By Patrick Coleman
D3sports.com

Twenty-five years later, I look back on this and say: There was never a chance that we weren't going to do this.

I know -- that sentence has a double negative in it, so let me say it another way. We were always going to make D3football.com happen, eventually.

D3hoops.com had been online for about a year, and we thought long and hard about adding a site for football. That was 1998. We did not actually add a new website at that time, but the wheels were definitely set in motion, and by the spring of 1999, we were working hard on getting D3football.com researched, built and out the door. (We wrote more about that process on our 10th anniversary.)

And on July 7, 1999, that's what we did.

Now it's been a quarter-century. Almost everyone currently playing Division III football was born after July 7, 1999. Division III football has continued to grow over that 25 years, and we've done our best to grow and evolve along with it. Our team continues to evolve as well, and I have been fortunate enough to be able to get out across the country and see games and meet people in new places in the past few years.

Although I've spent a few sentences talking about us, we do this because Division III student-athletes deserve to have a bright spotlight. And D3football.com and its sister websites wouldn’t be here if not for the assistance of athletics communications professionals, coaches, administrators, and student-athletes -- too many to mention. Writers, staff members, and others willing enough to work for little to no pay have been invaluable as well. The countless hours working on what would be defined as a hobby for our inner circle is a lot easier thanks to those individuals who support and provide information to our sites.

It's also easier thanks to the fans who support us, both financially and with their browsers. Without you, we wouldn't have an audience to connect with, and that's a big deal for us.

So as we enter this brave new world, one with 40 playoff teams and a fancy new probably terrible playoff selection system, we will be here with you. Other sites have come and gone in their coverage of Division III, but just know that we aren't going anywhere.

We're here to bring you the news about the largest division of college football. And to cover the newsmakers. And to hold the decision-makers accountable.

That's what we do.