The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- August 30, 1999

Board of Directors

Following is a report of the August 5 meeting of the Division I Board of Directors at the Indianapolis Hyatt Hotel in Indianapolis. All actions taken by the Board of Directors are included. Highlights of the meeting were reported in the August 16 issue of The NCAA News.

1. Opening remarks.

2. Previous minutes. The Board reviewed minutes of its April 20, 1999, meeting.

BOARD ACTION: Approved as distributed. (Unanimous voice vote.)

3. Report of April 21 meeting of the NCAA Executive Committee.

FYI: No action taken.

4. Litigation update.

FYI: Received a report from NCAA legal counsel concerning current litigation involving the Association.

5. Report from the Division I Men's Basketball Committee.

BOARD ACTIONS:

Received a report from NCAA staff liaisons to the Division I Men's Basketball Committee, including information regarding site selection, seeding and bracketing, tournament finances, television and tickets.

Requested that the Men's Basketball Committee examine the following issues and advise the Board of Directors prior to the 2001 championship of the committee's conclusions:

a. The possible enhancement to the game environment by having more fans seated near the court rather than the current configuration, which places media representatives closest to the court and which is different than most other amateur and professional athletics events, including championship competition.

b. The effect of further raising ticket prices, recognizing the potential conflict between maximizing revenue for the NCAA versus ensuring the ability of student-athletes and the general public to afford tickets to the event.

c. The relative allocation of the number of tickets provided to the participating institutions and to the general public.

6. Status report from the Working Group to Study Division I Basketball Issues.

BOARD ACTIONS:

Reviewed a report regarding the recommendations from the Working Group to Study Division I Basketball Issues and the themes/objectives, which focused in three core areas (enhancement of the collegiate educational experience, the recruitment of basketball prospective student-athletes, and the image of the sport), and took the following actions (unanimous voice vote):

a. Endorsed the substance of the basketball working group's recommendations and commended the committee on its report.

b. Forwarded the recommendations to the Management Council, other appropriate committees, and the NCAA membership for development and review of legislation during the next legislative cycle, with a goal of adopting necessary legislation effective for the summer of 2000.

c. Requested that the Management Council provide a detailed status report to the Board in October and noted that legislative proposals will be circulated to the membership and subsequently will come to the Board for final approval and possible implementation.

7. Report of July 26-27 Division I Management Council meeting.

Review of proposed legislation approved by the Management Council.

(1) Proposals given final approval by the Management Council.

(a) Proposal No. 98-107 (MC2) -- Recruiting Calendar -- Division I Women's Basketball. Intent: To revise the current women's basketball recruiting calendar as follows: (a) to eliminate the AAU Women's National Championship competition as a permissible evaluation period unless the event occurs during the July 8 through July 31 evaluation period; and (b) permit institutional coaching staff members to place one telephone call to a prospect [or the prospect's parents or legal guardian(s)] between April 24 and May 15 of the prospect's junior year in high school, one additional call between June 21 and July 1, and three calls during the month of July (with no more than one telephone call per week).

BOARD ACTION: Defeated the proposal, noting concerns regarding any additional telephone calls and the one call permitted during the spring, which the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee opposed. (Unanimous voice vote.)

(b) Proposal No. 99-3 (MC2) -- Coaching Limitations -- Volunteer Coach. Intent: To permit an institution's volunteer coach to receive compensation for employment in an institution's sports camp or clinic, provided the compensation is commensurate with the going rate for camp or clinic counselors of like teaching ability and camp or clinic experience; further, to permit an institution to provide a volunteer coach with parking expenses associated with practice.

BOARD ACTION: Tabled the proposal until the October meeting to allow further review by legal counsel. (Unanimous voice vote.)

(c) Proposal No. 99-39 (MC2) -- Preseason Football Practice -- Maximum Number Of Participants -- Division I-AA. Intent: To specify that a maximum of 105 student-athletes may participate in Division I-AA preseason football practice.

BOARD ACTION: Defeated the proposal. (Unanimous voice vote; Division I-AA only.)

(d) Proposal No. 99-41 (BD) -- Division I Governance Structure -- Management Council. Intent: To expand the composition of the Management Council from 34 to 49 to include representatives from each of the current Division I conferences.

BOARD ACTION: Adopted the proposal, effective immediately. [For 11 (Cartwright, Casteen, Davis, Dennison, Rawlins, Halligan, Shaw, Spanier, Tyson, Wethington, Van Ummerson), against 3 (Lawless, Shapiro, Spencer).]

