The NCAA News - News & Features

III tackles championships-access issue

The subcommittee noted that the discussion and a straw vote at the 1997 Convention will identify which model is to be seriously pursued during 1997. The subcommittee determined that the adoption of either model would occur only through a vote of the Division III membership at the 1998 Convention.

The two models were developed by the Division III Task Force to Review the NCAA Membership Structure at the request of the Division III subcommittee in July and reviewed by the subcommittee during the Commission's September 24-25 meeting. The concepts are based on subgrouping or subdividing by enrollment size, sports sponsorship or a combination.

One of the discussion models would subdivide championships in the eight team sports into two separate divisions competing for separate national titles, such as in Divisions I-A and I-AA football.

The subgrouping model would divide institutions in those sports into four subgroups with champions determined in each subgroup. Those champions then would meet to determine one Division III champion for the sport, except in football.

Both models attempt to provide greater access for student-athletes to championships competition. They incorporate basic principles adopted by the task force -- that Division III student-athletes have proportionate opportunities to participate in postseason play and that teams from comparable institutions should face one another in championships competition.

The subcommittee favors a change beyond the championships enhancements approved in July and wants to see the championships question resolved at the 1998 Convention.

The two models will be explained in detail in a mailing to the Division III membership before the Convention. The mailing will allow institutions to study the proposals and is intended to facilitate discussion at the Convention.

The mailing also will include a description of the current championships structure with bracket enhancements. Those championships enhancements will be used as a means of establishing a baseline for comparing the subdivision and subgrouping models.

In July, the Commission approved enhancing championships through bracket expansion in team sports other than football in which sponsorship exceeds 200 institutions. Enhancement of the brackets is effective for championships during the 1997-98 academic year.

The enhancement affects only baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's soccer, women's softball, and women's volleyball. Access issues are considered most acute in those sports. Changes in other team and individual sports may be studied
later.

Other actions

In other actions, the subcommittee determined that the nomination and appointment process for two new Division III Presidents Council members should be concluded before the 1997 Convention so that the new members will be able to attend the January, March and June Presidents Commission meetings in a transition capacity before taking office August 1, 1997.

The new Presidents Council, which comes into being when restructuring takes effect in August, will consist of current Presidents Commission members whose terms have not expired and the newly appointed members. The subcommittee wants the new Presidents Council members to become familiar with their duties before officially beginning their terms.

The subcommittee also reappointed Curtis L. McCray of Millikin University to a full four-year term on the Commission. McCray, the subcommittee's current vice-chair, had been serving an unexpired term.