I am sure many students and faculty have been well aware of the ongoing decision process to grant Spring Hill College full membership of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II. We can now confirm another step in this membership process. According to the Department of Athletics, Spring Hill has been notified some news this week from the NCAA.
Spring Hill has been granted an additional year in the Provisional Membership (Year Three) process. Essentially, Spring Hill is repeating the previous year, which was supposed to be the final year of the membership process.
In short, during this year (2017-18), all 16 varsity Spring Hill teams will still not be eligible for conference championships or NCAA postseason play. It was believed that last spring SHC had lost Provisional Membership, however, the college currently has its Provisional Membership back.
This will be a significantly vital school year for SHC athletics due to upcoming events. The NCAA will conduct another on-site visit to SHC this fall. The college will then submit another membership application in May 2018. Lastly, the NCAA will finally announce the outcome of the full membership advancement for NCAA Division II in July 2018. If all goes well and accordingly, SHC could very well be a full member of the NCAA with no limitations beginning in the 2018-19 school year.
I am completely understanding of the initial process to move Spring Hill College from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), which was our previous athletic association, to the NCAA. This transition process entails for Spring Hill to be ineligible in conference championships and NCAA postseason play for three years. However, it’s a major letdown to the students and athletes that the NCAA asked us to repeat Candidacy Membership (Year Two), resulting in a four-year inactive transition opposed to three. It is in the hands of the Division II Management Council to approve or revoke our recommendation of full membership.
Personally, this transition process has been tough on me. I transferred to Spring Hill in 2015 to play baseball for the Badgers. When I came in, I was told that we would be ineligible for conference championships and postseason play for the time I’d be playing here. That was really difficult to cope with, as it was for all student-athletes during that time.
My first two years attending Spring Hill were incredible for Badgers athletics and even better within the last three years. The softball team had an outstanding record of 59-2 between the 2015 and 2017 seasons in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC). The baseball team had a successful three seasons from 2015 to 2017, combining in a 51-7 record in the SIAC. The volleyball team accomplished a remarkable 37-1 record in SIAC play during the 2015-16 seasons.
It wouldn’t do justice to forget softball’s Caroline Sagrera winning the SIAC Starting Pitcher of the Year Award in 2016 and Alison Sellers-Cook winning softball’s 2016 SIAC Coach of the Year Award. In baseball, Alex Jones winning the 2016 SIAC Player of the Year, NCAA DII All-America – 1st Team, NCAA DII District 5, and getting picked up by the Major League Baseball (MLB) Miami Marlins professional farm system, as well as Sean Bretz winning the 2017 SIAC Starting Pitcher of the Year.
My point is having such dominant “dynasties” in athletics at Spring Hill should be rewarded with the opportunity for these student-athletes to compete in conference championships and NCAA postseason play. It’s ridiculous that some of our athletic teams go undefeated in conference play all season but can’t win a conference championship. While Spring Hill is currently accredited, SACS has yet to reaffirm it for the next 10 years. SACS will decide to reaffirm or not to reaffirm Spring Hill’s accreditation by December 2017. As previously noted, if all goes accordingly, we will likely become a member of the NCAA beginning in the 2018-19 school year.