National Collegiate Athletic Association

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The NCAA News -- April 26, 1999

Division III Management Council approves championships growth

BY KAY HAWES
STAFF WRITER

NEWPORT BEACH, California -- Budgetary issues and proposed championships expansions highlighted the discussion at the Division III Management Council's April 12-13 meeting.

The Council considered and approved numerous significant recommendations from the Division III Championships Committee that would increase participation and standardize the championships experience for Division III student-athletes.

The Council also reviewed and endorsed the preliminary 1999-00 Division III proposed budget, prioritizing its recommendations for expenditures regarding championships and educational initiatives.

Like the Management Council's recommendations regarding the budget and championships, much of the Council's recommendations coming out of this meeting will be subject to review by the Division III Presidents Council.

Championships

The Management Council endorsed a recommendation from the Division III Championships Committee to increase championship brackets in selected team sports to reflect a 1:7.5 ratio. Previously, the ratio had been 1:8.

The intent of this increase is to enhance opportunity, especially for those sports with a large number of automatic qualifiers and independent institutions. This increase would address concerns expressed at the 1999 NCAA Convention regarding the limited number of berths available to Pool C (nonchampions from automatic-qualifying conferences) in the implementation of the new automatic-qualification legislation, effective 1999-00.

In another action, the Council supported funding to provide greater consistency of mementos, hospitality activities and officials/volunteer apparel for Division III championship finals.

Championships host institutions will receive $50 for every member of the teams' official traveling party with the intent that the host would purchase mementos with the funds.

The intent of this recommendation was to standardize the experience for the participating student-athletes. In the past, the value of the memento depended upon the host institution's ability to raise funds, so certain sports' participants have received numerous championships mementos, while others have received nothing.

In another action, the Management Council supported a recommendation to increase individual/team-sport field sizes in men's and women's cross country (from 184 to 215 berths); men's tennis (from 124 to 202 berths); and women's tennis (from 124 to 222 berths). The Council noted that increasing opportunities for individual/team-sport student-athletes is one of the priorities identified in the Division III championships strategic plan.

The Council also supported a recommendation to add 16 relay-only swimmers (four relay teams) to the Division III men's and women's swimming championships. This adjustment would provide more championships participation opportunities, perhaps permitting the best relay swimmers in the nation to be involved with the relay championships, regardless of their qualification (or lack thereof) for individual events.

The Council also supported permitting -- in the rare case of a tie for last entry to the men's and women's swimming championships -- allowing both individuals tied for last place to participate in the championships.

The Council also approved enhancements to the officiating for Division III championships, including increases in officials' fees in selected sports and the addition of a three-person crew in women's basketball.

Division III operating budget

The Management Council reviewed and endorsed the Division III proposed operating budget for the 1999-00 fiscal year. The Management Council also prioritized its recommendations for budget expenditures and forwarded those priorities to the Division III Presidents Council. First among the priorities was increasing the team sport/individual championships opportunities.

As endorsed, the budget included $730,000 total for championships initiatives. The Management Council also noted that the funds for the recommended championships initiatives were contained in the proposed budget without tapping the division's reserves.

The Council also recommended that the Division III Budget Committee consider an amount of money to be encumbered in the 2000-01 budget to be used for educational initiatives described in the Division III strategic plan.

Committee meeting frequency

After a review of the current schedule of Division III and Association-wide committees, the Management Council adopted noncontroversial legislation to change Bylaw 31 to limit the Division III committees to two in-person meetings per year beginning with the 1999-00 academic year.

Committees would be able to formally request a waiver for an additional meeting, if necessary. The Management Council also expressed support for the adoption of similar legislation related to Association-wide committees.

The current legislation provides for only one meeting per year, but that requirement had been relaxed across the board to permit committees to address restructuring issues. The Executive Committee had asked the Management Councils in all three divisions to review the meeting schedule and recommend changes that reflect the Association's new travel policies and ongoing budgetary concerns.

