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).

Just as our Friday newsletter hit your inbox, the college sports landscape as we know it unraveled: A conference realignment bomb exploded, and we’re here to parse through the pieces with you. There are still a ton of questions to be addressed and a near-guarantee of more bombshell headlines, so buckle up — who knows where the Power Five will be by the time you finish scrolling!

About 3,500 (!!!) women across 83 Division I, II, and III gymnastics programs will compete this winter for both individual glory and the single cross-division team natty.

Gymnastics is one of the few college sports where the gals are granted more of the spotlight — and that may be due to the achingly few NCAA men’s teams: There are just 15 NCAA men’s gymnastics teams (12 DI and three DIII) in existence today.

Collegiate gymnastics won’t start, ahem, meet-ing until January, but NCAAers also competing at the sport’s elite level are gearing up for a big year as the clock ticks closer to next summer’s Paris Olympics.

The No. 1 USA Softball WNT — with an entire roster of current NCAA athletes — will compete in the Japan All-Star Series this weekend.

If soccer and ice hockey had a baby, it would probably look like field hockey (or, as many collegiate players call it, fockey).

The NCAA sponsors 34 coed and nine women’s programs across the three divisions, all competing for the same national championship.

Channel your inner Regina George and grab your lacrosse stick because this spring sport has exploded in popularity over the last decade, spreading from its East Coast roots to the Big Ten’s Midwest and beyond.

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.