, like creating a new logo, can pay dividends in promoting Division III's identity.

"It happens every Saturday," he said. "I go to a football game and hear it from people I don't even know, this is what sports is all about. It's not an enormous crowd -- 2,000 to 5,000 people -- but it's a festive thing. Two teams just play, but it's competitive and people take it seriously. The kids basically will go to a cafeteria, then they play the game, then they hop on a bus -- it's basically just part of their life. I don't think that message gets out. ...

"I just see this as just a very small piece where we can, within our realm, help with that story."

"I think our student-athletes, and our schools, receive the most benefit from telling that story," Dutcher said. "They are proud of what they do, and this is recognition that institutions, and student-athletes, deserve. That's what it's about -- greater public appreciation for the Division III model."