Farewell, old friends

Jul 06, 2024
Elizabeth Singleton lifted Clarks Summit women's basketball to new heights a couple seasons before the University closed.
 Clarks Summit athletics file photo

Note: This story has been updated to include Texas-Dallas' approval to leave Division III and join Division II. 


By Gordon Mann, D3hoops.com

This week the calendar quietly flipped to the beginning of the 2024-25 athletic season.

July 1 marks the start of the new academic year, and we’re grinding through preparations for the next Division III basketball season. This time of year we create about 1,000 individual pages for each conference and team (men and women) that populate our schedule and scoreboards.

As we move teams to their new conference homes, we’re also removing some from our public facing pages entirely because they’re no longer members of Division III. You’ll still be able to access the team pages from prior seasons, but you won’t find team pages for Birmingham-Southern, Cabrini, Clarks Summit, Defiance, Eastern Nazarene, or Texas-Dallas on our conference or region pages any longer.

Before we file these programs into our archives, we wanted to acknowledge what each of them brought to the Division III landscape. Riley Zayas already chronicled the final game for Cabrini men’s basketball that finished a few points shy of a national championship in 2012. The Cabrini women unfortunately had to shutter their program before last season started due to lack of players.

Here are the other programs to whom we bid farewell.

Birmingham-Southern College

Birmingham-Southern’s long struggle to stay open ended in late March when the College announced it would cease operations at the end of May.

College leadership announced its decision after the Alabama State House of Representatives decided against amending a loan program that the school needed for a financial lifeline.

If you follow Division III baseball, you know what happened next. The Birmingham-Southern baseball team went on a remarkable run from the middle of the pack in its own conference through the NCAA Tournament and into the Division III College World Series, before losing to UW-Whitewater 11-10 on a walk-off homerun.

The Panthers’ best seasons in Division III men’s basketball came shortly after the program transitioned to this level from Division I. In its first season as a full member of Division III, Birmingham-Southern opened the 2011-12 season ranked No. 22 and rose as high as No. 8 on the strength of a 24-1 regular season record. Despite getting upset at home by Centre in the SCAC semifinals, the Panthers received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and finished the season ranked No. 21. Chris Graves took home South Region Coach of the Year honors and Zac Richards (now head coach at Huntingdon) was a third-team selection.

BSC returned to the Big Dance in 2016 when the Panthers swept through the SAA regular season and won the conference tournament. The Panthers edged LaGrange in the first round and then lost at No. 25 Emory. Alex Avery and Graves garnered SAA Player of the Year and Coach of the Year awards respectively.

The 2015-16 season was also the apex for Birmingham-Southern women’s basketball. Under head coach Mike Ricks, the Panthers started the season 11-0 and finished in a first-place tie in the SAA with Milsaps. BSC topped the Majors 52-42 in the conference title game behind Tournament MVP Jasmynn Batts and then she scored 21 more in the Panthers’ NCAA Tournament opening round victory over Lynchburg. Later BSC adopted Grinnell’s System offense, and the Panthers scored and surrendered a lot of points, depending on the opponent.  

The SAA will drop from eight to seven basketball members this season and then will return to eight members in 2025-26 when Hendrix departs and Trinity (Texas) and Southwestern arrive from the SCAC.

Wells College

Shortly before the academic year ended, Wells College announced its closure due to financial problems. The Aurora, New York-based school is the second AMCC member to close its doors in two years following Cazenovia.

Conference membership for basketball will drop to nine schools, still comfortably above the threshold needed for automatic bids, though the AMCC’s center of gravity continues to shift south. Hilbert and Alfred State are now the only members left north of the PA-NY border.

On the court, the Wells men had their most successful season two years into their existence as a Division III program. In 2009-10, the Express went 21-7 and Darrell Bullock and Juan Paulino were named to the All-East Region team.

