D3football.com » D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast D3football.com, Pat Coleman and Greg Thomas

Nobody at the American Southwest Conference is talking on the record — heck, there basically is nobody at the American Southwest Conference since they showed their commissioner the door, and two more schools left their all-sports membership not all that long ago.
This is desperate times calling for desperate measures for the ASC, and if you thought our last idea was a crazy one (Super Region 10 conference, anyone?), just wait until you hear what’s next. Pat Coleman and Greg Thomas discuss what options are left for the ASC, or instead, when the conference might lose its automatic bid, assuming the four remaining football programs can remain together.
While we wait for the ASC to lose an automatic bid, we have a new conference starting this fall with the Landmark Conference. When D3football.com broke the news of this, back in February 2022, it was understood that the Landmark would have a football bid right away, and we talk with Susquehanna coach Tom Perkovich about the new conference, and having been on the wrong side of the at-large bubble a couple of seasons ago. Now that Perkovich has some control over his team’s schedule, he has some great matchups lined up and he talks about why he scheduled the teams he has.
Plus, we are joined by Karl Barkley, who runs @D3Direct, which you can find on most social media platforms. His goal is to shed light on the D-III recruiting process for incoming student-athletes, but also to talk about what D-III student-athletes can do with their Name, Image and Likeness rights. Nobody is signing deals for hundreds of thousands of dollars, but with a little hustle, D-III guys are finding ways to benefit from this NCAA legislation. He has examples and suggestions.
And we’re joined by Riley Zayas of True to the Cru. We talk about some of the great non-conference games that Texas schools are taking part in this season. Plus, Greg talks about where the Landmark Conference might land in his Division III football conference rankings, plus more.
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Theme music: Power 2 by DJmentos.
Photos by Steve Frommell, d3photography.com, d3photography.com file, Trinity (Texas) athletics
The post ATN Podcast 329: A new conference, state of NIL in D3, and a crazy idea for the ASC appeared first on D3football.com » D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast.
The post ATN Podcast 329: A new conference, state of NIL in D3, and a crazy idea for the ASC appeared first on D3football.com » D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast.

We welcome Jace Rindahl of UW-Whitewater, the new 36-year-old head coach who was playing linebacker for the Warhawks so recently that he was the 2008 D3football.com Defensive Player of the Year. The Warhawks men's basketball team made a surprising run to the D-III Final Four. We also welcome John Carroll coach Jeff Behrman. (Mount Union's men's basketball team made it to the Final Four, but coach Geoff Dartt again declined an interview request, so we'll represent the OAC with its next-best men's basketball team.) And Paul Crowley of Christopher Newport joins us as well after the CNU men won the D-III national title and the CNU women won their national semifinal and will play for the national title on Saturday, April 1. 
Rindahl has spent 16 of the past 18 years in the Whitewater football program, and he comes into his first year as head coach with a schedule that is just simply loaded, starting with John Carroll. He talks with us about what kind of head coach he'll be, how the program feels after their surprising first-round playoff loss to Aurora, and how they intend to handle each new opponent in that gauntlet. Behrman is a John Carroll grad just returning to the institution after a quarter-century, and he talks about what the university has to sell to recruits, how much he'll change the scheme, whether he'll be able to bring some stability to a program that is on its third head coach in three seasons, and how much Mount Union footage he has watched so far. And Crowley talks about the great gameday atmosphere at his institution, some of last year's early growing pains in his first year as a head coach and what kind of kids he is looking to recruit to get his program back in the conference title conversation.
Plus, Pat and Greg talk about the fact that D-III seems to keep losing programs and what that means for the SCIAC (divisions?) and the SAA (expansion?). Pat puts Greg on the spot and gets a conference ranking for the SCAC, whenever it is able to get all of its programs on the field. 
The post ATN Podcast 328: Three teams with reason to look ahead appeared first on D3football.com » D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast.

This upcoming 2023 football season will have just four at-large bids. It's getting harder and harder to make the NCAA Division III football playoffs as an at-large team, there's no denying it. Before it gets even worse, this is the time that Division III administrators need to recognize the issues and act on them. Is the answer to expand the playoffs beyond 32 teams, into a sixth week? Where does this week come from? Or is the answer to raise the bar, so that a conference needs seven or eight teams to get a football automatic bid instead of the current ludicrous six? We surveyed Division III football head coaches for their opinions. And we convened a roundtable of Division III experts to talk through the issues and tell us what needs to be done next.
The post ATN Podcast 327: How do we fix the playoffs? appeared first on D3football.com » D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast.

