The NCAA News - News and FeaturesApril 21, 1997
Wrestling seeks misconduct penalty
The NCAA Wrestling Committee has voted to recommend to the NCAA Executive Committee that it be permitted to create a new infraction, misconduct.
The committee held its annual meeting April 7-11 in Key West, Florida.
Under current rules, wrestlers acting in an unacceptable manner are charged with either unsportsmanlike conduct, unnecessary roughness or flagrant misconduct. Flagrant misconduct, the most serious offense, is penalized by deduction of one team point, disqualification of the individual, removal of the individual from the premises and the opponent being declared the winner.
Because of the severity of this penalty, the committee contends that referees are reluctant to impose it. Rather than call flagrant misconduct, referees call unsportsmanlike conduct or unnecessary roughness. The result is that only a relatively minor penalty (match points) is imposed when a more severe measure is warranted.
The situation is most evident during qualifying tournaments, when a flagrant misconduct call would prevent the offender from advancing to the national championships.
Under the recommendation, referees who determine that a breach-of-decorum infraction is serious -- but not to the degree that it warrants removal from an event -- can call misconduct. This new infraction would be the proper call when contestants are guilty of continued unsportsmanlike conduct or continued unnecessary roughness.
The offender would be disqualified from the match in which the behavior occurred and one team point would be deducted, but the individual would be permitted to remain in the arena and, if the event is a tournament, would be permitted to compete in subsequent days. If an act of misconduct is repeated, the penalty for flagrant misconduct would be imposed.
Such a change also would necessitate a change in the flagrant-misconduct rule.
When the referee determines that an action of a competitor warrants removal from the event (not just the individual match, as under the current rule), flagrant misconduct would be called and the appropriate penalties applied.
Other actions
In other actions involving rules, the committee:
Addressed concern about student-athletes taking injury timeouts when not truly injured. The committee did not recommend any rules change, because of concern about legal action in the case of a legitimately injured wrestler, but it added a note to Rule 7-1, which governs timeouts. The note reminds coaches and competitors that taking an injury timeout for a noninjury situation is unethical, and refers readers to the Coaches' Code of Ethics and the Student-Athletes' Statement of Conduct and Responsibility found at the beginning of the NCAA Wrestling Rules book.
After a discussion of weigh-in changes made last year, the committee recommended that regular-season weigh-ins be conducted no later than three days before a given competition. Last season, weigh-ins could be conducted at any time the coaches could agree upon. The reasons for the change are to ensure that competitors are near their weight class at the time of competition and to avoid controversy among coaches as they try to negotiate opportune weigh-in times for their teams.
Subcommittee actions
The subcommittees of the NCAA Wrestling Committee took the following actions during meetings April 7-11 in Key West, Florida:
Division I subcommittee
Recommended to the NCAA Executive Committee that the West region be disbanded because of a lack of sponsoring institutions. Current members of that region who do not join a conference as affiliate members would qualify for the championships via the East regional.
Recommended that all sessions of the Division I championships start one hour earlier (10 a.m. and 6 p.m.) so that each would end approximately an hour earlier. The change would permit media representatives from different time zones to file more complete coverage and meet deadlines more easily.
Division II subcommittee
Recommended that the number of officials be increased from nine to 12. If this is approved, mat assistants would be eliminated. The subcommittee feels that such a change would improve officiating.
Recommended the following regional qualifying tournament sites for next season: North Dakota State University (North Central Conference), Kutztown University of Pennsylvania (East regional), University of Central Oklahoma (Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference), Colorado School of Mines (West regional) and Carson-Newman College (South regional).
Requested that all matches at the championships be videotaped.
Recommended to the Executive Committee that the championships host's guarantee be set at a minimum of $7,500.
Recommended that the University of Nebraska, Omaha, host the 1998 championships.
Recommended that the length of all wrestle-back matches be increased from six minutes to seven.
Division III subcommittee
Requested that the National Wrestling Coaches Association survey its membership to determine if it is advisable to move the championships finals from Saturday evening to Saturday afternoon. Upper Iowa University, next year's host, has requested such a change in an attempt to gain better attendance and media coverage.
Noted that Coe College and Cornell College have moved from the Midwest Collegiate Conference to the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, thus leaving the Midwest Collegiate Conference with less than the six teams required to run a qualifying tournament. The subcommittee recommended that the remaining conference teams, Carroll College (Wisconsin), Illinois College, Knox College, Lawrence University and Monmouth College (Illinois), be moved to the West region.
Recommended that Ursinus College host the 1998 East regional and that either the University of Chicago or Wilmington College (Ohio) host the West regional. All other qualifying tournament sites will be named by sponsoring conferences at a later date.
Other highlights
Wrestling Committee
April 7-11/Key West, Florida
Recommended to the NCAA Executive Committee that an injured wrestler be permitted to receive coaching during a timeout for bleeding. Currently, coaching in this situation is illegal, because it is included in the rules governing an injury timeout. The intent of the current rule is to prevent competitors from faking an injury to receive a timeout and receive advice from their coaches. The committee believes that since bleeding is unquestionably a legitimate injury, coaching should be permitted.
Responded to a directive from the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports that all sports rules committees shall adopt a rule governing tobacco use. The committee recommended to the Executive Committee that a new section be added to Rule 6, titled Tobacco Use. Under the recommendation, personnel using tobacco (student-athletes, coaches or other team personnel) would first be given a warning. Failure to adhere to the rule after the warning would result in disqualification of the offender, deduction of one team point and removal of the violator from the premises for the duration of the event in which the violation occurred. A warning given during a multiple-day event would be effective throughout the competition. Tobacco use by officials, including referees, assistant referees, timekeepers and scorers in the wrestling venue, also would be prohibited during or after a dual meet or tournament. Since playing rules do not provide means of penalizing officials, the committee recommended that violations be reported to the event administrator.
Recommended that follow-up weigh-ins be conducted after the all-American round at the championships to monitor the effects of changes in wait rules.
Recommended that the Wrestling Committee be permitted to fine schools that file incorrect or erroneous administrative forms (including season-record forms, schedule-verification forms and weigh-in forms).
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