Stevenson announced the appointment of Ed Hottle as coach of its new NCAA Division III football program, confirming a D3football.com report from Tuesday night, Nov. 17. Hottle has been coach at Gallaudet since 2005, compiling a 10-18 in three varsity seasons. He will now work to establish Stevenson's program -- first announced in June -- by recruiting student athletes for a developmental season to start in fall 2010 with the plan of beginning intercollegiate competition in 2011.

“Ed is a significant addition to the Mustang athletics team,” said Paul Cantabene, Associate Director of Athletics in charge of men's sports. “He has demonstrated tremendous drive as a program-builder at Gallaudet. We are confident that he'll lay a strong foundation for our program as well.”

Hottle is a graduate of Frostburg State, where he earned his bachelor's in physical education in 1999 and master's in education in 2001. While at FSU, he began as a football intern with the Bobcats before advancing to defensive line coach (1999-2000). In 2001, he worked as the defensive coordinator/head strength and conditioning coach at Denison, and from 2002 to 2004 served as linebackers/defensive line coach at Wesley. Just prior to his tenure at Gallaudet, Hottle served as head coach at Calvert High School in Prince Frederick, Md. He and his wife Ashley have three children and reside in Lothian, Md.

After two developmental seasons, Hottle led the Bison back into NCAA Division III status in 2007 as the team posted a 2-6 record against varsity competition, including its first varsity win since 1991. That same season Hottle served as the defensive coordinator, with two players ranking nationally in various defensive categories for the first time in Gallaudet's history. In 2009, he was selected by his peers as the Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC) Coach of the Year.

Hottle describes himself as “a firm believer in the fundamentals, discipline, and positive attitude” while focusing on “relentless recruiting and retention.”

“Stevenson is giving me the opportunity to build a program from the ground up, and this is exactly the kind of challenge that motivates me,” he said. “The commitment to principles of Division III athletics here is very strong, and I am truly excited to become part of such a growing university.”

“Ever since we acquired the former Ravens facility for our Owings Mills campus, football seemed like an inevitability for us,” said Kevin J. Manning, president of Stevenson. “Our strong men's and women's programs add vibrancy to our institution and attract students from around the region. Football is a great fit and will draw regional players who want to continue at the university level.”

“It seems like a strange coincidence that just 25 years ago, the Colts left the facility that will now be home to our football program,” Manning said. “You might say that the horses have come back to Owings Mills, this time as Mustangs.”

Nearly 20 years after returning the King's football program to varsity status after a 30-year hiatus, coach Rich Mannello announced his resignation on Monday.

In his 17 varsity seasons at King's, Mannello posted an overall 70-104-1 mark. During his first seven seasons building the program King's went 17-51-1. Since 2000, he logged a 53-53 coaching ledger, including five post-season appearances and one MAC title. Mannello was 1-1 in NCAA national playoff games and 2-2 in ECAC bowl contests.
 
Mannello has produced 96 All-Middle Atlantic Conference selections with the 2009 team yet to be announced. He has also coached seven D3football.com All-Americans.  In 2000, all-American tailback Damon Saxon led the nation in rushing with 1,744 yards. In 2002, two-time all-American defensive end Steven Wilson was D3football.com's consensus top defensive player of the year 
 
The education of his players was also of great significance to Mannello, whose teams also made their mark in the classroom. A total of 151 of his players were named to MAC All-Academic teams for posting overall grade-point averages of 3.20 or better.

“I would like to thank all of the players, coaches, friends and family members that have been a part of our football family over the past 19 years,” said Mannello, who informed his players of the decision during a Monday team meeting. “Our No. 1 goal has always been to build relationships that will last a lifetime. This goal was achieved with a tremendous amount of pride and appreciation for all of those that shared in our dream. I would also like to thank my wife Bonny, my stepson Jake, and my son Stone for their unconditional love and support in allowing me to pursue my own dreams in this great game of football.”
 
Mannello was hired by King's in January, 1990 after the college announced it would reinstate varsity football after the sport had been discontinued following the 1963 season. He hired current associate head coach Jim Anderson as his top assistant and the pair began recruiting and assembling a coaching staff before the Monarchs embarked on two junior varsity seasons in 1991 and 1992 in preparation for entrance into the MAC. 
 