There are 115 committees conducting Association work, involving more than 1,100 volunteers from member institutions and conferences. The travel costs and expenses associated with these meetings represents a significant amount of the Association's annual operating budget.

SAAC actions

In conjunction with its review of all committees' meeting frequency, the Management Council tabled a request from the Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee to waive the two-meeting rule and permit the Division III SAAC to add a March meeting to its schedule next year.

The Management Council approved a request from the Division III SAAC to conduct a summer meeting in conjunction with the Management Council's July meeting in Hilton Head, South Carolina. (The Division I and Division II SAACs also plan to meet at that time.) The Council also approved a joint reception with the Division III SAAC at Hilton Head.

In another action, the Council endorsed a SAAC proposal to sponsor noncontroversial legislation to add one student-athlete from each division to the following Association-wide committees: the Committee on Women's Athletics, the Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports, the Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct Committee, and the Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee.

Proposed equestrian rules

The Management Council reviewed proposed rules for the new NCAA emerging sport of equestrian that had been presented by the Equestrian Rules Development Committee -- an advisory group not affiliated with the NCAA but affiliated with the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA).

This group had proposed rules based on its initial recommendation that the Association add equestrian as an emerging sport. (Equestrian is scheduled to officially become an emerging sport August 1, 1999.)

The Council noted that it also had received a set of conflicting rules proposed by yet another group, the Affiliated National Riding Commission (ANRC).

The Council expressed concern that Division III interests may not have been adequately represented, and it also expressed concern that the proposed rules put before it were representative of the input of a limited group of individuals in a sport that is extremely diverse.

The Council agreed to recommend that staff pursue input from a more diverse group of equestrian interests, including both the IHSA and ANRC as well as individuals representing the interests of all NCAA divisions that are active in the sport. (A consensus on proposed rules must be achieved in July in order for the legislation to be sponsored at the 2000 NCAA Convention.)

A report on the Division III Presidents Council meeting will appear in the May 10 issue of The NCAA News.

Other highlights

Division III Management Council>br> April 12-13/Newport Beach, California

  • Heard a report from the Division III Nontraditional Seasons Subcommittee. At its next meeting, the subcommittee will review the results of a recent survey distributed to all Division III athletics directors.

  • Reviewed the Division III strategic plan and the Division III strategic-planning scorecards.

  • Reviewed the Gender-Equity and Diversity Audit.

  • Endorsed the concept of securing a prominent individual to provide the Association-wide keynote address during the 2000 NCAA Convention opening business session.

  • Endorsed a proposed Division III schedule for the 2000 NCAA Convention.

  • Endorsed a Division III timeline for evaluation of the NCAA governance structure.

  • Heard a report from the Division III Financial Aid and Awards Committee indicating that all Division III institutions had responded to the committee's request for information regarding their awards of circumstance and nonathletics achievement awards.

  • Agreed to draft legislation recommended by the Division III Interpretations and Legislation Committee to permit noncontroversial legislation in Bylaws 13 and 14, provided there is continual oversight and review by the committee and the Management Council.

  • Agreed to require provisional institutions' senior woman administrators and faculty athletics representatives to attend the provisional member education orientation session. Currently, only the chief executive officer and the athletics director are required to attend.

  • Agreed to permit the Division III Membership Committee to grant waivers of NCAA Bylaw 20.10.3.2 if an institution fails to complete the minimum number of contests because it chooses to forfeit or cancel games against teams whose bats do not conform to the three-prong test standard. (The NCAA Administrative Committee previously approved this request during its February telephone conference.)

  • Heard a report from the Division III Nominating Committee indicating that the committee had adopted a new operating policy in an effort to enhance diversity in the nomination pools. The committee will automatically extend the nominations deadline when fewer than two nominations are received, regardless of the qualifications of the sole nominee.

  • Reviewed Association-wide committees' proposals with budgetary impacts for 1999-00 and recommended a prioritization of those proposals for the Presidents Council and the Executive Committee to consider.