National Collegiate Athletic Association
NCAA News Archive - 2000
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What they're saying
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The NCAA News
"What we wanted was more timely deliberation of issues, to be able to define the issues and use a process that allowed decisions to be made in a way that got things done as opposed to endless delay and debate. It's also allowed for the identification of issues through the various committees and cabinets. Those are two big plusses."
Kenneth A. Shaw, chancellor
Syracuse university
"Members aren't as engaged as they used to be. Amateurism is an example. That's a huge issue and not many people are up to speed on it and they're going to go vote on it. I don't know if it's going to be a real educated vote."
Marilyn A. McNeil, director of athletics
Monmouth University
"Everyone associated with restructuring knew there was going to be a period of settling in, and it's pretty tough to look at the kinds of drastic changes that took place over two or three years and say we're going to have answered all the questions."
Robert A. Bowlsby, director of athletics
University of Iowa
"The new structure gets work done. It prevents winners and losers. In college athletics, winners and losers should be on the field, not in the committee room. We've done a good job of trying to make everybody winners."
Ted Leland, director of athletics
Stanford University
"At the end of the day, though one could point to any one specific instance and say we're not, we are more efficient. The people like the presidents of the institutions who need to be actively engaged in the process are -- that means every conference is involved. How can we not be more efficient with that as part of the process?"
Deborah A. Yow, director of athletics
University of Maryland, College Park
"The new structure has increased people's ability to serve. Before, you'd have as many as 70 people (per conference) attend the Convention. Quite honestly, most of them didn't know much about the majority of the proposals. Now we have presidents, ADs, FARs and SWAs at the cabinet, Council and Board level. That allows conference offices to share leadership responsibilities."
Jim Delany, commissioner
Big Ten Conference
"There have been instances where we have been able to move changes through the system more efficiently than we could at the Convention, but it does take a period of time still because of the comment periods, particularly for the more difficult issues. But it's like anything else -- people could wish the system was back to the way it was, but it's not, so the best thing for us to do is to make the best of the process we currently have in place."
Joseph Castiglione, director of athletics
University of Oklahoma
"It's a matter of people trying to figure out how to fit in the new structure and let the old go. Some people think if we wait long enough it will go back to where we were."
Percy Bates, faculty athletics representative
University of Michigan
"The cabinet system has provided a pretty good avenue for doing certain long-range studies, such as the redefinition of the core curriculum and initial-eligibility rules. It's also more than symbolically significant that there are so many FARs on the (Academics/Eligibility/Compliance) Cabinet. Conferences are seeing fit to appoint FARs to the cabinet."
David Knight, faculty athletics representative
University of North Carolina, Greensboro
"The one-school, one-vote system gave (Divisions I-AA and I-AAA) a substantial majority, but as a practical matter, the checks and balances and the fact that no one really wants to use an override vote has given us a spirit of accommodation -- at least thus far."
Jeffrey H. Orleans, executive director
Ivy Group
"I don't know that the new structure is any better or worse. I think a lot of our athletics directors and senior woman administrators don't really feel connected with the process anymore. At least under the old system, once a year they focused on the issues at hand and everyone came with their voting paddles, so they had to take some time and pay attention to the issues -- and they knew they had that vote."
Richard J. Ensor, commissioner
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference