Why do colleges choose to join the NAIA?
The NAIA is sports played the right way.
In the NAIA its is truly about academics, student experience and
athletic experience. In that order. If you look at the regional US
News rankings, you will see the top positions dominated by NAIA
members.
But more importantly, the NAIA doesn't have the rules the NCAA
does. For instance, a coach can work with athletes all year. Where
as in the NCAA, they only have a certain number of practices. Thus
a coach becomes a life influence.
NAIA games, matches and meets are drastically different. The
level of sportsmanship during high level, intense competition is
wonderful. Truely, the NAIA athletes have tremendous respect for
each other DURING and after the game.
But mainly, it comes down to Character. Very few NCAA athletic
programs recruit on character, rather DIII recruits for enrollment
reasons, DII athletic staffs see it as a stepping stone and are
driven to succeed at all cost, and DI is about money.
NAIA is the way it should be. People coaching and playing
because they love it.