National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

January 19, 1998

NCAA CONVENTION -- Dempsey emphasizes planning in period of change

BY JACK L. COPELAND
MANAGING EDITOR, THE NCAA NEWS

ATLANTA -- Even as the Association continues to adapt to significant change, it is planning ahead into the new century, NCAA Executive Director Cedric W. Dempsey said in his annual State of the Association speech at the 1998 Convention.

Implementation of the new governance structure, increased reliance on the national office staff in problem-solving, selection of a new headquarters site in Indianapolis, steps to take advantage of new communication technology and an escalation of the search for new revenue sources all occurred during 1997.

"It truly has been an eventful year," Dempsey said January 11 during the opening business session -- the only Convention business session in which delegates from all three membership divisions participated, marking another change from the past. "Indeed, we can expect change to be a constant companion and a constant challenge to us for the rest of the millennium."

Priorities listed

But Dempsey devoted most of the speech to the Association's priorities during the next few years:

  • Continue implementation of the new governance structure, including clarification and reinforcement of presidential control and leadership. He said the Association still has work to do in implementing budgetary, legislative and committee processes and defining relationships among and rules within divisions.

  • Manage the move to Indianapolis in order to "create the best possible headquarters for this Association" while maintaining "workplace effectiveness and the quality of service" the membership expects.

  • Develop a public relations plan "designed to enhance public support and understanding of the NCAA's mission, role, challenges and achievements."

  • Balance the Association's mission and values with marketing and promotional initiatives both domestically and around the world. "In all our programs, we must be mindful of both the fiscal imperatives and our responsibility to our mission," Dempsey said.

    Student-athlete interests

    Dempsey listed a fifth -- and "clearly the most important" -- priority: Keep student-athlete interests "at the heart of NCAA decision-making."

    He noted that more than $36 million of the Association's current $267 million budget directly benefits student-athletes. "But not all student-athlete interests are financial and not all problems can be solved with money," Dempsey said.

    He asked the membership to focus on five specific student-athlete interests:

  • A continuing dialog with student-athletes through campus advisory boards and other opportunities for student-athletes to voice opinions and be heard. "We cannot learn until we listen, and we cannot make wise decisions until we understand," Dempsey said.

  • A commitment to student-athletes' academic success. "For example, are you monitoring the balance between the time your student-athletes are engaged in their athletic and academic pursuits?" Dempsey said the Association and its members must make sure "our practices align with our ideas."

  • Development of student-athlete life skills programs "to bring meaning and purpose and fulfillment long after life on the playing field is finished."

  • Improvement of diversity within the coaching ranks. "In your last recruiting for a coach, what steps did you take to increase the ethnic and gender diversity of your staff? Our performance in this area leaves much to be desired.."

  • A review of the concept of amateurism -- focusing on whether that term places "unfair perceptions and unnecessary limitations on student-athletes" -- and establishment of a "new paradigm that reflects current reality vis-a-vis what it means to be a college-eligible student-athlete."

    Addressing these student-athlete interests will mark a return to what Dempsey termed the Association's first principle: the "centrality" of the student-athlete.

    "I encourage each of you to take up these challenges as we begin 1998. The truth is, win-loss records and profit-and-loss statements will be forgotten. In the end, we will be judged by the world, our peers, ourselves and those student-athletes who pass through our doors on how successfully we fulfill our mission."