St. Francis, coming off rough NCAA tourney loss, announces Division III move
A week after suffering a last-second loss in the First Four of the men's NCAA tournament, St. Francis University (Pennsylvania) announced it will be moving its athletics from Division I to Division III.
The decision, made by the university's board of trustees and revealed Tuesday, is set to take effect in the fall of 2026. Officials with the Catholic private school cited the dramatically altered landscape of college sports and travel demands posed by its current membership in the Northeast Conference.
'The governance associated with intercollegiate athletics has always been complicated,' the Very Rev. Joseph Lehman, the board's chairman, said in a statement, 'and is only growing in complexity based on realities like the transfer portal, pay-for-play, and other shifts that move athletics away from love of the game.'
The 'pay-for-play' reference could be in regard to expectations that a settlement will soon be reached in a lawsuit against the NCAA, House v. NCAA, that may result in college athletics programs paying players directly. As it is, the implementation of name, image and likeness (NIL) deals for college athletes has caused some observers to suggest that at least some of them are already de facto 'pay-for-play' arrangements.
The burgeoning financial realities of competing at the Division I level could prompt other schools, particularly ones sharing a relatively small, private profile, to move to a lower tier. Division III has the most schools of the NCAA's tiers and the lowest median undergraduate enrollments. Division III programs are barred from offering athletic scholarships, although many athletes receive academic grants or need-based assistance. In 2023, the University of Hartford began its move from Division I to Division III, a process that takes four years to complete.
St. Francis, which has NIL clubs for several of its athletic programs, has an enrollment of around 2,000 students and competes at the intercollegiate level in eight men's sports: basketball, cross-country, football, golf, soccer, tennis, track and field and volleyball. It has women's teams in basketball, cross-country, field hockey, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, track and field, volleyball and water polo.
Earlier this month, St. Francis won the NEC men's basketball tournament for the first time since 1991. The Red Flash received a No. 16 seed in the NCAA tournament and was selected to play in the First Four against Alabama State. With a berth in the main field at stake, St. Francis was on the verge of sending the game into overtime when the Hornets threw a lengthy inbounds pass that bounced off several hands and found an Alabama State player, who laid the ball in with less than a second to go.
The stunning sequence set off jubilation among Hornets players and fans but provided a heartbreaking experience for the Red Flash. With Tuesday's announcement, the rough loss may also go down as the school's final moment on that prominent of a national stage.
Located in the town of Loretto in the Allegheny Mountains east of Pittsburgh, St. Francis has been a charter member of the NEC since the league's establishment in 1981. Three fellow original members — Fairleigh Dickinson, Long Island University and Wagner — remain and have seen several other programs come and go. The NEC currently has nine schools, with the 2024 addition of Chicago State marking a notable expansion to the west.
Saying Tuesday he and the board have been 'concerned about the student-athlete experience for many years,' the president of St. Francis noted that 'the geography of our conference is huge.'
'Our students travel either to Chicago or to Boston or to points in between,' the Very Rev. Malachi Van Tassell said in a statement. 'That's a lot of time not spent on campus, developing friendships or in the classroom. This change allows our students to be present on campus and lets their friends attend more of their home and away games. This decision is about creating and maintaining community and allowing our student-athletes to thrive in the classroom and their chosen sport.'
The Red Flash will join the Division III Presidents' Athletic Conference, whose members are clustered near the western edge of Pennsylvania or just across the border in Ohio and West Virginia. The league, founded in 1955, currently has 12 members.
'Based on the changes in athletics nationally,' Lehman said, 'it would be a disservice to our student-athletes and athletic department staff not to review and assess how we can best provide the resources necessary for them to be competitive.'
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