The NCAA News - News and Features

November 10, 1997

Division III working hard on football

Championship access issue good test for new structure

BY THEODORE A. BREIDENTHAL
STAFF WRITER

With autonomy comes responsibility.

Now that NCAA restructuring is complete and Division III is on its own, the responsibility for enhancing championship access has become a high priority.

Specifically, Division III governance teams are in the final phase of a two-year commitment to increase participation for team sports with sponsorship of at least 200 member institutions.

Overall, eight team sports are sponsored by at least 200 schools. A total of $750,000 was allocated from the new Division III operating budget to increase seven of those championships' brackets (baseball, men's basketball, women's basketball, men's soccer, women's soccer, women's softball and women's volleyball) for the 1997-98 championships season.

The only Division III team sport left to expand is football.

In a model of teamwork and, quite possibly, a model for how the division will conduct its future business, many Division III constituents have persevered to develop creative and somewhat radical options to generate greater access to the Division III Football Championship.

Access is the key

The current 16-team championship format has a participation ratio of one berth per 13.5 schools. A 24-team bracket would improve the ratio to an acceptable 1:9.

"I think the key variable that fits our philosophy is access," said James R. Appleton, president of the University of Redlands and a member of the Division III Management Council. "One of the important variables that is being considered is increasing the access for some postseason play to a ratio of conferences and independents that do play football that is somewhat closer to the ratio we like to see for other team sports in Division III, which is about a 1:8 ratio."

Appleton said the format of the championship has to be linked to this concept of access.

"We want to give further emphasis to in-season and conference play so that a companion to this access question is some format that gives further guarantee to conference champions for having the opportunity for postseason play," he said.

"The intent, hopefully, will reduce the subjective nature of who has access. We would provide some qualified independents but also conference champions the opportunity for postseason play and therefore place further emphasis on the in-season and the conference arrangements."

Prologue

Currently 209 Division III institutions sponsor football, with eight provisional schools ready to strap on the pads in 1998. The current 16-team national championship is played in four weeks. The biggest challenge facing the various committees is how to afford additional teams the opportunity for postseason play without adding another week to the championship. College presidents have indicated an unwillingness to exceed the four-week window.

At the request of the Division III Championships Committee, the Division III Football Committee developed seven options to expand championships opportunities for the membership. In developing the options, the committee's goal was to increase the number of teams participating in postseason competition while at the same time preserving the integrity of the championship.

The Division III Championships Committee reviewed the seven options initially submitted by the football committee and pared that list to three. These options were sent in the form of a questionnaire to all Division III football-playing institutions and conferences (see accompanying box).

Athletics directors at 217 member institutions that sponsor or will sponsor football received the survey. A total of 151 responses (70 percent) recently have been received.

An overwhelming 92 percent (139 of 151) supported a bracket increase from 16 to 24 teams.

Options 1 and 2 received enough favorable response to warrant discussion at the 1998 NCAA Convention in Atlanta.

At its meeting October 21, the Division III Management Council voted to recommend to the Division III Presidents Council that a forum discussion of Options 1 and 2 be added to the Division III Business Session agenda at the Convention.

The Presidents Council agreed to place the item on the agenda. The forum discussion will take place from 11-11:30 a.m. and 1:30-2:30 p.m. Monday, January 12.

The options

Steve Bamford, director of athletics at Plymouth State College and chair of the Division III Football Committee, said that if the Division III Management Council and Presidents Council approve the concept, bracket expansion might be implemented for the 1998 championship.

"If that's the case," he said, "I can tell you that everybody I've talked to -- and I've talked to people from all over the country -- they are very excited about bracket expansion in Division III football."

Bamford said most people associated with Division III football would prefer to have a five-week tournament with 24 teams. In that format, the top eight seeds would receive a first-round bye. He said that all 24 teams playing for one national championship would be the preference of the membership.

"The Management Council, Presidents Council and the Championships Committee have said we cannot extend the football postseason into a fifth week," he said. "As a result, we had to go with a different scheme in terms of the format for the extra eight teams."

Bamford noted that the national invitational concept (Options 1 and 2) keeps intact the present 16-team tournament that would crown a national champion at the Stagg Bowl. An additional eight-team bracket, consisting of the fifth- and sixth seeded teams from each of the four regions, would play for a national "invitational" championship.

"This would provide them an opportunity to compete in NCAA postseason play and provide recognition of a great season, even though they would not be playing for the national championship," Bamford said.

