National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

March 10, 1997

NCAA Manual to undergo significant changes

With the new-look NCAA officially scheduled to debut in August, a new-look NCAA Manual will be available to the membership.

In October 1996, the NCAA Council approved the NCAA Legislative Review Committee's recommendation to publish three division-specific 1997-98 manuals. It is anticipated that the new manuals will be completed by late April.

A few features will be missing from what once was considered the master NCAA Manual. For instance, the one publication that used to cover legislation for three divisions will divide into three books -- the NCAA Division I Manual, the NCAA Division II Manual and the NCAA Division III Manual.

In addition, the Divisions I, II and III operating manuals, reprints of Bylaws 10-17, no longer will be printed.

Similar to the operating manuals, the 1997-98 NCAA Division I Manual will not contain legislation specific to Divisions II and III and vice versa.

However, consistent with the Council's directive, legislative entries that contain references to more than one division will remain intact. For example, Bylaw 13.4.1 describes permissible printed recruiting materials in Divisions I and II. All references to Divisions I and II will remain in the Division I manual and in the Division II manual. The entry, however, will be deleted from the Division III manual.

Despite the deletion of division-specific legislation, the Council determined that the numbering sequence will remain as is. Therefore, in each manual, there will be gaps in the numbering.

Finally, all references to entities that will no longer exist in the new structure (for example, the Council and Presidents Commission) will be replaced with the appropriate entity handling the applicable function in each division.

The 1997-98 manuals are a work in progress, as the division governance structures will decide on formats for their respective manuals in the future.