How an NCAA D3 sports information team covers 17 sports and still finds time to tell better stories
April 10, 2026
D3 Week is a celebration of what college athletics looks like when the scoreboard isn’t the whole story.
At Division III schools, the communicators telling those stories are often doing it with leaner resources than their counterparts at larger programs. There’s no army of student workers for every sport, no sprawling content team to divide and conquer. There’s usually one or two and a calendar that doesn’t stop moving.
Eric Willuweit knows that math well. As the Sports Information Director at Illinois Tech, he and Assistant SID Ryan Cantlin are responsible for coverage across 17 sports, every platform, every game.
The job has always demanded efficiency.
FanWord Assist helped them find a new level.
Who: Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech)
Nickname: Scarlet Hawks
Division: NCAA Division 3
Conference: Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC)
Varsity Sports: 17 sports
Location: Chicago, Illinois
FanWord Partner Since: August 2025
Fun Fact: Illinois Tech’s oldest team is track and field, started in 1893.
Challenge: A full slate, a lean operation
Athletics communications within Division III is a different kind of challenge than what you might find at the DI or DII level.
Athletes want to see up-to-date player bios. Coaches want season preview stories. Fans and families still check the website for recaps. The game calendar runs the same as it does everywhere else.
But the infrastructure supporting all of it tends to be smaller, and the margin for getting behind is thinner.
For Willuweit and Cantlin, keeping up with a full schedule across multiple sports while producing quality written content had always been a matter of prioritization.
Because there are only so many hours.
Solution: 90% there in 10% of the time
Illinois Tech’s primary use of FanWord Assist has centered on generating nearly 300 game recaps — easily the most time-consuming type of content throughout the year for any SID.
The impact was immediate and practical. FanWord didn’t change what Willuweit and Cantlin were trying to accomplish.
It changed how long it took to get there.
“The tool has been so helpful as far as constructing the content and the associated time savings, which I can’t understate,” Willuweit said. “The ‘90% there in 10% of the time’ really rings true.”
FanWord isn’t replacing the editorial voice of the Scarlet Hawks, but rather handling the structural lift so they can focus on the story. Willuweit still shapes the lede, chases the angle, and makes each piece his own. He’s just spending far less time getting to that point.
“I typically modify the opening paragraphs to tailor it to a specific storyline I want to highlight — usually based off my headline language,” he explained.
Feature story generation has been another standout use case.
Illinois Tech has been using FanWord’s third-person format for season preview interviews with coaches — a workflow that produces polished, publication-ready content without the back-and-forth of drafting from scratch.
Bonus: Support that keeps pace with the season
For a two-person operation, the partnership doesn’t end at the product. When something isn’t working right, response times matter just as much as the fix.
Willuweit has been working closely with FanWord’s support team on specific refinements, including some nuances around tennis tiebreaker scoring and continued development of the Trends feature. His feedback has been met with quick, substantive responses.
“The support I have received along the way has been great,” he said. “Michelle and Brock have been great at replying to feedback tickets and working on solutions. At no point have I felt my feedback has been delayed in response.”
Ensuring customers feel heard and comfortable sharing feedback is a core pillar at FanWord. As a company leading the way in AI-powered content generation, building industry-first features (like Trends and Editorial Guidelines), and shaping the future of college sports communications, feedback from partners and experts in the space is instrumental to the organization’s growth.
Result: Over 40 hours saved last month
Since using FanWord Assist, Illinois Tech has saved almost 180 work hours. Last month alone, it was 40 hours.
For a lean operation covering a full Division III schedule, that time continues to compound. It’s the difference between keeping up and actually getting ahead. Between publishing content and shaping a story. Between a recap and a feature.
And Willuweit is just getting started.
Player bio creation is next on the list as the program heads into the offseason, with plans to dive deeper into features like Nominations.
That’s a D3 Week story that FanWord is proud to be part of: creating a tool that makes the work more sustainable, without changing what makes it worth doing.
This D3 Week, FanWord is celebrating the communicators behind the programs
Division III athletics doesn’t get enough credit. The communicators running these departments — often with lean teams and full schedules — are doing remarkable work with the resources they have.
This D3 Week, FanWord is proud to support them.
FanWord Assist helps D3 communications teams produce faster recaps, build out player bios, submit weekly nominations, and tell the stories that programs and athletes deserve — without adding to an already full plate.
Click to explore more D3 Week stories:
Ali Wilson — American Rivers Conference
Karen Whalen — Wesleyan University
Adam Ledyard — East Texas Baptist University
See what FanWord can do for your communications team:
➡️ Request a demo using the contact form below
➡️ Reach out to our CEO directly to talk through your team’s workflow
➡️ Read more case studies: Florida Southern — Tulsa — Hamline — KCKCC — Stetson — Northwestern College
