The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- August 16, 1999

SAAC summit emphasizes consistent conference structure

BY DAVID PICKLESTAFF WRITER

HILTON HEAD, South Carolina -- When it comes to establishing priorities, Division II student-athletes have few problems figuring out where they want to go. Their challenge is in getting there as efficiently as possible.

Few would argue that Division II student-athletes are much more focused on NCAA issues than they were a decade ago.

The national Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) has proven itself to be consistently effective as a governance entity, and in many cases, institutional SAACs also have worked well.

But Division II now has a structure that is based on conference representation, and for a number of reasons, student-athlete governance involvement seems more difficult to achieve at that level.

Division II -- like Divisions I and III -- requires every member conference to have a student-athlete advisory committee (Constitution 3.3.4.7).

The requirement, however, is a fairly recent one, having been adopted at the 1998 Convention. Because of the problems that have become apparent in consistently implementing effective conference SAACs, Division II student-athletes spent most of their discretionary time at the July 24-25 Division II Management Council/Student-Athlete Summit focusing on the topic.

Part of the problem is that some conferences simply do not buy in to the concept of student-athlete representation (some student-athlete representatives say they have yet to meet their conference commissioner).

"I think there's a kind of uneasiness with student-athlete involvement that is similar to what we've seen in the past with faculty athletics representatives and senior woman administrators," said Clint Bryant, director of athletics at Augusta State University and chair of the Division II Management Council.

But in many other cases, conferences have the desire for more student-athlete inclusion. In those cases, they face a number of practical and philosophical stumbling blocks in creating effective SAACs.

Not as easy as it seems

On the surface, there would seem to be a parallel between creating a national SAAC and establishing SAACs at the conference level.

However, the national SAAC is bolstered by NCAA resources, including staff support, compilation and distribution of material, and travel expenses. Division II conferences can supply any or all of those services, but in some cases, doing so can cause a strain, given their often limited resources.

Division II student-athletes understand that resources are finite and, at least in some cases, they are willing to help with matters such as minor travel expenses.

"Any athlete who isn't willing to drive once a year to a conference meeting probably shouldn't have been appointed in the first place," said outgoing SAAC chair Stormie Wells, who represents the North Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

Bryant applauds the athletes' willingness to contribute but says that student participation should not involve excessive sacrifice, and certainly not financial sacrifice.

"There is no way that student-athletes going to a conference SAAC meeting should be picking up their own expenses," he said. "I heard that during this meeting, and that disturbs me. Institutions or conferences must provide financial backing to make sure student-athletes are not taxed because of their participation. As we prepare our budgets, we should treat athletes as we treat any other entity and make sure that the funding is there for travel, for example."

Nevertheless, the student-athletes -- realizing that funding is going to be a perennial issue -- seem eager to provide ideas that might soften the financial blow.

"Recognizing that our conference SAACs have limited or no funding, some conference committees have found it convenient to meet at the same time as another activity involving all of the institutions of the conference," said Jennifer Wiggins, a national SAAC representative from Mars Hill College. "This past year, one of our conference SAACs met at a basketball tournament and again in April at the spring sports festival. This helps to alleviate financial problems that many conference SAACs face when trying to meet, and this also provides a great opportunity for the SAAC members to meet every conference committee and also to watch their athletes in various competitions."

Heather Andrews of Missouri Southern State College said that the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association's successful SAAC selects meeting dates around athletics schedules. It also meets on Sundays to avoid missed class time. "In addition to the face-to-face meetings," she said, "there will also be mailings, phone calls and conference calls that will occur throughout the year to maintain communication."

The MIAA is able to conduct in-person meetings because it is relatively compact. It conducts most of its meetings in Kansas City, Missouri, and nobody is more than a three-hour drive away.

But not all conferences are so snug. The Gulf South Conference reaches from Valdosta State University in Georgia to Southern Arkansas University. The Pacific West Conference extends from the University of Alaska Fairbanks to Western New Mexico University. Face-to-face meetings for a conference SAAC always will be a challenge in such cases.

Plugging into the system

Although they are sympathetic to such logistical challenges and appear willing to help where they can, the student-athletes would like to see more support from the conferences.

"Now that I'm a newly married man, I think it's like this: You've made the commitment, now you have the responsibility," Greg Clark, a SAAC member from Kennesaw State University, told the Management Council.

The responsibility goes beyond simply facilitating meetings for the SAACs. An equally important question seems to be how conference SAACs should plug into the multi-institutional governance process. On that matter, there seem to be different points of view.

"I think it would be very important -- and elevate the status of our SAAC member and her committee -- if she were to report at our conference meeting," said Kaye P. Crook, faculty athletics representative at Coker College.

Jerry M. Hughes, director of athletics at Central Missouri State University, said his conference took a formal position on how the conference SAAC would report.

"We batted around whether the conference rep should sit in on the conference meeting with the institutional reps, and we came out that they should not," Hughes said. "We did that philosophically from the same standpoint that we don't let coaches' groups in."

Thomas R. Shirley Jr., director of athletics at Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science, said he struggles with finding a practical way to make the system work.

"I have to go back to Jerry's comments about having the student-athletes report at the conference meeting," Shirley said. "That's great, but for us, that means a student-athlete has to drive on a weekday for three hours, give a half-hour presentation and drive back. That's not practical."

James W. Watson, director of athletics at West Liberty State College, noted that many conferences have Web sites that could be modified to enhance student-athlete governance involvement.

Bryant acknowledges that finding the ideal will not necessarily be easy, but he said that each conference still must develop a plan.

"Each conference must sit down and figure out how it happens," he said. "They have to deal with this issue. We should not do more for student-athletes than we do for other groups, but we shouldn't be doing less.

"Their input should be and must be heard."

1999-00 priorities

The Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee has prioritized the following issues for the 1999-00 academic year: