CEO survey attracts 80 percent response
Approximately 80 percent of Division II institutions responded to a survey designed to provide data to division transition teams in the areas of governance, membership requirements, championships structure, finances, financial aid, academic requirements and membership compliance.
Preliminary results of the survey were reviewed by the Division II Management Council Transition Team in a June 6 telephone conference.
Survey results will be mailed to Division II institutions and conferences later this month, after compilation of the results is completed. Results also will be published in The NCAA News.
Survey results are expected to be discussed during conference and other Division II membership meetings this summer.
Staff contact: Nancy L. Mitchell and Mike L. Racy.
Athletics directors focus on athletic welfare issues
As student-athletes become more involved in the general community at universities and colleges, athletics departments need to make a corresponding change in the way they deal with them, athletics administrators say.
During the annual convention of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) June 10-12, athletics administrators and student-athletes said in a panel discussion that distractions and influences affecting student-athletes have increased. At the same time, coaching staffs have less time to spend with athletes.
Most Division I partial qualifiers don't meet core-course standard
An NCAA study shows that more than half of the individuals who were partial qualifiers in Division I in 1995-96 were classified that way because they did not meet the core-course requirement.
In 51.4 percent of the cases in which an individual was classified as a partial qualifier in Division I, that person either did not complete 13 high-school core courses as described in NCAA Bylaw 14.3 or did not achieve the required grade-point average in those core courses.
In addition, 16.2 percent of those who were partial qualifiers failed to meet both the standardized-test and core-course requirements.
Staff contact: Ursula R. Walsh.
Nominations being accepted for NCAA Woman of the Year
Nominations are being accepted through June 21 for the NCAA Woman of the Year.
To be eligible for the award, a nominee must have participated in an NCAA-sponsored sport; must have competed during the 1995-96 season and have exhausted intercollegiate eligibility in all sports by the end of the 1996 spring season; must have a minimum grade-point average of 2.500 on a 4.000 scale; and must be a varsity letter-winner.
Nominees are evaluated equally by athletics excellence, academic achievement, and service and leadership.
State winners will be announced in August. Ten national finalists also will be announced in August.
The winner will be honored at a banquet October 6 in Kansas City, Missouri.
Staff contacts: Janet M. Justus, Kathryn Reith and Cyntia M. Van Matre.
Judge sets July 5 deadline for response to earnings inquiry
Division I institutions have received a packet requesting information pertaining to litigation involving the Association's restricted-earnings coach legislation.
In May 1995, U.S. District Judge Kathryn H. Vratil ruled that the NCAA violates federal antitrust law with its restricted-earnings coaching provision.
The provision limited coaches in the position to $12,000 in income and $4,000 for the summer. Since Vratil's ruling a year ago, the coaches have been attempting to get the financial information to prepare for the damages phase of the litigation.
On May 29, 1996, Vratil ordered the NCAA to transmit to each Division I member a set of questions from the plaintiffs, along with a copy of her order compelling a response. The packet was sent to the Division I membership May 31.
The judge's order relates to a March 29, 1996, hearing concerning financial data the coaches say they need to determine damages in the case. The NCAA has claimed it does not have the information and can obtain it from member institutions only if the schools choose to provide it.
Vratil's order requires each Division I institution to respond to the questions by July 5. Beginning the next day, a fine of $100 a day will be levied on the Association and its legal counsel for each school that fails to comply.
For more information, see the June 10 issue of The NCAA News.
Staff contact: Stephen R. Morgan.
A career year for the SEC
NCAA championships for 1996-97 are now complete, and in Division I, there is no doubt that this will be remembered as the year of the Southeastern Conference. Member institutions from that league won nine of the 31 championships for which Division I-A institutions may compete. Louisiana State University led the way with championships in women's indoor track, women's outdoor track and field (its 10th in a row in that sport), and baseball.