School Wide Change
So exactly how did Trinity go from a national force-to-be-reckoned-with to a D3 school that struggles to fill half the seats at all sporting events?
The most obvious answer is the shift in divisions from NCAA division 1 to division 3. The university’s athletics website has a section devoted to history that states “In 1990-91, Trinity athletics underwent a makeover”, referring to the complete switch from D1 to D3 (Trinity University, 2017). While it is hard to say definitively, this may have marked the beginning of the change in Trinity’s sporting culture. The fact of the matter is this, once you fall below the division 2 level it is almost as if the NCAA stops caring about sports. While that may sound like a ludicrous statement, it is not without proof. When you visit the NCAA’s student-athlete benefits page, there are several benefits tailored to division 1 and 2 athletes, while there are literally zero for D3.
There is also a change in "feel" when it comes to D3 schools. The average size of a D3 school is in the 2,000's, while most division 1 schools are closer to 20,000. D3 schools place a higher emphasis on being a student-athlete, and that combined with the shcool size could have led to Trinity making the switch.
While it is true that there are no scholarships at the D3 level, that does not mean that these students have any less passion for the game. This fact is seemingly irrelevant in the eyes of the NCAA however, and as a result division 3 schools and their students have nowhere near the same amount of pride for their athletics programs.