NEW HAVEN — The changes that have affected big-time college athletics so profoundly are inevitably sending ripples in all directions.
At Southern Connecticut State University, a place with a proud basketball tradition in Division II, running the men’s and women’s programs gets more complicated each year.
“It’s helped us and it’s hurting us,” said Scott Burrell, UConn great and NBA vet who has been coaching SCSU’s men since 2015. “Last year, we lost two guys in the transfer portal that went Division I, but you use that in your recruiting now. You have to say, ‘this is an opportunity for you to do well in Division II, prove yourself as a basketball player.’ You’re recruiting kids every year, every year your team is new guys coming in.”
Division II schools were not part of the settlement that has brought revenue sharing to D-1 sports. As for NIL, athletes at SCSU are free to make third-party endorsement deals, but that is obviously a relatively small marketplace.
“I feel like basketball is still a little pure at this level in that sense, which is why I do enjoy this level,” SCSU women’s coach Kate Lynch said. “We don’t deal heavily in any of that. We’re still dealing with being able to get them scholarship money so they can go to school and play basketball.”
Meanwhile, with several New England schools, such as New Haven moving up to mid-major Division I conferences, scheduling gets more difficult, travel more expensive for SCSU. Little by little, Burrell said, that purity is disappearing and money becomes more of a factor. The basketball programs will get a booster shot on Sept. 24, with Southern Hoops Tip-Off Talk, a season-launch event to raise funds for both programs. Organizers are hoping the event, with Geno Auriemma, Donny Marshall and Bill Raftery among the basketball glitterati joining the panel, could double the resources available for Burrell and Lynch to run their teams. Former SCSU and UConn soccer coach Ray Reid, who rejoined Southern, his alma mater, to work in institutional advancement, is a driving force behind the event, which will be at Aria in Prospect beginning at 5:30 p.m. (Go to southernct.edu/hoops-talk for tickets and information.)
SCSU Coach Kate Lynch, long an admirer of Geno Auriemma and UConn women’s basketball, will take her Division II squad to Storrs for an exhibition game Oct. 26. (SCSU Athletics)
“I’m thankful for our panel that’s going to support us,” Lynch said. “This is about our student athletes. Any money raised is going to go directly to our programs for simple things like scholarships, maybe trips in the future — we don’t get to do those things. The very basic things, we need help with. Team gear, training resources, overall to help enhance our student-athlete experiences.”
Despite the changes and challenges, Burrell and Lynch have kept basketball at Southern relevant. Burrell, from nearby Hamden High, one of the great athletes in state history, is most famous for the football pass he threw on the basketball court for UConn, setting up Tate George for his winning shot in the NCAA Round of 16 in the 1990 NCAA Tournament. He went on to play in the NBA, with Michael Jordan on the Bulls’ 1998 championship team. Since coming to SCSU, Burrell has led the Owls to a 155-108 record, two 20-win seasons and three NCAA Tournament appearances. Lynch, who played on Southern’s 2007 Division II national champs, took over the women’s program 13 years ago and has 144 wins, a .545 winning percentage, leading the Owls to the NCAA Tournament in 2025.
“The hardest part now is finding games,” Burrell said. “With budgets being crunched and finding teams in your region to play, it’s getting smaller and smaller. With New Haven leaving us, now we’ve got to find two new teams, and sometimes for your own budget you don’t want to travel (long distances) for Division II basketball, and the teams in your region won’t play you because you might be better than them and they don’t want to take a loss. So finding games is hard.”
Burrell expects Southern will have fewer conference games, now that UNH is out of the Northeast 10, and will have six or eight out of conference opponents, including Post and Bridgeport, the other remaining D-II schools in the state. Lynch believes multiple D-II conferences in the northeast may eventually have to merge
“You just want your college athletes to have a great experience, live a comfortable life and just to compete with others at the Division II level,” Burrell said. “The bare necessities need to be done and taken care of, that’s No. 1, but meals, stay in hotels in long road trips, this is all necessary.”
Dom Amore: UConn has a new tool to navigate trickier college athletics landscape
The event on Sept. 24 will include a meet-and-greet session with Burrell, Lynch, defending national champ Auriemma, who has scheduled a preseason game with Southern Oct. 26, Marshall, who played at UConn and in the NBA and has had a long career in college and NBA broadcasting, Raftery, long-time coach and national TV analyst and Maria Conlon, who played on championship teams for Auriemma and has been a successful high school and college coach. Around the dinner there will be an autograph session, silent auction and panel discussion hosted by George Grande.
“Ray’s done a great job reaching out to all these great people and it’s huge for us. With budgets being cut in Division II, travel is going to cost a lot more. It’s huge for us to raise more money. It’s amazing how many championships will be on that panel and how much you can gain from listening to people who have won, who are great leaders and love the game of basketball, about how they can improve it and keep it going in the right direction.”
Said Lynch: “Coach Auriemma is somebody– I grew up loving his teams and when I went into coaching– he’s somebody I looked up to. To have somebody like that take time out of their schedule to help a Division II program, and the list of of the panel, to give their time, it’s going to bring a spotlight onto Southern.”
Dom Amore’s Sunday Read: After 50 years, ’75 Series still thrills, stings; Memory of Maya, and more