In 1993, King's played its first varsity game in 30 years, falling to Albright 30-12. The Monarchs would finish the season 1-9 with a week-seven 20-18 home victory over Juniata standing as Mannello's first career head coaching victory.
 
Mannello's program broke through in 2000 when the Monarchs posted a 7-4 mark, won its first-ever Mayor's Cup with a 20-0 victory over cross-town rival Wilkes, and defeated Ursinus 45-20 to capture the Eastern College Athletic Conference Southern Region Bowl, registering the first post-season title of any kind in King's varsity football history. Mannello was rewarded that year with MAC “Coach of the Year” honors.
 
In 2001, Mannello guided the Monarchs to an 8-3 record and an ECAC Southeast Region Bowl with a 32-29 victory over Muhlenberg. 
 
A year later, the 2002 season proved to be the best in King's history as Mannello's charges went 9-3, won the Middle Atlantic Conference championship and advanced to the NCAA Division III national playoffs for the first-time ever. There, King's won it's NCAA tournament debut with a 28-0 victory over Salisbury. The Monarchs would advance to the “Sweet 16” where it lost to a heavily favored Bridgewater (Va.) College squad 19-17 when a last-second King's field goal fell inches short. Mannello again received MAC Coach of the Year laurels at the conclusion of the season.

Anderson will take over as interim coach during the search process and will be invited to apply for the position, should he wish to pursue the head coaching job at King's.

We're talking about those eight teams in the bottom right-hand bracket. Why, what did you think we meant?

Oh, you mean the fact that one bracket has the No. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 10 teams in the country in it? If only it had No. 1 and No. 2, it would be a men's basketball bracket.

Playoff toolbox: Download printable bracket | Enter Pick 'em contest | Watch selection show | Saturday game coverage

Yes, truth be told, it could be worse. That's why we're not calling it a Bracket of Death. But it's a great bracket, with four games between teams that all have a legitimate chance of winning first-round games.

Keith McMillan and Pat Coleman break it down in this week's Around the Nation podcast.

Meanwhile, what does the selection of Washington and Jefferson mean for future NCAA playoffs? What message does it send to coaches who want to schedule to help their teams get into the tournament?

It's fair to say Keith and Pat are more than a little concerned.

Also, you can hear a full interview with the NCAA committee chair, as Joy Solomen talks about the selections and the Pool C pick we're all talking about. That interview is excerpted in the Around the Nation Podcast as well, but the full interview contains more insight into the brackets.

Go to the podcast page and click the play button to listen. You can load the podcast page in iTunes or can also get this and any of our future Around the Nation podcasts automatically by subscribing to this RSS feed: http://www.d3football.com/dailydose/?feed=podcast

For more Saturday coverage, click here. Plus check out our weekend photo galleries:

• Susquehanna at Union
• No. 22 Willamette at Menlo
• Hamline at St. Olaf

Adrian has changed coaches effective immediately as Jim Deere will become the program's 24th head coach. The change marks the end of an era as Jim Lyall finished his 20th season as coach of the Bulldogs in 2009 with a record of 6-4.

During Lyall's tenure as head coach, the Bulldogs recorded an overall record of 98-91-1. Adrian hadn't had a losing season since 2001 and had recorded three eight-win seasons and two years with seven wins in that span.

Lyall was told shortly after his team's season-ending victory against Olivet, according to The Daily Telegram Of Adrian, Mich.

"In my opinion, I was surprised, especially the way it was done," Lyall told the paper.

Lyall spent 36 years on the sidelines at Adrian coming over in 1974 after graduating from Michigan. He played defensive line for the maize and blue from 1970-73 under legendary head coach Bo Schembechler. Lyall had the most wins and coached in more games than anyone in Adrian history.

"Jim Lyall is a first-class guy and handled himself with professionalism and integrity," said athletic director Mike Duffy. "We thank him for his outstanding service to Adrian College."

