I don’t run my program to farm championships (it’s fun to win, however) I run my program to serve a type of player I saw consistently when I worked in pro for a decade.
I saw kids dropping out of school constantly to pursue pro and they get cut at 22 and are 4 years behind their peers in life. I’ve lost more than 5 former players to mental health. It’s really hard for a young man to go from being the coolest friend in their friend group with the coolest job to having no direction for their life overnight.
Just make a club division. You are disqualified from club when you get any amount of scholarship. People shouldn’t have to play us if they don’t want to,
Maryville’s club program should play in club division.
If I was a team looking for a good time competing in a collegiate league, I’d forfeit matches against all pro teams too. Especially if it was a club. Playing is more tilting than any lesson learned
Huge reason why a lot of varsity programs join conferences and leagues like nace.