(e) Proposal No. 99-43 (BD) -- NCAA Football Issues Committee. Intent: To permit all Division I-AA conferences to select the individuals who serve as their representatives to the NCAA Football Issues Committee.

BOARD ACTION: Adopted the proposal, effective immediately. (Unanimous voice vote.)

(f) Proposal No. 99-44 (BD) -- Committees -- Student-Athlete Representation. Intent: To add one Division I student-athlete in an advisory capacity to the Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports, Committee on Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct, Research Committee, National Youth Sports Program Committee, Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee and Committee on Women's Athletics.

BOARD ACTION: Adopted the proposal, effective immediately. [For 13 (Cartwright, Casteen, Davis, Dennison, Lawless, Rawlins, Shaw, Shapiro, Spanier, Spencer, Tyson, Wethington, Van Ummerson), against 1 (Halligan).]

(2) Legislative Amendments to the Administrative Bylaws.

(a) Proposal No. 99-52 -- Ineligibility for Use of Banned Drugs -- Medical Exceptions. Intent: To amend Bylaw 31.2.3.2 to permit the Executive Committee to authorize a medical exception for those student-athletes with a documented medical history demonstrating the need for regular use of peptide hormones and analogues.

BOARD ACTION: Adopted the proposal, effective immediately. (Unanimous voice vote.)

(b) Proposal No. 99-56 -- Committees Finances -- Expenses/Meeting Frequency. Intent: To amend Bylaw 31.7.2.1.4 to limit the payment of expenses to two meetings per year for each committee unless authorization is received from the Management Council or Executive Committee.

BOARD ACTION: Adopted the proposal, effective immediately. (Unanimous voice vote.)

Status report regarding the review of the Division I governance structure.

BOARD ACTIONS: Reviewed a report from the Management Council and took the following actions:

(1) Definition of Emergency, Noncontroversial Legislation. Accepted the following policy adopted by the Management Council regarding the process for review of emergency, noncontroversial legislation (unanimous voice vote):

The only issues that can be considered under the "emergency, noncontroversial" provision are those that are deemed to be of immediate concern and that cannot be deferred until the next legislative meeting. Such an item may be submitted to the Administrative Committee of the Management Council, which may then forward the item to the Management Council for consideration at its next nonlegislative meeting. If the item receives a three-fourths majority of those members present and voting, it shall be considered approved and shall be sent to the Board of Directors for consideration. If an item does not receive a three-fourths majority vote of the Management Council, it will be automatically placed on the agenda of the next legislative meeting of the Management Council.

(2) Composition and Size of the Management Council. Adopted Proposal No. 99-41, which will expand the Management Council to 49 members, with only two categories of Division I-A conferences. [For 11 (Cartwright, Casteen, Davis, Dennison, Rawlins, Halligan, Shaw, Spanier, Tyson, Wethington, Van Ummerson), against 3 (Lawless, Shapiro, Spencer).] (See item No. 7-a-(1)-(d) above.)

(3) Composition and Size of the Board of Directors. Adopted Proposal No. 99-15, which would expand the composition of the Board of Directors to 18 to include a member from the Mountain West Conference, one representative each from the Big West and Mid-American Conferences and one additional Division I-AA/I-AAA representative. (Unanimous voice vote.)

(4) Proposal No. 99-54 -- Strategic Planning and Business/Finance Cabinets. Used its emergency legislative authority to adopt Proposal No. 99-54, effective immediately, which would eliminate the existing NCAA Division I Strategic Planning and Business/Finance Cabinets and reassign their duties and responsibilities to the Management Council, Championships/Competition Cabinet, Division I Budget Subcommittee and Executive Committee, as specified. (Unanimous voice vote.)

(5) Size of the Academics/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet. Approved a recommendation, effective immediately, for the Academics/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet to remain at 34 members and to reallocate one of the two seats currently designated to the Western Athletic Conference to the Mountain West Conference. [For 13 (Cartwright, Casteen, Davis, Dennison, Rawlins, Halligan, Shaw, Spanier, Shapiro, Spencer, Tyson, Wethington, Van Ummerson), against 1 (Lawless).]

(6) Proposal No. 99-55 -- Size of the Championships/Competition Cabinet. Used its emergency legislative authority to adopt Proposal No. 99-55, effective immediately, which would expand the membership of the Championships/Competition Cabinet to 49, establish conference representation identical to the Division I Management Council and allocate the additional 15 seats without consideration of the position held. (Unanimous voice vote.)