Deere has served on the coaching staff for the last 17 seasons including the last three years as defensive coordinator. He has built one of the top statistical defensive units in Division III and the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association. In 2008, the Bulldogs led the MIAA in five defensive categories including scoring defense (12.4 ppg), passing defense (167.8 ypg), total defense (239.0 ypg), pass efficiency defense (106.2) and sacks (32, for minus-196).

So the committee didn't select Ohio Northern for the NCAA playoffs. That's not all that surprising. Ohio Northern was the best team available, but the NCAA has never really seen eye to eye with us on those things.

The committee didn't take the remaining 9-1 team with the best strength of schedule, however. They took the 9-1 team with the worst. That was Washington and Jefferson. And the Presidents' reward? A trip to Alliance, Ohio, to take on Mount Union.

Click here to download a printable bracket.

What's a coach to do? It seems clear now that it is far more important to go 9-1 than it is to play a decent non-conference team. St. Norbert played a decent non-conference team, won, had a significantly better strength of schedule and was left out. Washington and Jefferson played Frostburg State (1-9) and Oberlin (2-8) and got into the field.

But on the other hand, W&J also got screwed. The Presidents should have been seeded ahead of Susquehanna, which had two losses, and Susquehanna should have gone to Mount Union, with W&J going to Delaware Valley. Instead, the worst team in the bracket escaped having to play the best team, even though the mileage was not an issue.

Like the bracket? Hate it? Join the discussion on the Daily Dose

This was our projection from last night.

We're coming up close on the bracket reveal on ESPNews. Stick around. And be patient if the server gets overloaded -- it does on every Selection Sunday.

Also check D3boards.com for a link to the bracket when it's available. That's our backup.

After the dust and rubber pellets settled on Saturday night, it turned out that selecting the nine at-large teams wasn't a whole lot different than it was in the middle of the week.

After that, though, it got a little more challenging. See, that little monkey wrench in the works by the name of Maine Maritime makes this bracket projection just a tad more difficult. Ending Curry's run in the NEFC makes the process a little harder for those creating the brackets. Castine, Maine, is not exactly close to the rest of the bracket, after all.

What did we do with them? And who made our projected field? Here's our best guess at the Division III football playoff field of 32. It's our last projection before the bracket comes out Sunday afternoon on ESPNews shortly after 3 p.m. ET.

For all the rest of Saturday's Division III football scores and news, scroll down. And check back throughout the day Sunday for more coverage.

DePauw clinched its playoff bid last week, but Wabash has done its best to sew up an at-large bid this week, defeating DePauw in the Monon Bell game 32-19. The win gives Wabash a 54-53-9 edge in the series and puts the Little Giants in the clubhouse at 9-1, making them the top at-large team in the North Region.

Hampden-Sydney clinched the Old Dominion Athletic Conference title, as Steven Fogleman returned a kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter to give the Tigers a lead and a 34-27 win against archrival Randolph-Macon. Hampden-Sydney held the ball for just 17:32 in the win. Saturday's scores.

All of the automatic bids have been handed out as we approach Selection Sunday, and the 3 p.m. ET announcement on ESPNews. Also, you can get more in-game notes by following @d3football on Twitter.

Maine Maritime became the first team to clinch a bid on Saturday, scoring on the last play of the game to beat Curry 48-42. A 36-yard touchdown pass completed the Mariners' 32-second drive. Susquehanna walked away from the Liberty League with a trophy (photo gallery), beating Union 28-17 to clinch an automatic bid before it heads to the Centennial in 2010. Montclair beat Kean 14-6 in a defensive struggle to win the NJAC. Lakeland wrapped up the NATHC title with a win while Concordia (Ill.) lost to Benedictine.

Illinois Wesleyan clinched up the CCIW with a 49-0 win against North Park, while Mississippi College did the same for the ASC with a 38-24 win against Texas Lutheran. Alfred and Johns Hopkins clinched automatic bids by finishing off overmatched opponents as well. Cal Lutheran clinched its first-ever Division III playoff spot with a win against Redlands.

