This is part of an ongoing series covering various college realignment news for all three NCAA Divisions as well as the NAIA. The roundup below will cover news and reports since May 17, 2025, and provide updates on previously discussed topics. As a reminder, all official moves starting with the 2025-26 academic year can be found here. We’ll break out the reports for each Division in the following order: Division 1, Division 2, Division 3, and NAIA. Clicking the links will bring you to that specific section. If a division is not highlighted, there has been no news since the most recent post.
NCAA Division 1 News
College Football Playoff Makes Seeding Changes
It took all of one season before the College Football Playoff changed how it seeds teams. The CFP previously awarded the first four seeds to the top four conference champions. The new model, effective with the 2025 season, will simply rank the teams from 1 to 12, regardless of whether the team won a conference championship. This means that Notre Dame will now be able to receive a first round bye if it makes the top four seeds, something it was ineligible for in the previous model. The four highest-ranked conference champions will still receive $8 million that was previously agreed to under the old model.
Opinion: While not directly related to realignment, this change was inevitable, especially against the backdrop of further playoff expansion. I see both sides of this change: on one hand, the previous system was more beneficial to teams not in the Power 4 conferences, giving them a reward if they were one of the top 4 conference champions. On the other hand, ranking the teams 1 to 12 is a simple solution for a playoff bracket. The old format was never going to work long term, especially with the Big Ten and SEC looking to set up a de facto duopoly in a 16-team playoff. Those two conferences are likely to have a combined 8 automatic bids, followed by the ACC and Big 12 at 2 apiece, 1 for the Group of 6 (when the Pac-12 comes back in 2026-27), and 5 at-large bids. Realignment was fueled by the need for more money, hence the College Football Playoff and its further expansion.
Two Schools Cut Sports, Pacific Adds 4 Sports
The week of change included two non-tennis cuts from Purdue University Fort Wayne (Fort Wayne, Indiana): baseball and softball. The Mastodons were facing a $6 million budget cut, and cutting these 2 sports will save the school about $1 million annually. Both teams competed in the Horizon League, which now has 5 baseball teams in 2025-26 and 7 softball teams. Northern Illinois will join the Horizon League in most sports in 2026-27 to give the league 6 baseball and 8 softball teams. The Horizon League is also losing Cleveland State in softball starting in the 2025-26 academic year.
Stephen F. Austin (Nacogdoches, Texas) is discontinuing four sports: men’s and women’s golf, women’s bowling, and women’s beach volleyball. The school said the cuts were made to “strengthen the department’s financial position”. The bowling team was an affiliate member of Conference USA while the other three were in the Southland Conference. C-USA will have 8 bowling teams next season. Southland will have 8 beach volleyball members (maybe 7 if Boise State moves its team elsewhere like the MPSF), men’s golf will have 9 teams, and women’s golf will have 7.
The University of the Pacific (Stockton, California) has announced a handful of new sports and offerings. The school will add men’s cross country and men’s track, along with men’s and women’s diving programs. Pacific will also expand the field portion of the women’s track & field program. Pacific is a member of the West Coast Conference (WCC), which doesn’t sponsor all of the new sports. Men’s cross country will be in the WCC, giving them 9 members in 2025-26. The current swimming programs compete in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) while the track & field programs compete as independents. The WCC doesn’t sponsor track & field, with most members opting to be independent or compete as an affiliate of the MPSF.
Oklahoma Cuts Athletic Staff
If the sports cuts weren’t already enough indication of budget constraints, then the move by Oklahoma should really make it clear. OU will cut 5% of its athletic staff and athletic director Joe Castiglione will cut his salary. The House settlement. likely to be approved in the next week, will allow schools to share as much as $20.5 million in revenue with student-athletes starting with the new academic year on July 1, 2025. If SEC schools are making moves like these, imagine the discussions going on at smaller schools where multiple sports are likely to be axed. Don’t expect the sports cuts to end any time soon as the actual financial implications of the House settlement become clear.
NCAA Division 2 News
Concordia University Irvine (Irvine, California) will discontinue four sports: men’s and women’s swimming & diving and men’s and women’s tennis. The swimming and diving programs competed in the Pacific Collegiate Swim and Dive Conference (PCSC) while the tennis teams were in the Pacific West Conference (Pac West). While the Pac West has been hit hard with tennis losses, losing 7 total men’s and women’s programs, it still boasts a healthy membership. The men’s side will have 9 teams while the women’s side will have 13.
Fort Valley State University (Fort Valley, Georgia) announced it was discontinuing men’s and women’s tennis beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. Both teams competed in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC), which will be down to 5 men’s and 7 women’s programs. FVSU said the changes were made due to budget constraints, which is a recurring theme for all levels of college athletics.
NCAA Division 3 News
Mary Baldwin University (Staunton, Virginia) will suspend its men’s and women’s tennis programs for the 2025-26 academic year. The school cited low numbers of players and left the door open to bring the teams back if the roster numbers improve. Both teams competed in the USA South Athletic Conference, which will have 6 men’s and 7 women’s members. Tennis is being hard hit in the realignment world, with 34 programs being dropped compared to just 12 being added next academic year.
Meredith College (Raleigh, North Carolina) will add a women’s flag football team beginning with the 2026-27 academic year. Meredith did not provide a conference affiliation in its press release. They are the first member of the USA South Athletic Conference to add the sport at either a varsity or club level. 74 NCAA and NAIA schools will be adding flag football for the next two academic years, making it the most popular program for schools to add.
Penn State Closes 7 Campuses, D3 Schools Not Impacted
The Pennsylvania State University Commonwealth system announced the closure of 7 campuses, although none were members of NCAA Division 3. The DuBois, Fayette, Mont Alto, New Kensington, Shenango, Wilkes-Barre, and York campuses will close after the 2026-27 academic year. All 7 were members of the Penn State University Athletic Conference (PSUAC) of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA). The NCAA D3 campuses of Abington (United East), Altoona (AMCC), Berks (United East), Behrend (AMCC), Brandywine (United East), and Harrisburg (United East) will continue to operate as previously reported in February.
NAIA News
River States, Mid-South Conferences Will Look for New Commissioners
The River States Conference will begin the search for a new commissioner following the unfortunate passing of Michael Schell, who succumbed to cancer earlier this week. Schell took over as commissioner in March 2018 and had to navigate quite a bit of realignment. He oversaw the additions of Oakland City University in 2020, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College in 2021, Shawnee State in 2023, and Indiana University Columbus in 2023. Kentucky Christian is set to join for the 2025-26 academic year as well. Cincinnati Christian (2019) and Ohio Valley (2021) both closed while Asbury (2021), Carlow (2023), Point Park (2024), and Ohio Christian (2024) all left the NAIA to join the NCAA, except for Ohio Christian, which joined the NCCAA. The River States Conference will have 13 members located in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia.
The Mid-South Conference will also be searching for a commissioner after Eric Leach resigned on May 14. Associate Commissioner Chris Wells is taking over on an interim basis until the next commissioner is named. Leach began as Mid-South commissioner on July 1, 2023, and came on board as five schools were departing the MSC. Pikeville left for the Appalachian, Shawnee State left for the River States, Tennessee Southern joined the Southern States, Thomas More joined the NCAA D2’s Great Midwest, and Wilberforce joined the CAC and later the HBCUAC. The Mid-South has seven full members located in Kentucky and Tennessee.
UNOH Cuts Tennis, St. Thomas Adds Bowling Team
The long list of tennis cuts extended to the NAIA as well with the University of Northwestern Ohio (Lima, Ohio) announcing it will discontinue men’s and women’s tennis after this academic year. Both teams competed in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC), which announced earlier this year that it would stop sponsoring the sport starting with the 2025-26 academic year. For those keeping track, Aquinas College (MI), Cornerstone University (MI), and Indiana Tech announced the discontinuation of their programs in January. Concordia (MI) is discontinuing all athletics at the end of the academic year. Lawrence Tech (MI) plans to compete as an independent in 2025-26, while Lourdes University (OH) has not announced its plan for the tennis programs.
St. Thomas University (Miami Gardens, Florida) is adding a men’s bowling team for the 2025-26 academic year. The school did not say where the team would compete. St. Thomas is only the second NCAA or NAIA school to add a men’s bowling team after NCAA D3 school Greenville University (Illinois). The majority of bowling changes have been on the women’s side, which has seen six additions and three cuts.
Overall Tennis Cuts
Even before this week of cuts, tennis had seen plenty of programs shuttered. Across the NCAA and NAIA, 36 tennis programs won’t return for the 2025-26 academic year while 12 will be added. This week lobbed tennis from the second most discontinued sport to the top spot ahead of soccer. The chart below shows the five most discontinued sports for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 academic years. Basketball, baseball, and softball cuts are mainly due to schools closing or dropping athletics, but not always as noted with Purdue Fort Wayne earlier this week. Tennis and soccer are also impacted by the same issue, but a lot of schools are dropping those sports altogether, particularly tennis.
Photo by Josephine Gasser on Unsplash