NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland – Times sure have changed.

That was the major theme of a January 15 session at the NCAA Convention that focused on the growing influence of recruiting in Division III.

Panelists noted how athletics recruiting used to be a seasonal exercise, but that has now turned into a year-round necessity. Jack Flaherty, head baseball coach at Southern Maine for the past 24 years, recalled how early in his tenure, he did little to no recruiting, but by the late 1990s the practice began to pick up and has now evolved to include constant communication and the development of recruiting services.

Michael J. Geller, Wheaton (Massachusetts) associate director of admission and a panelist for the session, said athletics helps drive enrollment in addition to contributing to an institution’s diversity.

LaGrange President F. Stuart Gulley provided an illustration of how adding football influenced the institution’s enrollment. Although Gulley was initially uninterested in doing so, the faculty and athletics department eventually voted to move forward with an implementation plan for football that took 20 months. The more than 100 students who turned out on the first day of tryouts and the 3,500 fans that showed up for the first game of the program’s history shattered the institution’s modest goals of drawing 80 young men to try out for the team and of attracting 500 to attend the first game. The school underestimated the level of interest from the community and alumni, said Gulley, who acknowledged that football has added far more to the institution than he imagined.

While panelists agreed that recruiting obviously now plays a crucial role in the division, it is important to match recruiting philosophy and efforts with the institution’s mission. Cheryl Ish, the director of athletics and head field hockey coach at King’s (Pennsylvania), said schools should think about whether coaches are expected to recruit for enrollment or competitive goals, who is involved in setting roster sizes, the institution’s position on “special” prospective students and the athletics department’s participation in the admission office’s recruiting events. She also suggested employing helpful strategies such as educating coaches on broader enrollment management issues and educating as many constituencies as possible about athletics offerings such as sports, facilities, program successes and even coaches’ schedules.