The NCAA News - News and Features

January 12, 1998

NCAA CONVENTION -- Convention review

1988

Site: Opryland Hotel, Nashville, Tennessee.

President: Wilford S. Bailey, Auburn University.

Major actions: Increased to $1,400 (from $900) the amount of Pell Grant funds Division I student-athletes may receive in addition to full athletics grants ... Affirmed Division III institutions' commitment to awarding need-based aid only ... Directed the Postseason Football Committee to abandon discussion of a Division I-A football championship format until "compelling evidence" demonstrates a need to proceed ... Former Executive Director Walter Byers, who retired October 1, 1987, was praised at the honors luncheon.

1989

Site: Hilton Hotel, San Francisco.

President: Bailey.

Major actions: Approved Proposal No. 42, which provided that partial qualifiers under NCAA Bylaw 5-1-(j) no longer would be eligible for athletics grants-in-aid beginning with the 1990-91 academic year ... Approved a revised version of the NCAA Manual ... Defeated a proposal to permit increases in Pell Grant awards under specified conditions ... Voted down a proposal for a 12th regular-season football game in Division I-A ... Voted down a resolution to establish an initial-eligibility clearinghouse.

1990

Site: Loews Anatole Hotel, Dallas.

President: Albert M. Witte, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.

Major actions: Rescinded 1989 Convention Proposal No. 42 and voted to permit partial qualifiers to receive nonathletically related financial aid ... Spent five hours debating measures to reduce time demands on student-athletes and took 24 roll-call votes on the matter ... Reduced spring football practice in Divisions I-A and I-AA to 15 sessions (10 involving contact in 21 days), reduced maximum number of regular-season basketball games to 25 and directed that appropriate time-demand-reduction legislation for sports other than football and basketball be drafted for the 1991 Convention.

1991

Site: Opryland Hotel, Nashville, Tennessee.

President: Witte.

Major actions: Presidents Commission reform package romped to approval ... One delegate seeking to amend coaching-staff limitations acknowledged that he did so "at the risk of being additional road kill on the highway to reform" ... Approved proposals to limit recruiting activities, to phase out the use of athletics dormitories, to create the new category of "restricted-earnings coach" and to cut the number of permissible grants-in-aid in all Division I sports by 10 percent ... Approved an amended version of Proposal No. 38, which was designed to reduce time demands on student-athletes by further restricting playing and practice seasons in all sports in Divisions I and II. The legislation limited student-athletes to 20 hours of competition or required practice time during the playing season, with one full day off ... Elected Judith M. Sweet of the University of California, San Diego, to serve as NCAA president. She became the first woman to hold that position.

1992

Site: Hilton Hotel and Towers, Anaheim, California.

President: Judith M. Sweet, University of California, San Diego.

Major actions: Altered Division I initial-eligibility requirements by raising the number of core courses required of a high-school athlete from 11 to 13 and by creating an initial-eligibility index that would require higher grade-point averages for prospects who meet only the minimum SAT or ACT standards ... Voted that student-athletes will be required to meet 25 percent of their degree requirements by the beginning of their third year, 50 percent by the fourth and 75 percent by the fifth ... Also, student-athletes will be required to have 95 percent of the GPA required for graduation by the beginning of the third year and 100 percent for subsequent years ... A plan to create a Division I-AAA football division was defeated ... Council Subcommittee on Certification reported to the Convention.

1993

Site: Loews Anatole Hotel, Dallas.

President: Sweet.

Major actions: Approved an athletics certification program for Division I institutions ... Creation of Joint Policy Board approved. New body included the Administrative Committee and the officers of the Presidents Commission ... NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse created by Division I (291-18-3) and Division II (180-28) ... Administrative Review Panel created to deal with unusual situations involving the application of Association legislation ... Heard a report from the NCAA Gender-Equity Task Force in a half-hour discussion of the topic during the opening session ... Former President John R. Davis served as honors dinner emcee when Cable News Network anchor Bernard Shaw had to cancel at the last minute.

1994

Site: Marriott Riverwalk Hotel, San Antonio.

President: Joseph N. Crowley, University of Nevada.

Major actions: In his first "State of the Association" address, new Executive Director Cedric W. Dempsey told delegates not to fear making necessary changes to reform legislation ... A group of Division I-A commissioners proposed a new structure for the Association. Under the proposal, the principal governing body would be a 15-member board of trustees, all of whom would be chief executive officers ... The Black Coaches Association announced a possible boycott of basketball games after a proposal to reinstate a 14th grant-in-aid for Division I men's basketball was defeated. The NCAA and BCA later met and developed a plan for addressing issues articulated by the BCA ... Principle of gender equity was added to the NCAA Constitution ... Basketball student-athletes provided with a one-time opportunity to test their market value in the NBA draft ... Student-Athlete Advisory Committee emerged as an effective force for affecting legislation.

1995

Site: Marriott Hotel, San Diego.

President: Crowley.

Major actions: Dempsey expressed pride in the Association's growing commitment to ethnic and racial diversity and its willingness in the previous year to "openly and critically" examine initial-eligibility standards ... Division I delegates delayed the implementation date of the initial-eligibility index of 1992 Convention Proposal No. 16 until August 1996 ... Approved legislation to permit partial qualifiers to receive athletically related financial aid and to practice (but not compete) as freshmen ... Rejected by 12 votes a proposal to permit partial qualifiers to earn a fourth season of eligibility ... Rejected a proposal that would have permitted Division I athletes to earn up to $1,500 beyond a full grant-in-aid in an on- or off-campus job during the academic year.

1996

Site: Wyndham Anatole Hotel, Dallas.

President: Eugene F. Corrigan, Atlantic Coast Conference.

Major actions: Approved massive membership restructuring plan designed to provide greater division autonomy and more presidential control. The vote on the primary restructuring legislation was 777-79-1 ... Division I delegates rejected proposed modifications to initial-eligibility standards ... In Division I, adopted tougher transfer standards for junior college men's basketball and football athletes who were nonqualifiers coming out of high school ... Defeated a Division I proposal that would have permitted student-athletes to exempt employment earnings from the full grant-in-aid limit ... Defeated a proposal to reinstate the 14th grant-in-aid in men's Division I basketball ... Defeated an athletics certification plan in Division II ... Approved legislation requiring that specified events be certified by the NCAA Special Events Committee in order to be exempted from an institution's maximum number of contests/dates of competition.

1997

Site: Opryland Hotel, Nashville, Tennessee.

President: Corrigan.

Major actions: Division I delegates approved Proposal No. 62, which would permit student-athletes to earn employment income during the academic year. By the end of the Convention, however, resistance to the new legislation was building; in August, the Division I Board of Directors delayed implementation of the legislation for one year ... The Presidents Commission asked the Board of Directors to study the NCAA's role in postseason football ... Division I approved permitting a fourth season of eligibility for partial qualifiers who complete a baccalaureate degree before the beginning of that athlete's fifth year of collegiate enrollment ... Dempsey urged continued progress on student-athlete welfare issues in his state of the Association address ... Division II delegates reacted enthusiastically to news that brackets for five team championships likely will be expanded beginning in 1997-98 ... After hearing a comprehensive presentation on the options for subdividing or subgrouping Division III championships, a strong majority of the Division III membership expressed its desire to limit changes in championships to enhancements that are already planned.