Did You Know?

In the UMAC

  • The UMAC placed a conference-best six teams in the Learfield Directors' Cup Division III final standings in 2018-19.
  • The 2017-18 academic year marked the 10th year of Division III membership for the UMAC.
  • The UMAC sponsors 17 conference championships and 18 conference team champions are recognized annually.
  • Nearly 20 percent of UMAC students participate in athletics.
  • The UMAC recognized a record 968 student-athletes with academic all-conference awards in 2017-18.
  • Casey Hovland of St. Scholastica won the NCAA Division III Elite 90 Award for having the highest GPA at the 2017 NCAA Division III Women's Cross Country Championships.
  • In 2016-17, the UMAC had five student-athletes earn CoSIDA Academic All-America honors.
  • Two UMAC student-athletes have earned NCAA postgraduate scholarships since the UMAC became a Division III member conference. 
  • The UMAC became the first conference in the history of the NCAA to earn the NCAA Sportsmanship Award for Division III in two consecutive years (2009-10, 2010-11). 
  • Krista (Stoltz) Bellefeuille of Northwestern volleyball was a 2014 NCAA Woman of the Year Top 9 finalist. 
  • Greenville (UMAC associate member) alum Nicholas Morrow was signed by the NFL's Oakland Raiders and played consistently in 2017, 2018 and 2019. 
  • Four UMAC teams have reached the Round of 16 in the NCAA tournament in the last fove years including three-straight appearances by Northwestern volleyball and a semifinal appearance in 2016.
  • Two UMAC institutions have hosted a total of three NCAA regional tournaments in the last threeseasons (Northwestern volleyball, 2016, 2017; St. Scholastica baseball 2018). 
  • In 2016, the UMAC had its first-ever regionally-ranked football program in the West Region (Northwestern), and in 2017 two UMAC volleyball teams were ranked in the Central Region in the same week (Northwestern, Minnesota Morris).
  • During 2017-18, eight UMAC administrators and coaches served on NCAA Division III committees.  
     

NCAA Division III: Reasons to Believe

  • Three quarters of all student-athletes in Division III receive some sort of grant, financial aid, or non-athletic scholarship.
  • Division III has a higher number and wider variety of athletic opportunities on average than any other division in the NCAA.
  • Division III playing seasons and eligibility standards minimize conflicts between athletics and academics, allowing student-athletes to focus on his or her academic progress and the achievement of a degree.
  • Division III athletic departments place special importance on the overall student-athlete experience.
  • As a part of the Division III philosophy, Division III institutions assure that student-athletes are not treated differently from other members of the student body.
  • Division III offers an intense and competitive athletics environment for student-athletes who play for the love of the game, without the obligation of an athletics scholarship.
  • The integration of athletics with the larger institution enables Division III student-athletes to experience all aspects of campus life, such as music programs, theater, and student government.
  • Division III encourages student-athletes to take advantage of the many opportunities available to them, both within and beyond athletics, so that they may develop their full potential as students, athletes, and citizens.