(7) Marketing and Public Relations. Defeated a recommendation to create a standing Marketing and Public Relations Policy Subcommittee of the Management Council; noted that marketing and public relations issues should be handled primarily by NCAA staff and are not exclusively Division I matters; and requested the NCAA president to formulate the appropriate process and structure for determining policies regarding marketing and public relations for consideration by the Board and Executive Committee. (Unanimous voice vote.)

Other issues.

(1) Public Address Announcement. Approved the following sample public address announcement, which is suitable for use prior to sporting events hosted by a member institution and which was supported by the Committee on Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct for distribution to all NCAA member institutions or conferences. (Unanimous voice vote):

"The (name of school or conference) promotes good sportsmanship by student-athletes, coaches and spectators. We request your cooperation by supporting the participants and officials in a positive manner. Profanity, racial or sexist comments or other intimidating actions directed at officials, student-athletes, coaches or team representatives will not be tolerated and are grounds for removal from the site of competition."

(2) Conference Grants. Modified the policies for awarding conference grants to include all conferences identified in Constitution 4.5.1 (which would apply to the Western Athletic Conference immediately and to the Mountain West Conference based on the adoption of Proposal No. 99-41). (Unanimous voice vote.)

(3) Division I Strategic Plan. Tabled the consideration of the strategic plan until the October meeting. (Unanimous voice vote.)

8. Discussion of initial-eligibility standards.

BOARD ACTIONS:

a. Heard a report regarding the status of the Cureton litigation from NCAA legal counsel and the discussions of the initial-eligibility consultants.

b. Noted that the Third Circuit Court of Appeals has set September 14 for oral argument regarding the Cureton litigation and that it is unlikely the court will reach a final decision prior to the October Board meeting.

c. Affirmed the principle that higher education institutions and the Association should be able to establish initial-eligibility requirements and the Board's interest in considering the continued use of test scores, along with GPA and core-course requirements, in evaluating the readiness of student-athletes for balancing athletics participation and academic requirements.

d. Requested the NCAA research staff to continue its evaluation of data for further review by the initial-eligibility consultants and the Board.

e. Agreed that there is no compelling reason at this time to suggest a change in current initial-eligibility requirements.

9. Report on membership response to legislation acted upon by the Board at its April Meeting.

FYI: No action taken.

10. Legislation not acted on by the Board in April.

(1) Proposal No. 98-90 -- Division I-AA -- Maximum Contest Limitation.

BOARD ACTION: Adopted Proposal No. 98-90, which eliminates annual preseason exempted contests subsequent to the 2002 playing season; and beginning with the 2002 football season, permits Division I-AA institutions to schedule a 12th football contest in those years in which there are 14 Saturdays from the first permissible playing date through the last playing date in November. [For 2 (Davis and Dennison), against 1 (Shapiro); Division I-AA only.]

(2) Proposal No. 99-17 -- Division I-AA Football -- Heritage Bowl.

BOARD ACTION: Adopted Proposal No. 99-17, effective immediately, which will permit the Heritage Bowl to be conducted on the same weekend as the Division I-AA Football Championship, provided there is no conflict in the times of the contests with any part of the Division I-AA championship game, and noted that as a matter of policy, the Heritage Bowl would not occur during the four-hour window beginning with the kick-off of the Division I-AA championship game. (Unanimous voice vote; Division I-AA only.)

11. Division I budget -- Status of 1999-00 NCAA budget.

BOARD ACTIONS:

a. New Funding for Division I Championships. Approved the following funding priorities as recommended by the Championships/Competition Cabinet and the Management Council (unanimous voice vote):

(1) Continued funding for championships enhancements, which were included for one year only in the 1998-99 budget from year-end Division I monies, that championship host institutions relied on for the 1999-00 championships -- $550,000.

(2) Officiating expenses resulting from expansion of the Division I Baseball and Division I Women's Softball Championships -- $52,500.

(3) Expansion of the Division I Field Hockey Championship from 12 to 16 teams -- $66,000.

(4) Expansion of the National Collegiate Men's and Women's Fencing Championships from 120 to 144 participants (to accommodate the addition of women's sabre and an additional 24 female competitors) -- $21,500.

(5) Expansion of the Division I Men's and Women's Golf Championships -- from 324 to 423 participants in the men's regional qualifying tournaments (