Thomas More and Mount St. Joseph each ran the table and have already clinched playoff spots. But not all 9-0 records are created equal. No. 11 Thomas More proved that by crushing No. 25 Mount St. Joseph 42-17.

But you want to know what your at-large chances are, right? You can start with our most recent projected bracket. Pool C hopefuls got some good news when Ursinus defeated Dickinson 35-32 to knock the Red Devils out of playoff consideration. But if you're looking for help getting in, well, you didn't get much today. Dickinson lost, but St. Thomas, Coe, Mary Hardin-Baylor and Wabash all won, while Albright may well join them in Pool C with a 44-43 double overtime win against Lebanon Valley. The Lions rallied from a 23-point deficit in the final 20 minutes.

Other bubble teams won as well, with Ohio Northern crushing Wilmington, North Central defeating Elmhurst and Washington and Jefferson topping Waynesburg.

We'll be updating the automatic bid list all day. At the end of the night, we'll do one last set of playoff projections. Then get ready for the waiting game, as we prepare for the selection show at 3 p.m. ET.

No. 1 seed candidates Mount Union, UW-Whitewater, Wesley and St. John's finished running the table, while Case Western Reserve and Wittenberg did as well.

Outside of the playoff picture, Hanover sophomore wide receiver Daniel Passafiume set an NCAA all-divisions single-game record with 25 catches in a 42-28 loss. Passafiume finished with 153 yards and two touchdowns. His effort surpasses the mark of 24 set by receiver Jerry Rice and Chas Gessner. Amherst finished a perfect season by scoring 23 unanswered points in knocking off archrival Williams 26-21. It's the Lord Jeffs' first 8-0 mark since 1984.

Grove City corralled the Mercer County Cup with a 31-24 double-overtime win against Thiel. Greensboro finished with a winning record for the first time in the program's history, edging Shenandoah 23-20.

Sure, we understand. You're all here to go pro in something other than sports. We get that and we respect it. In fact, we cherish it.

But, see, the road from Division III football to the NFL isn't impossible to travel. It's been paved by the likes of London Fletcher, who played at John Carroll and has been in the league for a decade. His JCU teammate, Josh McDaniels, is the head coach of the Denver Broncos. And while longtime standouts such as Bill Schroeder and Mike Maslowski are no longer in the league, a new set of players has taken their place in the NFL.

Most people are familiar with players such as Pierre Garcon, in his second season from Mount Union. But there's also fellow wide receiver Jerheme Urban, who is in his fifth year on an NFL active roster after an All-American career at Trinity (Texas). Or Jason Trusnik, who was an All-American at defensive end for Ohio Northern and now plays linebacker for the Cleveland Browns.

How they got there? Keith McMillan gets their stories direct from the source in this week's Around the Nation.

Playoff preview: ATN Podcast's playoff rundown | Regional rankings Wednesday afternoon | Playoff projections Wednesday night | 11 automatic bids handed out all day Saturday | Final playoff projection Saturday night | Selection show Sunday 3 p.m. ET, ESPNews

What does that have to do with the playoffs? Not much, admittedly. But there's plenty more in Around the Nation, including a rundown of the final 11 automatic bids yet to be clinched and how they will be won. Keep an eye on the at-large contenders as well. There's also your reactions to last week's column bidding farewell to this year's seniors and the weekly Ten Best, counting down the most interesting post-Division III performances of D-III players and coaches in the past decade.

That and more in this week's Around the Nation.

Knox announced that Andy Gibbons will step down from his role as head coach. Chad Eisele, a 1993 graduate of Knox and athletic director at Knox, will take over as head coach while Gibbons remains on staff as the assistant coach and defensive coordinator.

Knox was 1-9 this past season. Gibbons' career record was 47-80.

Eisele has 15 years of experience as a football coach and began his coaching career at Knox in 1993.

"After 14 years it is time for a new voice at the top, and I am very excited about Chad," said Gibbons. "I am energized and fired up to be a part of this change and to build a championship defense."

Gibbons took over as head football coach in 1996, and has amassed the second most wins by a head coach in 114 years of Knox football history.

