What causes a D3 program to be weak?

twotex,

Great question. D3 is incredibly diverse, so you have some programs that practice year round and others that don't. After some thought I think the question could be broader to include any college baseball program at any level. I can come up with a laundry list of items: academic demands, coaching, recruiting, funding and priorities. Frankly, D3 baseball is not a priority for most D3 schools nor is it for some D1, D2 and NAIA schools. Some schools are moving to the self funded model which could change this considerably.

Then there is the whole admissions process. Some schools require you to get admitted on your own academic merits. So, the coach is at the mercy of Admission. It seems to me that the longer tenured coaches know how to work the system to their advantage, and work with Admissions. We had several D3 head coaches tell us early on in the recruiting that he had very little control over the Admissions process. A true statement on the surface. However, later we learned he did not have control but he had some influence. I know that is semantics, but those are some of the discussions we had.....and they were all with very tenured head coaches in successful D3 programs.

Some D3 programs are weak because the college doesn't invest any money into the program. We visited a college where my son's reaction to the field was, "This would be the worst field in our (high school) conference." If the coach is on his own financially to recruit, his recruiting is going to be minimal. Some D3's don't even have full time coaches. I read about one where the head coach is the manager of a CVS. Retail management is very time consuming.

twotex,
What a great question!
Certainly there are going be generalities. Which do and do not apply to specific programs will vary.
Our experience is the end result is a reflection of a dynamic involving the views and actions of the Administration, admissions, the ability and influence of the AD and baseball coach, and, finally, the performance of the student athlete in the classroom first and on the baseball diamond second, as a reflection of the University/College. At times it might, to some extent, involve the conference affiliation, also. The new SAA breaking away from the SCAC and the College president who was leader of the break away could be an illustration.
I don't think the AD can be underestimated here in any way. They are the liason to the Administration for budget, budget responsibility and creating the view/window through which athletics can be seen and measured by the Administration and Board of Trustees.
In addition, they are hiring anywhere from 14 coaches at some schools to upwards of 35 or so at a few. The ability of the AD to select, support, oversee and foster good coaching is not an accident, I don't believe. It is a remarkable skill.
Using Stanford at the DI level as great illustration, they hired Bob Bowlsby from Iowa. Bowlsby hired Harbaugh in football from the nonDI/non BCS University of San Diego, a move many questioned. That choice turned the Pac10/12 floundering program into a National power.
The same happens at DIII's. AD's at DIII's make those types of decisions all the time but on a less public scale. The ability of an AD to sift through the massive list of candidates who will apply for most any DIII baseball job and select the right coach to be successful is a skill and talent not to be underestimated. Appreciating good choices are not always made isn't hard. It is a very real fact in college baseball at any level. As a parent, knowing or realizing a less than optimal hiring choice was made is not easy, for sure.
Take a look at the history of Trinity University, as I know it is a school with which you are familiar.. Their DIII program was floundering in mediocrity through the early to mid 1990's. At that point, Bob King was hired as the AD, and brought a model premised on Emory University. He has made remarkable coaching hires in all 18 sports and done that over and over again.
In some aspects, tradition can be added in either direction. At a program like Marietta, wearing that jersey is carrying a tradition and the responsibility of winning. At other programs, losing becomes a habit and the mind set of everyone involved becomes a reflection.
When all is said and done, however, I think the "causes" are fundamentally rooted in the Administration, AD and admissions. For those which view student athletes as a positive aspect/reflection of their college/University, and the students graduate, do well in the classroom and on the field, sports like baseball can be successful, if the right decisions are made on personnel.
Where those at the top don't perform well, view performance on the field with indifference or, sometimes, disdain, or players don't perform well in the classroom, graduate, or do what is needed to be a positive reflection of the baseball opportunity provided, those factors can be among the "causes" of a weak program.

This is a very interesting discussion.

Great question and responses...

I look at Ohio and wonder why they are consistently producing D3 programs at the very top. I look at Wooster and Heidelberg, for example, and these are two schools that are literally located out in the corn fields. Location is certainly not an advantage and neither is the weather. You look at the coaches and you see the young coach at Heidelberg who may be one of the very best yet played for the long time coach at Wooster. To me, the obvious conclusion is that it is the coaches who are making these programs happen. These are fine liberal arts schools no doubt but the kids they are getting there are going there for baseball imho.

I think Ohio recruiting is fertile for D3 recruiters because you aren't going to get a lot of D1 and D2 coaches traveling here to recruit. Sure, if an Ohio kid travels somewhere and wows the coach that will open an opportunity but I think the D3 coaches can recruit better players (raw with upside) who might be missed by bigger programs.

Marietta is in class by themselves. They produce professional talent as well as compete for the national championship each year. Again, Marietta is no resort destination. Their program was started by one of the most legendary D3 coaches of all time in Don Schally and it has continued under a disciple of Schally's in Coach Brewer who has now won two national titles in the last half dozen years.

Each of these programs have been in the top 20 if not much higher for the last 5 years and I think the unmistakable conclusion is who is coaching them. Yes the AD gets credit for hiring them but without these type of coaches, these programs would not be close to where they are now.