Saint Francis University, whose men’s basketball team lost last week in the First Four of the men’s NCAA Tournament, announced Tuesday that the Red Flash’s entire athletic department will move from Division I to D-III over the next four academic years.
“Rather than fighting against the headwinds and logistics that make being a small school in the NCAA Division I unsustainable, our Board of Trustees made the bold move to place our students’ academic success and well-being first,” the school said on a webpage outlining its decision.
A current member of the Northeast Conference (NEC), Saint Francis will remain D-I for 2025-26 before commencing a three-year transition period to full D-III acceptance by 2029-30, when it will join the Presidents’ Athletic Conference. By 2027-28, it will no longer be providing athletic scholarships.
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Among the other benefits of the transition cited by the school is the reduction in travel distances, cutting the average driving time for away competitions from nearly six hours to just over two hours.
Saint Francis’ president, the Very Rev. Malachi Van Tassell, acknowledged in a statement that the transition “may be stressful” and that the institution is “very proud of our Division I history and success.”
The men’s basketball program, which captured the NEC title this season, secured only its second NCAA Tournament appearance in school history and its first since 1991. The Red Flash’s remarkable run ended with a narrow 70-68 loss to fellow No. 16 seed Alabama State, sealed by a last-second layup.
As a private institution, Saint Francis does not publicly disclose its athletic revenue or financial expenditures, which are shared annually with the NCAA. However, in less-precise data provided to the Department of Education, in compliance with the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act, the school reported a total athletic department budget of $17.3 million, approximately half of which was allocated to athletic-related student aid.
According to the school’s most recent tax return, for the fiscal year ending in June 2023, head men’s basketball coach Rob Krimmel earned $170,050 in base compensation while head football coach Chris Villarrial, the former NFL player, received $179,641.
The Catholic university, located in Loretto, Pa., currently sponsors 22 athletic teams and has announced its intention to maintain all of them for the 2025-26 season.
Saint Francis is expected to be the first in a wave of smaller D-I schools that decide to drop down in response to the financial challenges of the revenue-sharing era. However, at the moment, its move stands in contrast with the recent trend of Division II and Division III schools—such as St. Thomas, Lindenwood, East Texas A&M and Southern Indiana—making the jump to Division I.
Saint Francis conference rival Chicago State, which joined the NEC in 2024, has decided to take the opposite approach to solidifying its precarious athletic future by doubling down on its commitment. The cash-strapped school is in the process of adding a football program that will compete in the Football Championship Subdivision by 2026.
In 2017, the University of Idaho made the then-unprecedented step of dropping its Division I athletic program from the Football Bowl Subdivision to FCS, in what some experts predicted would spark a broader trend. However, other schools did not follow suit, highlighting the enduring appeal of big-time college athletics, even at institutions that struggle to compete at the highest level. However, with the anticipated approval of the House v. NCAA settlement, which will enable schools to pay up to $21 million to their athletes next year, it seems like Saint Francis will not be the last to retrench.
