After coaching college basketball for more than 20 years — mostly in NCAA Division III, but also some in Division I and in the NAIA — I am becoming more and more concerned about the direction that Division III athletics, basketball in particular, seems to be headed.

Starting my career at a high-quality Division III liberal arts school, I found the philosophy of “academics before athletics” and having student-athletes who played for the love of the game to be an ideal worthy of a career. Though some schools were better at meeting the Division III philosophy than others, it seemed that most were proud of trying to accomplish both academic and athletics goals. Winning was important, but winning the right way was even more worthwhile.

As the years have passed, the purity of that philosophy has steadily diminished. As the number of Division III schools has increased, so has the variety of philosophies put into practice by schools, administrators and coaches.

I consider coaching to be a profession in which one person can have a significant positive influence in the character development of many individuals. I also consider that positive influence to be the highest goal that any coach of young men and women can strive to achieve. I sincerely believe that every  young person who desires and deserves to do so should have the opportunity to go to college. I have no problems with NCAA rules allowing Division III schools to determine their own admissions and eligibility standards (as long as the same standards apply to all students in that institution), but unfortunately, I believe Division III athletics are “dumbing down.”

Through my experience, I believe the following practices are becoming more prevalent:

• Admission requirements are lowered to allow better athletes to attend.
• Quality athletes receive preferential treatment in the financial aid process.
• Non-need-based financial aid is given to student-athletes whose academic or extracurricular performance does not merit such aid. Scholarships often are disguised as “leadership” or “merit” grants. Schools give “trumpet” or “chess” scholarships to athletes who don’t know a trumpet from a tuba or a knight from a queen.
• The influx of Division I, Division II and junior college transfers to Division III is growing. I would suppose that many of them make the move because they cannot meet the academic requirements to receive scholarships in Divisions I and II.
• Some Division III schools have substantial financial awards to build certain segments of their population (for example, minorities or out-of-state students). A disproportionate number of these awards sometimes go to student-athletes and are not being distributed proportionately throughout student populations.
• Some Division III schools make very expensive educations extremely affordable for high-quality athletes.

The NCAA has made some progress in checking the financial aid policies of Division III institutions, but the institutional reports on freshman financial aid packages are not nearly specific or detailed enough to pick up most abuses. As stated earlier, I have no problem with every deserving young man or woman having a chance to attend college. I do have a problem with schools and athletics personnel who are not above circumventing the rules and who put winning above maintaining integrity.

I believe it is time for the NCAA to look at restoring the high level of academic and athletic integrity to Division III by:

• Establishing minimum guidelines for non-need-based financial aid. If minimum levels of achievement are required to receive athletics scholarships at Divisions I and II, there should be reasonably higher levels of academic achievement required at Division III for the receipt of non-need-based aid.
• Instituting guidelines for academic achievement for Division I, Division II and junior college players transferring to Division III and who do not meet the minimum eligibility standards for receiving athletics scholarships. Perhaps these transfers should have to attend their new school for a year and bring their grades up to a certain level before becoming eligible to play.
• Helping eliminate financial aid abuses and loopholes by more clearly defining the types and requirements of non-need-based financial aid that student-athletes may receive.
• Ensuring that financial aid is equitably awarded to the band member as well as the athlete.

Sour grapes? Could be. Too idealistic? I hope not. It is not my intention to pick out or have any specific institution or person penalized. It is my intention to help Division III be the proponent of academic and athletics integrity it is supposed to be.

Chris Murphy  

Men’s Basketball Coach

Maine Maritime Academy