National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

January 20, 1997

Resolution directs I-A examination of postseason football

NASHVILLE -- The NCAA Presidents Commission has agreed to ask the new Division I Board of Directors to study the NCAA's role in postseason football.

Meeting January 12 during the NCAA Convention, the Commission took the action after receiving a report from NCAA Executive Director Cedric W. Dempsey on current NCAA involvement in postseason football, and also partly in response to a letter from the Western Athletic Conference Council of Presidents.

The WAC presidents asked the Commission to sponsor a resolution directing the Board of Directors to conduct a comprehensive study of postseason football. The presidents asked that the study:

  • Include a review of the current bowl system and recommend "a more inclusive and equitable method of conducting postseason play."

  • Define the NCAA's appropriate role in organizing and overseeing postseason play.

  • Ensure that such "values of higher education" as access for all institutions and equitable revenue distribution be included as factors in any proposed plan.

    It also asked that the Board be directed to present the results of its review and proposed plan by July 1.

    The Commission agreed to ask the Board of Directors to review the present bowl system, examine the NCAA's oversight role, and determine and submit any proposed changes in that role by January 1. It set that date for a response because the Board of Directors will not officially exist until after August 1 -- the implementation date for the NCAA's new governance structure.

    During a chief executive officers' forum after the Commission's meeting in Nashville, WAC presidents said they are "generally pleased" by the action but also expressed the view that a year is too long to wait for a response. University of New Mexico President Richard E. Peck said his colleagues are concerned that the wait is "an opportunity for (action) to be delayed, and for it to be studied to death."

    The WAC protest is rooted in the recent exclusion of one of its football teams -- Brigham Young University -- from participation in a Division I bowl alliance game and the inability of another of its teams -- the University of Wyoming -- to secure any bowl bid at all. Wyoming was 10-2 in the regular season, including an overtime loss to Brigham Young in the WAC championship game.

    Wyoming's frustration with the bowl selection process bubbled over into the first general business session of the NCAA Convention.

    David Baker, special assistant to the president at Wyoming, surprised the Convention by moving for adoption of 1997 Convention Proposal No. 7 -- a proposal to delay implementation of restructuring -- after the proposal's original sponsors announced their intent to withdraw the measure.

    Baker criticized what he called the NCAA unresponsiveness to the problem and expressed doubts that a restructured Association can adequately address the issue.

    The proposal was defeated after the president of another WAC institution -- R. Gerald Turner of Southern Methodist University -- said the other WAC presidents opposed any delay of restructuring.

    -- Jack L. Copeland