The Division II Championships Committee addressed major issues involving championships enhancements and gender equity during its June 27-30 meeting in Lake Tahoe, California.

The committee has been charged with equalizing men's and women's participation in Division II championships within three years. Participation currently favors men by 55 to 45 percent, but if the committee's recommendations are approved, equal participation would be achieved by the 2001-02 academic year.

To reach the goal, the committee is recommending expanding championship brackets for the 2001-02 academic year for softball, from 32 to 48 teams, and women's soccer, from 16 to 24 teams. Squad-size increases are proposed as follows: field hockey, from 20 to 24; women's soccer, from 18 to 22; softball, from 18 to 20; and men's soccer, from 18 to 22.

The committee also recommends expanding the brackets for the Division I Men's and Women's Basketball Championships from 48 to 64 teams, effective in 2002-03.

The committee is working within a Budget and Finance Committee framework that would permit $1.6 million in new championships initiatives over the next five years. The budget committee also is recommending $650,000 in additional expenditures for per diem allowances over the same period.

Other recommended changes include reimbursing travel expenses for both the indoor and outdoor track championships, effective in 2002-03 or 2003-04, and increasing per diem to $70 in 2002-03 and $80 in 2004-05.

In addition, the committee is considering whether Division II should reimburse institutions for travel expenses for regional tennis and golf competition. The financial ramifications of that change would be substantial, so that issue remains under review.

Other business

The committee also recommended several legislative changes pertaining to Division II championships and postseason play. Those include:

Designating that basketball games against non-Division II opponents must be played between November 1 and the first playing date to be counted as an exhibition game.

Specifying that at least 50 percent of total positions on Association-wide and common committees with rules administration responsibilities shall be filled by coaching staff members. The legislation, already approved in Division I, must be passed by all three divisions acting independently.

Requiring that the vice-chair of the Management Council serve as a member of the the Championships Committee, rather than as chair.

Requiring postseason football bowl games and certified basketball events to demonstrate adequate insurance coverage.

Eliminating Bylaws 30.15 and 31.5.

Modifying Bylaw 30.2.2 in the same way 2000 Convention Proposal No. 51 changed similar legislation in Division III.

The committee also is recommending two interpretations involving the new Division II enhancement fund formula, which takes effect during the 2000-01 academic year (the first checks under the new formula will be distributed in 2002).

First, institutions that are determined to be an active member not in good standing because of a failure to satisfy Division II membership requirements would not be permitted to receive their share of the equal distribution part of the formula for the Division II enhancement fund.

However, distributions to that institution's conference based on the other two parts of the distribution formula (the institution's performance in the Division II Men's or Women's Basketball Championships and the number of conference championships sponsored) would not be affected.

Second, a conference championship must involve six full-fledged members in order to count as a conference championship for purposes of the last part of the enhancement fund formula.

The committee also discussed how an institution should be affected if it loses its overall accreditation. Current legislation requires that such an institution would be immediately ineligible for NCAA active membership, even if one of its teams was competing in an NCAA championship at that moment. The committee believes applying the rule in such a manner would be unduly punitive for any participating student-athletes. In the alternative, it is recommending that an institution losing accreditation would be immediately ineligible, except for teams and individuals who have already been selected for or are participating in Division II championships.

In other business, the committee will recommend to Division II sports committees that they not begin the championship selection process until Sunday evening or Monday morning.

The change would accommodate conferences that wish to conduct conference championships on Sunday. Many conferences believe Sunday competition enhances attendance and reduces missed class time.

Also, the committee agreed that in basketball, provisional members may be counted to meet the requirement of 22 games against Divisions I or II opponents (and, for men's basketball, the additional requirement of 16 in-region games, effective 2001-02).

Also, all sports committees that use strength-of-schedule indexes must treat provisional member opponents as being from the division in which they are currently classified; for example, a Division II institution that is going Division I would be counted as Division II points in the strength-of-schedule index until that institution is an active Division I member.

Other highlights

Division II Championships Committee
June 27-30/Lake Tahoe, California

Approved a recommendation from the Division II Men's Basketball Committee that 16 games must be in region against Division II opponents beginning in 2001-02. A waiver opportunity would be provided.

Approved a recommendation from the Division II Women's Basketball Committee that Rochester, Minnesota, host the 2001 and 2002 Division II Women's Basketball Elite Eights. The two championships will be played at the Mayo Civic Center's Taylor Arena and will be hosted by Winona State University.

Agreed that officials for the Division II Women's Basketball Championships will be selected only from conferences using three-person officiating crews, effective with the 2001-02 event.

Agreed to rotate the site for the Division II Field Hockey Championship each year between the North and South regions.

In women's soccer, moved the Great Lakes Valley Conference from the Central region to the Great Lakes region, effective in fall 2001.

Named Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, as host of the Division II Men's and Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships for 2001 and 2002. The committee also approved the following regional sites for the 2000 Division II Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships: South, University of North Florida; Southeast, St. Augustine's College (at Greensboro, North Carolina); East, Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania; Northeast, University of Massachusetts at Lowell; Great Lakes, Ashland University; North Central, Fort Hays State University; South Central, Texas A&M University-Kingsville; and West, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

Agreed to move the qualifying date for the indoor track championships up to the Sunday 12 days before the first date of the national meet, which would eliminate the conference meet exception and make the policies consistent for the indoor and outdoor championships.

Agreed to change the declaration date for travel reimbursement for the track championships from February 15 to April 15 in order to give administrators a chance to make a more informed decision about which reimbursement (indoor or outdoor) would be more advantageous.

Supported a recommendation from the Division II Women's Volleyball Committee to return the championship site to the campus of a competing institution.

Agreed to realign wrestling into four regions (the East, the Midwest, the West and the North Central Conference), with the top four in each weight class advancing to the Division II Wrestling Championships.