In five years as head coach at Lake Forest, Eisele amassed a 31-20 (.607) overall record and a 28-16 (.636) record in Midwest Conference competition. In 2002 the Forester team captured the Midwest Conference Championship, their first since 1983, and made their first ever appearance in the NCAA D-III Playoffs.

At the conclusion of the 2002 season Eisele was honored as MWC Coach of the Year, while his senior linebacker Casey Urlacher was named MWC Defensive Player of the Year. It was the third year in a row that the Foresters took the MWC Defensive Player of the Year distinction. In addition, Eisele had seven players named All-Americans and 60 named All-Midwest Conference. Before returning to Knox as athletic director in May 2006, Eisele was the head football coach for the 2005-06 season at Minnesota State-Moorhead.

Eisele said: "I am honored to have this opportunity at my alma mater. When I came here as Athletic Director, I came with the understanding that I was starting a new chapter of my life that would not involve coaching. I thought that if I ever did get to coach again it would be much farther down the road. When Andy decided to change roles, the opportunity for me to become head coach arose. For me to become head coach at my alma mater – it is something I never dreamed would happen. As AD you oversee teams, but you don't get a chance to have a direct positive influence on the student-athletes. Having the opportunity to be head football coach allows me to have that direct contact. I greatly look forwards to that. I am excited about the challenge of leading the Prairie Fire football team."

Eisele takes over a Knox program which is in search of its first winning season since 2002. When Eisele took over at Lake Forest in 2000, he inherited a football program that was in a similar predicament, having not had a winning season since 1986. In only Eisele's third season, (2002) the Foresters went 9-2.

In making the announcement, Eisele thanked Gibbons for his contribution to Knox football. "Andy should be commended for all of his efforts and I am proud that he will still be part of this great program. I don't think most people truly understand what Andy has accomplished in his time as head coach," said Eisele. "He has done far more with far less than many other programs have. I am confident with our combined experience in recruiting that we will be able to recruit some of the best classes of Knox football student-athletes that this school has seen in some time."

Gibbons said: "It has been an honor and a privilege to be the head coach at Knox. We worked extremely hard and of course wish we had won more games the last four years. However, I look back at all the players I have coached and see what type of men they are today, and I know we won! We have had a big impact in so many ways."

This Saturday is the final chance for many seniors to put on the pads, the final chance for teams to clinch a conference title and the final chance for schools to guarantee their ticket to the 2009 Division III football playoffs.

For Susquehanna, too, it's the final Liberty League game in the program's history, as the program moves again, this time to the Centennial Conference. Around the East heads back to the story of the Crusaders, along with others still pursuing conference titles in that part of the country, such as Union, Susquehanna's final Liberty League foe.

Playoff preview: ATN Podcast's playoff rundown | Regional rankings Wednesday afternoon | Playoff projections Wednesday night | 11 automatic bids handed out all day Saturday | Final playoff projection Saturday night | Selection show Sunday 3 p.m. ET, ESPNews

The Mid-Atlantic features both a conference title and a rivalry so big the name is pretty small: The Game. That's where Randolph-Macon and Hampden-Sydney square off, with the contest having ODAC title implications for the third consecutive season. But what makes a rivalry a rivalry? Is it the players, coaches or fans? Ryan Tipps explores the question in this week's Around the Mid-Atlantic.

For DePauw, the season started with yet another coaching change and a fresh round of adversity when it lost a game its starting quarterback got hurt. But Robby Long's Tigers regrouped, and with senior leader Spud Dick back at the helm, it's DePauw that has a playoff bid wrapped up for once entering the Monon Bell game, not Wabash. Jason Bowen runs down the Tigers' season in Around the South.

Elsewhere, the season is already complete. And while a 6-4 record might not seem awe-inspiring to some, it's downright historic at Gallaudet, which hasn't had a winning record as a varsity program since 1930, or at Western New England, which posted its best record since 1981. Tom Haley has more in Around the Northeast.

And sometimes your Week 11 championship is the championship of just a game, or a bell, or a bridge. For Mount St. Joseph, the road to the Bridge Bowl was a surprise. Clyde Hughes has more in Around the Midwest.

That and more in this week's Around the Region.