The Wells women were also relative newcomers to Division III with their first season played in 2010-11.  The Express women went 19-9 and won the NEAC in 2013-14, which led to a first round NCAA Tournament game against eventual national champion FDU-Florham. Ashley Roser was first-team All-Region as a senior and posted 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in her career.  

Eastern Nazarene College

Even farther into the offseason, Eastern Nazarene announced its closure due to financial difficulties.

In announcing its closure, the College described the decision as the culmination of “a multi-year process dating back to 2017…[during which] the Board and multiple presidents have pursued numerous alternatives to closure, including merging with another institution, aggressive fundraising initiatives, and innovating to broaden ENC’s student base.” ENC had less than 500 students enrolled during the 2021-22 school year according to the US Department of Education.

ENC’s closure coincides with Morrisville State, SUNY Canton, and SUNYIT leaving the North Atlantic Conference (NAC). That leaves 10 basketball schools in the NAC, assuming the SUNY Delhi women return to the court this season, but just three in the Conference’s Western Division for women’s basketball and two for men’s basketball.

We assume the NAC will either drop the divisional format or reallocate members from the East. With Maine-Presque Isle to the extreme east, the NAC spans over 650 miles that are difficult to navigate in the winter.

  • Eastern Nazarene team pages: Men | Women

Most of Eastern Nazarene’s success in men’s basketball predates our website. All but one of ENC’s top 10 all-time scoring leaders finished their career before 1988. The Lions’ best run during the D3hoops era occurred from 2012 through 20216. ENC went 77-28 and 50-22 in the CCC over that four-year period. In 2013-14, head coach Jim Aller led the Lions to a 22-5 record and a memorable CCC tournament semifinal battle with Endicott. The Lions fell 67-60 in overtime despite 28 points from Jaylen Owens and 25 rebounds from Alex Jarman.

The Lions came roaring into Division III women’s basketball in 1997 and immediately started challenging for the CCC title. The Lions won the CCC women’s championship in 2000 and became ENC’s first team to reach the NCAA playoffs. Playing for CCC respect, ENC received a bye in the first round of the 50-team tournament and then upset Richard Stockton 66-63 to reach the Sweet 16, before falling to Rowan in the sectional semifinals.

ENC women’s basketball also had success under head coach Sacha Santimano when the Lions competed in the now-defunct New England Collegiate Conference (NECC). The Lions went 67-22, 31-7 in conference, from 2018 through 2022. ENC narrowly missed another trip to the Big Dance in 2019-20 when the Lions went 21-4 and lost to New England College 84-81 in the NECC title game. Stevie Orton, who was named third-team All-Region that season, scored 23 points and grabbed eight rebounds in 27 minutes. Courtney Barba also garnered all-region honors in 2020-21.

While ENC is done playing Division III basketball, the school’s legacy lives on here at D3hoops. Around the Nation columnist Ryan Scott is a 2003 ENC graduate who fell in love with Division III basketball during the Lions’ 2000 NCAA Tournament run.           

Clarks Summit University

Within a week of Eastern Nazarene’s closure, Clarks Summit made a similar announcement.

The Board of Trustees and employees have worked to overcome the most recent challenges and have exhausted every viable solution to bridge a significant financial gap. Despite all efforts, the financial gap remains.

Due to these financial circumstances, Clarks Summit University’s Board of Trustees has made the difficult and painful decision to begin the process of closure.

Like ENC, Clarks Summit was a member of a very large Division III conference. Even without CSU, the UEC will have 16 members for women’s basketball and 14 for men’s basketball, at least for now. Keystone, which is also located in Northeast Pennsylvania, is struggling to stay open.

Clarks Summit’s best season in women’s basketball came just a couple of years ago when the Defenders defeated Keystone for the 2022 Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) title. CSU went 23-5 that season despite basically using just six players. Elizabeth Singleton, who was twice named a Josten’s Trophy finalist, played an astounding 1,007 minutes out of 1,120 possible over 28 games.

