The Northwest Conference Expands to Teamworks Elite

A year after becoming the first NCAA Division III conference to adopt conference-wide technology with Teamworks Compliance + Recruiting, the Northwest Conference (NWC) is deepening its partnership with Teamworks Elite, bringing Teamworks Hub to all nine member institutions.

The expansion unites Compliance + Recruiting and Hub under a single conference-wide framework, giving NWC schools a connected foundation for compliance, recruiting, and the daily operations that keep coaches, administrators, and student-athletes on the same page.

"We're proud to be an early adopter, but being first isn't the reason we're doing this," said Shana Levine, Commissioner of the Northwest Conference. "We're trying to solve real problems for our institutions and student-athletes."

A Natural Next Step

Compliance + Recruiting gave NWC administrators a stronger handle on eligibility, recruiting, and internal processes. But as more member institutions began using Hub on their own, a different kind of value started to surface. One centered less on the administrative process and more on the daily experience of coaches and student-athletes.

A year after becoming the first NCAA Division III conference to adopt conference-wide technology with Teamworks Compliance + Recruiting, the Northwest Conference (NWC) is deepening its partnership with Teamworks Elite, bringing Teamworks Hub to all nine member institutions.

The expansion unites Compliance + Recruiting and Hub under a single conference-wide framework, giving NWC schools a connected foundation for compliance, recruiting, and the daily operations that keep coaches, administrators, and student-athletes on the same page.

"We're proud to be an early adopter, but being first isn't the reason we're doing this," said Shana Levine, Commissioner of the Northwest Conference. "We're trying to solve real problems for our institutions and student-athletes."

A Natural Next Step

Compliance + Recruiting gave NWC administrators a stronger handle on eligibility, recruiting, and internal processes. But as more member institutions began using Hub on their own, a different kind of value started to surface. One centered less on the administrative process and more on the daily experience of coaches and student-athletes.

That shift, paired with the opportunity to use Hub and Forms to simplify recurring processes across the conference, made the case for going Elite. As Levine put it, the decision came down to two goals: improving the experience institutions can provide their student-athletes, and making conference operations more efficient.

As with NWC's original move to Compliance + Recruiting, the push toward Elite was shaped largely by the conference's own member institutions. Several schools were already using Hub independently, giving athletic directors real experience to draw on rather than a hypothetical pitch.

"Our member institutions really drove this decision," Levine said. "Just as we experienced when we initially adopted C+R, our ADs who were already using Teamworks became the best sales pitch we could have had. They could talk about what it actually looked like in their departments and with their teams."

Replacing the Scattered With the Streamlined

For NWC's nine institutions, Hub is expected to consolidate communication that has historically lived across disconnected platforms.

That shift, paired with the opportunity to use Hub and Forms to simplify recurring processes across the conference, made the case for going Elite. As Levine put it, the decision came down to two goals: improving the experience institutions can provide their student-athletes, and making conference operations more efficient.

As with NWC's original move to Compliance + Recruiting, the push toward Elite was shaped largely by the conference's own member institutions. Several schools were already using Hub independently, giving athletic directors real experience to draw on rather than a hypothetical pitch.

"Our member institutions really drove this decision," Levine said. "Just as we experienced when we initially adopted C+R, our ADs who were already using Teamworks became the best sales pitch we could have had. They could talk about what it actually looked like in their departments and with their teams."

Replacing the Scattered With the Streamlined

For NWC's nine institutions, Hub is expected to consolidate communication that has historically lived across disconnected platforms.

At the conference level, that same consolidation applies to recurring administrative workflows. Hub and Forms will allow NWC to standardize processes like hardship waivers, schedule changes, conference grant reimbursements, and coaches group proposals, giving institutions a shared platform to collaborate on rather than each school building its own version of the same process.

The impact, Levine noted, is particularly meaningful in a Division III context, where staff routinely balance multiple roles. "When everyone is wearing multiple hats, efficiency is what enables people to do all of these jobs well," she said. Time saved chasing information or managing spreadsheets, she added, is time redirected toward coaching, mentoring, recruiting, and supporting student-athletes.

Measuring Success by Time Given Back

Looking a year ahead, Levine's definition of success is less about adoption numbers and more about what that adoption makes possible.

"A year from now, I don't want our success story to be that nine schools adopted Hub," Levine said. "I want the success story to be that nine schools are operating more efficiently, our coaches and administrators have more time for student-athletes, and our student-athletes feel more connected to their teams and their institutions. That's what makes this more than a technology investment — it makes it an investment in our mission."

To learn more about Teamworks Hub and how it can fit your needs, visit https://teamworks.com/hub/.