National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

March 3, 1997

III football to explore alternative championship formats

Division III football-playing institutions will receive surveys this spring designed to gauge membership support for a variety of possible new formats for the Division III Football Championship.

The NCAA Division III Football Committee developed the playoff options during its February 11-14 meeting in Kansas City, Missouri. The surveys will be mailed to athletics directors, who will be urged to consult their football coach before submitting their institution's response.

The surveys will present seven options for playoffs that include 24 teams within a four-week period. Some would result in a national-championship game, while others would crown regional champions without a national title game. All would be conducted with full NCAA funding, a concept that the committee strongly supports.

The committee also examined the current regional alignment of teams and noted that the West region will have a disproportionately large number of teams when several provisional member institutions become active NCAA members this fall.

To regain a regional balance, the committee recommended that Washington University (Missouri) and the American Southwest Conference be moved from the West to the South, effective immediately, and that Chapman University and the Southern California Athletic Conference be moved from the West to the South, effective in the 1998 season. These recommendations are subject to approval by the NCAA Division III Championships Committee and the Division III Management Council.

The committee also voted to require that coaches make up at least half of the membership of each regional advisory committee. This requirement will be reached gradually through attrition of current regional advisory committee members.

Previously, there was no composition requirement for these committees, which conduct regional polls and help select the regional representatives in the championship. This change was made in response to concerns expressed by Division III coaches regarding the large number of administrators currently on the committees.

Other highlights

Division III Football Committee
February 11-14/Kansas City, Missouri

Recommended increases in the squad size and traveling party for the Division III Football Championship, beginning this year. The proposal calls for the championship squad size to increase from 48 to 52 and for the traveling party to increase from 58 to 64. The group was responding to feedback from coaches who claimed that the 48-player limit did not allow them to bring enough substitutes and specialty players. In addition, the committee studied the relationship between squad size and traveling party in other championships and determined that the current difference of 10 was not enough to accommodate staff members -- such as coaches, medical personnel and sports information directors -- who are necessary during playoff competition. This recommendation is subject to approval by the NCAA Division III Championships Committee, Budget Committee, Management Council and Presidents Council.

Recommended a new pairings rotation for semifinal games, effective this year. The system ensures that every possible combination of regional matchups and host sites will occur during a six-year period. It is designed to equalize each region's opportunity to advance to the title game by reducing the chance that the two strongest regions will face off in the semifinals several years in a row. The proposed rotation is as follows: 1997, South region winner at North region winner and West region winner at East region winner; 1998, North at South and East at West; 1999, West at North and East at South; 2000, North at West and South at East; 2001, East at North and West at South; and 2002, North at East and South at West. This proposal is subject to Division III Championships Committee, Budget Committee and Management Council approval.

Recommended an increase in officials' per-game fee from $175 to $200. This proposal is subject to Division III Championships Committee, Budget Committee, Management Council and Presidents Council approval.

Agreed to retain the current championship selection criteria and develop a new standardized form that all regional advisory committee members will use in analyzing teams.

Strongly encouraged all Division III teams to finish their regular season before the scheduled date for championship bids to be announced.

Began planning special activities to celebrate the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl's 25th anniversary this coming season.