The NCAA News - News and Features

May 5, 1997

Division I cabinet chairs are selected

The Division I Management Council has selected chairs for the four cabinets that have been created as part of the new Division I structure.

At its April meeting in Atlanta, the Management Council selected the following chairs:

Academics/Eligibility/Compliance -- David B. Knight, faculty athletics representative, University of North Carolina, Greensboro.

Business/Finance -- Gary A. Cunningham, director of athletics, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Championships/Competition -- Christopher Hill, director of athletics, University of Utah.

Strategic Planning -- Harold P. Menninger, director of athletics, Mount St. Mary's College (Maryland).

Academics

Knight, an organic chemist, has been at North Carolina-Greensboro since 1967 and is the only person to have served in the role of faculty athletics representative at the institution. Knight, who holds a Ph.D. from Duke University, currently is president of the Faculty Athletics Representatives Association. He also is a member of the NCAA Academic Requirements and Research Committees.

Standing committees that will report directly to the Academics/ Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet include the Financial Aid and Amateurism and Initial-Eligibility Waivers Committees.

Business

Cunningham has been director of athletics at UC Santa Barbara since 1995, having served in a similar capacity at California State University, Fresno, for the previous nine years. He is a past president of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and has served on the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee.

He also has chaired the NCAA Basketball Officiating Committee and has been a member of the NCAA Committee on Committees and the Committee on Women's Athletics, in addition to the ad hoc Basketball Issues Committee.

The Business/Finance Committee will oversee budgetary matters, along with activities relating to marketing, licensing and promotion.

Championships

Hill has been director of athletics at Utah since the 1987-88 academic year. He has overseen an era in which Utah athletics teams have competed at a high level, including a total of six NCAA championships in women's gymnastics and men's and women's skiing.

Previous to becoming AD at Utah, Hill served two years as the chief fund-raiser for the university's athletics department. He had earlier served as a graduate assistant basketball coach at Utah and as an assistant basketball coach from 1979 to 1981.

All Division I sports committees report directly to the Championship/ Competition Cabinet, as do all committees that administer National Collegiate championships.

In addition, Division I members on Association-wide rules committees or committees with playing-rules responsibilities report to this cabinet, along with Division I members of the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports.

The Division I Football Issues Committee also reports directly to this cabinet.

Strategic planning

Menninger was named AD at Mount St. Mary's in 1995. He previously served as athletics director at Fairfield, Seattle University and Nasson College. Earlier, he served 10 years as dean of student program development and head men's soccer coach at the University of Southern Maine.

He has a doctorate in educational administration from the University of New Mexico.

Division I members of the following Association-wide committees will report directly to the Strategic Plan-ning Cabinet: the Minority Opportunities and Interests, National Youth Sports Program, Olympic Sports Liaison and Research Commitees and the Committees on Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct and Women's Athletics.

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At its April meeting, the Division I Management Council also agreed on term rotations for cabinet members. Members of the cabinets currently are being advised; more information will be provided in a future issue of The NCAA News.

In addition, term rotations for members of the Division I Board of Directors and Management Council have been announced (see accompanying tables).