How new Le Moyne AD Phil Brown is navigating unique jump to D-1
Phil Brown talks on his vision for Le Moyne Athletics four months into his tenure as its athletic director. Leonardo Eriman | Asst. Video Editor
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Phil Brown compared his job to a student trying to study for an exam before enrolling in the class.
Around him, the landscape of college sports is ever-changing. As a result, Brown said he never knows what Le Moyne will be doing tomorrow.
So, when asked about the answers he hoped to have by the time the Dolphins complete their Division I transition, Brown chuckled.
“I don’t know that I can get answers,” he said. “That’s the reality of it.”
Brown is just over four months into his role as Le Moyne’s athletic director — officially titled assistant vice president of intercollegiate athletics and campus recreation — and spent the past decade working in Vanderbilt’s athletic department. He was hired on Oct. 29, 2024, following Bob Beretta’s departure to St. Bonaventure in June.
Now competing in the Northeast Conference, the Dolphins are the only NCAA program in the second year of what’s supposed to be a four-year transition to fully becoming a D-I school. Simultaneously, college sports have changed drastically because of name, image and likeness and the transfer portal’s emergence. With Le Moyne navigating a crucial transition and the NCAA becoming increasingly professionalized, Brown’s job is to guide the program through its transition and position it to compete in the evolving era of college sports.
“It’s evident that Le Moyne was well put together before I got here, and I’ll just continue to lead it to the Division I promised land,” Brown said.
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Since beginning their D-I transition, the Dolphins have already experienced success across numerous sports. Their men’s soccer program secured a marquee win over Syracuse, while the women’s basketball team reached the second round of the 2025 NEC Tournament by upsetting No. 4 seed Saint Francis.
In men’s lacrosse, veteran head coach Dan Sheehan entered the NCAA’s top-10 wins list on Saturday amid a 7-4 campaign thus far. While the men’s basketball team struggled in 2024-25, it exceeded expectations by notching a 9-7 conference record in 2023-24.
Brown, who started his career in trust tax accounting at Regions Financial, sees championship potential across Le Moyne’s entire portfolio. He believes winning NCAA titles isn’t just possible — it should eventually become the expectation.
“We’re not quite winning yet, but I’m not even a full (D-I) member,” Brown said. “I’m still transitioning, so I’ll take that. I’m looking forward to that day where we win our first NEC championship and hang a new banner.”
Typically, programs transitioning to D-I are ineligible to compete in their conference tournament for the first two years. However, the NEC granted Le Moyne instant conference tournament eligibility for the 2023-24 school year. Because the D-I transition is supposed to take four years, the Dolphins still aren’t eligible to compete in NCAA Tournaments until the 2027-28 school year.
However, they can explore moving that timeline up a year because of a new reclassification criterion the NCAA approved in January. To meet the criteria, Brown said Le Moyne must have a 930 Academic Progress Rate — a metric that holds institutions accountable for the academic progress of student-athletes — while reaching additional financial and budgeting benchmarks.
Le Moyne men’s soccer defeated then-No. 7 Syracuse 1-0 on Sept. 2, 2024. Jacob Halsema | Staff Photographer
“Right now, I feel really good about all of them. I do believe we’re meeting all three,” Brown said.
Though Brown tabbed the three-year transition riskier, since missing benchmarks could delay the process, he still prefers it over the four-year route. Still, Le Moyne can’t choose that option until the fall, so Brown said it’ll continue investigating which route makes more sense.
As NCAA rules change, college sports are being transformed with it. Currently, the ongoing House vs. NCAA settlement — a $2.8 billion federal class-action antitrust lawsuit filed by athletes against the NCAA and power conferences — could permit programs to directly pay their players up to roughly $20.5 million per year. United States District Judge Claudia Wilken said in court on Monday she wanted college sports’ proposal reworked before making a ruling.
Even with schools not directly paying players, NIL deals from brands and collectives — like Syracuse’s Orange United and SU Football NIL — allow top collegiate athletes to make millions of dollars since the NCAA permitted athletes to earn money off their NIL in July 2021.
While it’s not a current concern, Brown said Le Moyne would need to weigh its options regarding whether it’d directly pay athletes in the future. As a result of the financial implications now existing, Brown views college sports as becoming professionalized.
“Mic drop moment. Yes. It’s already happening,” he said.
But because of Le Moyne’s transition, Brown doesn’t have to make decisions like whether to hire someone in a general manager-esque position and can observe what’s happening around him instead. For example, unlike all D-I Athletic Directors, he wasn’t asked whether Le Moyne would potentially opt into the House vs. NCAA case because it’s still transitioning.
“There are things that Syracuse and other (power conference schools) will have to do differently,” Brown said. “Now, we’re very fortunate. We’re just going to grow into the new model.”
Another factor that puts the Dolphins in a unique situation is they’ll be considered an NCAA Division I-AAA school because they don’t have a varsity-level football team. In Brown’s mind, being a D-I-AAA school allows Le Moyne to be among the last schools that can offer a “holistic” and more traditional student-athlete experience.
“Part of that is a little bit of why I chose to take a step back from a Power Four,” Brown said.
Among Brown’s biggest concerns with the House vs. NCAA settlement is it could lead to cuts in roster sizes and programs. He values the holistic student-athlete experience, so he’s worried the settlement might not fully meet Le Moyne’s needs.
One thing Brown is certain about, though, is Le Moyne’s brand is growing with its move toward D-I.
“With the measurables, you would see what you’d expect to see,” Brown said. “A lot more interest, definitely more traffic in, ‘Hey, I’d like to learn more about you from visits and everything.’”
Still, the Dolphins’ brand doesn’t compare to New York rivals like Syracuse or St. John’s. But it doesn’t have to. Because of its financial flexibility, St. John’s men’s basketball head coach Rick Pitino said he wouldn’t recruit freshmen and instead solely look for talent in the transfer portal. That benefits the Dolphins, who want to attract high-level freshmen and develop them for four years.
Syracuse men’s basketball narrowly defeated Le Moyne 86-82 in its 2024-25 season opener. Aaron Hammer | Staff Photographer
Because of the portal, Brown views the professionalization of college sports as resembling European soccer’s promotion/relegation system. But instead of teams moving, players move levels via the portal. He then alluded to how professional athletes can earn big second and third contracts. Though in college, those could come from another program in a higher conference.
“Chase that second contract, chase that third contract,” Brown said. “That’s where the real money is going to happen. It’s kind of the world we live in if this is truly going to be professionalized.”
Still, Brown wants to retain talent for four years. But he added he wouldn’t hamper them from moving to a higher conference if the opportunity presented itself.
“If somebody else comes calling, we’ll listen, and if you have questions, we’re here to help, but never gonna try for the push out,” Brown said.
In college sports’ changing landscape, low and mid-major players — like Walter Clayton Jr., leading Florida to win March Madness after beginning his career at Iona — often advance their careers to a higher level while capitalizing on NIL.
Currently, Le Moyne allows students to capitalize on NIL deals but doesn’t have a collective. Though Brown said it hasn’t become necessary.
It’s one of the many areas Brown will let answers come to him. Unlike power conference schools, which adjust to everything on the fly, Le Moyne is growing into college sports’ new model through its D-I transition.
Currently, Brown has no answers because everything is in flux. But within the next two years, the Dolphins will be fully enrolled as a D-I program. And Brown will be prepared for his first exam, diligently watching and adapting to whatever college sports become.
“My vision has always been to make sure that we get to Division I and then embrace whatever that is when we get there,” Brown said.