The regional concept (Option 3) received very little support, he said.

Commissioner concerned

Dennis Collins, commissioner of the North Coast Athletic Conference, said he is concerned because few of the coaches and athletics directors in his conference have expressed an interest in any of the three options. He said, however, that he is glad a forum discussion will occur.

"(A discussion of bracket expansion) needs to be aired at the American Football Coaches Association convention and the NCAA Convention so that all of the coaches are informed," Collins said. "Everyone is in favor of bracket expansion. I'm just not sure I would call this bracket expansion."

Gary Karner, commissioner of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, expressed concern that the new format might develop into a "noninvitational" tournament.

"It's not the real deal," he said. "A team is not playing for the national championship. It will be interesting to see what the perception of it is and what the reaction is. At the same time, if it's a way to get more schools in postseason competition, I'm for it. If it's a way to get automatic qualifiers, I'm for it."

Karner said the coaches in his conference were in favor of Options 1 and 2 but definitely were against Option 3 because it does not allow for a national champion.

Larry Kehres, director of athletics and head football coach at defending champion Mount Union College, said the goal should be to increase participation but at the same time retain the integrity of a national championship. He believes that none of the three options clearly offers that combination.

"The regional championships give up the idea of a national champion," he said. "I think the eight teams selected for the invitational championship would be disappointed that they didn't get invited to the national-championship playoffs.

"While that would increase participation, it would be outside the realm of a national championship. I don't have a solution, however. It's just a very difficult problem to solve without playing five rounds of football."

Kehres said he would favor participation with the idea that there would be a true national champion. He would give up the one scrimmage opportunity, start the season one week earlier and play five rounds of playoffs.

"But I know that is a hard sell to some members of the NCAA executive committees," he said.

Bamford said that while Plymouth State has the highest winning percentage in Division III football history, it is not currently a contender for a national championship.

"We are pretenders for a national championship," he said. "Realistically, we know we're probably going to go and be there for one or two rounds, but we're probably going to get beat because we just don't have the kind of program that can compete year in and year out for a national championship.

"I don't think (the invitational tournament) is just another game because it could be three games; it could be a national invitational championship plaque coming back to the institution. I think that is tremendous recognition that your program is one of the top programs in the country. That is a great recruiting tool for your football program."

Appleton said the specifics for providing the access haven't been determined.

"Each of us has our own particular preferences and in the spirit of Division III we will continue to have broad discussion," he said. "We will poll our members frequently and try to come up with something that has some reasonable consensus about it."

A new 'model'

John Biddiscombe, director of athletics at Wesleyan College (Connecticut) and a member of the Division III Championships Committee, has found the process more fascinating from a governance perspective than from one involving just football.

"This is a model or an example of how the new governance structure is going to function," said Biddiscombe, who will take over as chair of the Division III Management Council after the Convention.

"It represents two things to me: one, a process that has included significant participation by the sports committee and by the constituents. Second, strong supervision by the leadership. It's had presidential review and input. It's had oversight by the Management Council. It's had regulation and review by the Championships Committee. All of the various bodies that need to have input in order to provide a meaningful championship experience for the athletes have provided input."

Biddiscombe lauded the football committee for the depth of its creativity.

"The Championships Committee set down the parameters on what things we wanted them to look at and they really responded well," Biddiscombe said. "I thought it was one of the best laid-out set of options initially that I have seen come through from a sports committee."

Convention opportunity

Biddiscombe views the NCAA Convention as an opportunity for education and strong listening. He noted that bracket expansion is not a legislative piece; it will not require a formal vote of the membership. It is likely, however, that delegates may be able to express their preferences for Options 1 or 2 via straw votes.

Those sentiments will be forwarded to the Division III Football Committee, Division III Championships Committee, Division III Management Council and Division III Presidents Council, where the issue ultimately will be decided.

"We need to listen carefully to what an individual has to say and educate them about the merits of each of the plans and the concerns of people who say they don't want the continuous focus on just a national championship," Biddiscombe said. "We want to talk about the participation issue, as well."

Appleton said that he does not think a consensus will be reached before the Convention.

"There will be some people who have very highly established opinions and will be resistant to any change," he said. "But I think it will be a good discussion and, in the spirit of Division III, we want those contrary opinions to be placed on the table for consideration and ultimately, hopefully, good heads will come to the best resolution."