ORLANDO, Florida -- New to this year's conference was the attendance of college coaches from several sports spanning all divisions. They attended as observers, sometimes contributors, and all as representatives of their respective coaches associations.

Ronald J. Stratten, NCAA vice-president for education services, said, "The student-athletes have been talking about coaches attending for the last three years, so we said, 'Let's try it.'

"Just getting (the coaches) enthusiastic about what we're doing can help us get them involved in the future."

Each of the invited coaches was assigned a different color team to sit with during team breakout sessions. They were encouraged to attend the critical-issues discussion sessions as well, and answer questions from student-athletes.

Dianne Nolan, women's basketball coach at Fairfield University and Women's Basketball Coaches Association representative, said, "It's pretty special to see how so many student-athletes bond so quickly; how they articulate their feelings. It's truly mind-boggling and refreshing."

Bates men's soccer coach George Purgavie, representing the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA), said he did not know what to expect coming to the conference, but once he had the chance to sit in on several discussions, he was "so impressed with the student-athletes' intelligence, energy, willingness to share ideas and how they're interested in effecting change at their institutions."

Instead of witnessing something extraordinary, Hampton University football coach Joe Taylor, representing the American Football Coaches Association, said he found the open discussions, the sharing of ideas and the attempts at finding solutions as familiar ground. He said, "I look at this as something coaches do year-round."

Having had the opportunity to see what the conference is all about, the challenge for those coaches is to take what they learned and observed back to their associations and conferences and convey the concerns of student-athletes.

Purgavie said, "We need to do more at the conference level and at the campuses to involve the coaches, the administrators and the non-athletes. We all face the same issues on campus."

"I intend to go back to the NSCAA and take the leadership and ideas that I've found here, and incorporate them in our coaches," he said.

Rice University men's basketball coach Willis Wilson attended on behalf of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). Based on what he had observed, he said, "Every student-athlete should have an opportunity to participate in an event like this because there's so much they'll take away; a lot of subtle and practical things they'll take back."

Wilson said he "will encourage the NABC to continue to get student-athletes involved, perhaps in events such as this one."

More importantly perhaps, the attendance of more coaches at future conferences might lay the groundwork for what so many of the discussion sessions addressed, improving communication within athletics departments.

"I see so many college administrators pulling their hair out trying to find solutions to some very important issues," Purgavie said. "The key is establishing a dialogue."

-- Keri Potts