You have to go farther back for Clarks Summit’s top seasons in men’s basketball, back to when the school was called Baptist Bible College. Under head coach Mike Snow, the Defenders posted a handful of 20-win seasons, including back-to-back seasons in 2004-05 and 2005-06 when they went a combined 45-13. Baptist Bible even made the 2008 NCAA Tournament with an 18-10 record, losing to eventual national semifinalist Ursinus in the first round.

We’re keeping our eye on Fontbonne which announced it will close at the end of the upcoming academic year. Time will tell if the Griffins have enough players to suit for one more season of Division III basketball. 

Two programs are leaving Division III, but not athletics altogehter.

University of Texas-Dallas

Texas-Dallas is headed to NCAA Division II, following the lead of former D3 members Sul Ross State and Texas-Tyler in the Lone Star State Conference.  

University president Richard Benson cited the school’s size as a factor in its decision to go to D2. “As we continue to rise in size and stature as a university, we’ve recognized for some time how our place in smaller-school Division III athletics is an anomaly among our peers,” Benson said in the release announcing the move last July. The university reports its enrollment at 31,000 students.

Texas-Dallas’ departure is part of the exodus of programs from the ASC, which will have just four members after LeTourneau, Concordia (Texas), McMurry, and University of the Ozarks move to the SCAC.

Both Texas-Dallas’ basketball programs enjoyed a lot of success in Division III.

The Texas-Dallas men won 394 games under former head coach Terry Butterfield before he retired in October 2023. Butterfield came to Richardson, Texas after 11 seasons at Virginia Wesleyan and turned the Comets into one of the top programs in the ASC. Texas-Dallas won four ASC titles and reached the NCAA Tournament multiple times, including Sweet 16 appearances in 2009 and 2014, when Kyle Schleigh earned All-American honors for the second straight season. The Comets fittingly finished their Division III tenure with another ASC title and reached the second round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament by upsetting Trinity (Texas).

On the women’s side, Texas-Dallas had eleven 20-win seasons after 2008-09, including last season when they went 20-6. The Comets were especially good under former head coach Polly Thomason (now head coach at D3 provisional member Hartford) who went 327-126 in 17 seasons. In 2014-15, Texas-Dallas won 26 games and reached the Sweet 16, garnering South Region Coach of the Year honors for Thomason. Guard Raenett Hughes was the South Region Player of the Year in 2019-20 when she led the Comets to a 23-6 record and another NCAA Tournament appearance.

Defiance College

We bid adieu to Defiance College since the Yellowjackets are leaving the NCAA and returning to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), where Defiance competed prior to 1991.

The college cited the ability to award athletic scholarships and reduced travel time as factors in the move back to the NAIA. Defiance also had more success as NAIA members, including in basketball. The Yellowjackets won 15 men’s basketball conference titles in the NAIA compared to six in the NCAA, most of which were shared titles in the HCAC.

Nevertheless, Defiance also made its mark in Division III men’s basketball. The Yellowjackets scored a major upset in the first round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament when they knocked off defending national champions and 2nd-ranked UW-Whitewater, 83-71. Defiance shot 50 percent from three (12 for 24) with Travis Schomaeker leading the way with 26 points.

Chad Kahle was a second-team All-American for Defiance in 2000, and the program had several noteworthy names as head coaches. Before leading the Guilford men to national prominence, Tom Palombo won 100 games as the Yellowjackets’ men’s coach and 78 more as its women’s coach. Kyle Brumett was a 100-game winner at Defiance before going to Wabash and Hanover head coach Jon Miller had a successful stint with the Yellowjackets.

The Yellowjacket women won two conference titles during their Division III tenure, the first being an MIAA title shared with Calvin in 1999. Defiance had its best season in 2000-01 when it won the HCAC regular season and conference titles and then rolled over Penn State-Behrend in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The HCAC will remain a 10-team conference in basketball since Defiance’s departure is offset by Berea moving from the CCS to the HCAC.