And just like that, the 2022 season, arguably the greatest season in NCAA Division III football history, is in the books. But before the podcast goes into offseason mode and becomes a monthly show, we do what we always do at the end of the season -- discuss, debate if necessary, and determine the D3football.com final awards: D3football.com Offensive Player of the Year, D3football.com Defensive Player of the Year, D3football.com Coach of the Year. Some of these debates were quick, while others took some time, but listen and find out why we landed on who we did.
Plus, of course, you get our team's reaction to results of Stagg Bowl XLIX: a game in which North Central scored the first 21 points and then had to hold on as Mount Union came charging back. And you get to find out what Keith McMillan wants to be known as going forward, and what our holiday wish list is for next season and beyond/
Pat Coleman, Greg Thomas, former co-host Keith McMillan and guest Frank Rossi of In the D3FB Huddle talk through it all in the latest D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast. The D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast is a regular conversation covering the wide range of Division III football.
The post ATN Podcast 326: Stagg Bowl, players of the year, our wish list appeared first on D3football.com » D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast.

The Stagg Bowl comes around holiday time and really is the most wonderful time of the year. It's the time when you can't duck questions any longer, and we talk with both head coaches and offensive and defensive players on both teams in this Stagg Bowl preview podcast.
On the air with us: Mount Union head coach Geoff Dartt, wide receiver Wayne Ruby and linebacker Mason McMillen; plus North Central coach Brad Spencer, running back Ethan Greenfield, quarterback Luke Lehnen and cornerback Antwain Walker. 
This edition of the podcast is sponsored by the hosts of Stagg Bowl XLIX, and we look forward to seeing all of you in Annapolis, Maryland, for the Division III football championship game on Dec. 16.
Pat Coleman, Greg Thomas and guest Frank Rossi of In the D3FB Huddle talk through it all, give their predictions on not just who will win, but a couple of key stats as well. 
Plus, Pat breaks some news in the first 90 seconds of the podcast, plus he takes a few minutes to tell exactly why Stagg Bowl season is the most wonderful time of the year. You won't want to miss it!
This is the second of three podcasts to come this week. The following one will drop on Saturday morning and give our breakdown of the game, plus our rationale as to why we chose whomever we end up choosing as our Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Coach of the Year.
Pat Coleman and Greg Thomas talk about it all in the latest D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast. The D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast is a regular conversation covering the wide range of Division III football.
The post ATN Podcast 325: Most wonderful time of the year appeared first on D3football.com » D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast.

It's No. 1 vs. No. 2, just as everyone expected, as North Central and Mount Union advance to play in Stagg Bowl XLIX in Annapolis. While this is a rematch of teams that played in the second round in 2019, then in the semifinals the next season (2021), this particular rematch turns the tables.
2022 Division III football playoff bracket
It's unusual not just in that it's the first one being played outside of Alliance, Ohio. It's also now a flipping of the old paradigm. Suddenly it's North Central, playing in the Stagg Bowl for the third consecutive time, that is the program with all the Stagg Bowl experience, while Mount Union hasn't played in the game since 2018, and hasn't won it since 2017.
This edition of the podcast is sponsored by the hosts of Stagg Bowl XLIX, and we look forward to seeing all of you in Annapolis, Maryland, for the Division III football championship game on Dec. 16.
We sit down for a long postgame conversation with North Central's Brad Spencer after his team's win against Mary Hardin-Baylor. And we don't, or can't, with Mount Union's Geoff Dartt. We certainly try, and we try multiple times a year, and we'll talk more about that. Meanwhile, we'll hear from the Mount Union coach and players solely via the team's postgame news conference.
Plus, we take reader questions, one from a reader who isn't satisfied merely to have his team win, but questions why people didn't pick North Central to win by more. (The answer is simple, and we'll give it to you on the podcast.) And another prompts a good discussion of which games on North Central's and Mount Union's schedule provide the best opportunity to gain insight on how this week's game will be played. 
This is the first of three podcasts to come this week. The next will drop Friday morning and preview the Stagg Bowl, and the following one will drop on Saturday morning and give our breakdown of the game, plus our rationale as to why we chose whomever we end up choosing as our Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Coach of the Year.
Pat Coleman and Greg Thomas talk about it all in the latest D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast. The D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast is a regular conversation covering the wide range of Division III football.
The post ATN Podcast 324: The Road to Annapolis is complete appeared first on D3football.com » D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast.