Group of Five, mid-majors…whatever you call them, these smaller DI schools are rapidly catching up to their Power Five (er, Four?) competitors.

In general, the most elite competition and the deepest pockets can be found at DI schools, scaling down through DII and DIII. But the biggest difference lies in the DII and DIII divide: Unlike in DI and DII, DIII athletes aren’t eligible for athletic scholarships. That means they’re playing purely out of love of the game (and possibly NIL money, of course).

The Power Five conference has been looking for a new media rights deal for over a year now and in the meantime, schools are dropping out of its ranks like flies.

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before — a new study published yesterday exposes the pay and investment gaps in women’s sports and shines a light on the need for more sponsors in the industry.

Today, thanks to the writers over at our college sports newsletter, we’re diving into name, image, and likeness (NIL) and its effect on college sports.

In an exclusive interview with The GIST, UChicago’s Rachael Hewson Grotts, who earned her M.S. in Post-Professional Athletic Training at a DI school before her current DIII stint, spoke about how a school’s resources directly affect players’ lives.

Not to sound like a broken record, but NIL regulations (or the lack thereof) created a whole host of new challenges for athletic departments, and keeping up can feel like a never-ending game of whack-a-mole.

But it’s not just the head coach (HC) leading these squads — for many teams, there’s a whole crew supporting the skipper, and graduate assistants do most of the grunt work.

Welcome to another edition of summer school Q&A!