No reason why NCC can't become the next Whitewater or Mt. Union. More talent locally than either school and you are in downtown Naperville.
I’d argue this point.
UWW is a state school and is 14k. They have D1 facilities and have more FT coaches than any other D3 program. You gave some success in the WIAC and you can start to recruit some talent.
At the end of the day, NCC is still $48k a year....after aid, realistically $25k ish.
Out of HS, most kids choose UWW over NCC. Where NCC has done very well is getting transfers. Rutter, Kamienski, Hyland, etc...
We live in a day and age of kids not playing early and transferring. I think NCC will continue to get more and more transfers and build the program that way.
Mount Union is the best D3 recruiting program in the country. They bring in kids from all over and will report to camp with 200+ kids. I recruited against them a few times and they are amazing. At Florida recruiting fairs they would put up two 5ft photos At their booth. One w all their championship rings and the other with their NFL players. Kids all want to go there.