Members of the Division II Management Council got their first look at a detailed long-range financial plan for Division II during their October 25-26 meeting, and they generally liked what they saw.

The plan lays out how Division II revenue will be used over the next several years to support a wave of new initiatives developed through the division's strategic plan.

Most of the new programs will be administered through Division II conference offices in the belief that the funds can be managed better locally than at the national level. Application and accountability procedures also are described in the 43-page plan.

The money to fund the new initiatives will be available as a result of annually escalating revenues from the Association's contract with CBS Sports and from Division II's unallocated surplus. Division II's 4.37 percent allocation from NCAA revenue is projected to climb from $13.7 million in 2000-01 to $20.6 million in 2004-05.

The Management Council forwarded the long-range financial plan to the Division II Presidents Council, which was expected to endorse the document at its November 1 meeting. The next step will be a review by delegates at the 2001 Convention in Orlando as part of the January 8 Division II business session.

Management Council members praised the development of a long-range financial plan and expressed support for "putting meat on the bones" of the Division II strategic plan. However, several also suggested that care should be taken to make sure that conferences are treated fairly as the funds are awarded. For example, some concern was expressed in the Management Council meeting about the propriety of directing extra resources to some conferences for developmental purposes while other conferences have previously made and honored those financial commitments on their own.

Also, while Management Council members acknowledged that conferences would need to be accountable for administration of the money, several members wanted assurances that access to funds would not be compromised if a conference did not meet some of the guiding principles for a Division II model conference. In general, the key areas of focus in the conference model are chief executive officer involvement, strategic planning, compliance, staffing and governance.

Arend D. Lubbers, president of Grand Valley State University and chair of the Budget and Finance Committee when the plan was developed, has stated that the goal should be for Division II conferences "to look a lot alike," and Division II Management Council members agreed that improving the quality of conferences throughout the division is a worthy goal. However, several Management Council members said that it will take a long time -- perhaps a decade -- for Division II conferences to reach the point at which they are all operating at an agreed-upon level.

To help conferences grow, the Division II enhancement fund will be increased incrementally over the next five years, with the goal that the additional resources would be used to enhance operations.

The strategic initiatives identified for implementation over the next five years all relate to student-athlete welfare, governance/membership and diversity enhancement. The biggest outlay will be for championships initiatives and per diem increases, both of which would be administered at the national level.

Each program will have a fixed maximum that can be requested by a conference. Jerry M. Hughes, athletics director at Central Missouri State University and a member of the Division II Budget and Finance Committee, made it clear that the expenditure estimates constitute a "best guess"; adjustments almost certainly will be made over the next several years.

Project teams

The Management Council also heard from all general committees and project teams, including its first report from the Membership Review Project Team.

It referred back to the project team a proposal that legislation be adopted to create a mechanism for institutions to petition the Membership Committee to be granted credit toward the four-year provisional membership period once the current membership moratorium expires. The project team also will be considering the following issues at its November meeting (in no particular order of importance): sports-sponsorship minimum requirements, minimum financial aid requirements, extension of the provisional membership period, threshold requirements for provisional members, scheduling requirements, noncompliance penalties regarding membership requirements, reclassification requirements and revenue-distribution "waiting periods."

The Amateurism Project Team reported on the status of the amateurism deregulation package to be considered at the January Convention. The group noted that segments of the high-school athletics community have engaged recently in letter-writing campaigns designed to defeat the Division II amateurism deregulation package. The Management Council agreed that most of the concerns expressed by the high-school community are relevant only for Division I prospective student-athletes and that the amateurism package continues to be the best solution for Division II to address student-athlete welfare and competitive-equity issues.

The project team representatives emphasized the importance of making certain that the Division II membership fully understands the proposed legislation and noted their availability to make presentations at conference meetings or other similar gatherings. Also, a video presentation on the proposals will be mailed by early November to every athletics director in Division II.

Membership

In other business, the Management Council granted waivers to three provisional members from Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico-Cayey, Puerto Rico-Mayaguez and Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras) of the requirement that the provisional member annual report arrive in the NCAA national office by June 15 since the institutions were able to demonstrate that the information had been mailed in advance of the deadline. As a result, all three institutions were placed in year three of the four-year provisional membership period.

The report triggered a discussion about information learned as Puerto Rican institutions move through the provisional-member process. For instance, the committee learned that the requisite standardized test for admissions in Puerto Rican schools is neither the SAT nor the ACT, and a conversion of this examination is not available at the moment. Also, there appeared to be special challenges involved in getting Puerto Rican high schools to file 48H forms with the Clearinghouse. Finally, because Puerto Rican institutions do not permit freshmen to compete, some administrators appear to have incorrectly drawn the conclusion that it was not necessary to certify a prospective student-athlete's academic eligibility through the NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse. In fact, a student-athlete may not practice or receive athletically related financial aid if he or she has not been certified by the Clearinghouse.

Projected Division II expenses

Projected expenses for Division II for the next five years, based on current budget items:

Year -- Annual expense

2000-01 -- $14,350,000

2001-02 -- $13,750,000

2002-03 -- $15,500,000

2003-04 -- $15,600,000

2004-05 -- $16,600,000

Projected Division II revenue

Projected NCAA and Division II revenue for the next five years (Division II is guaranteed 4.37 percent of NCAA operating revenue through Constitution 4.01.2.1):

Fiscal year -- NCAA projected -- Division II projected

-- revenue -- revenue

Division II's allocation does not include part of a $50 million one-time payment from CBS (as recognized during the last five years of the current CBS contract) that was structured before the restructuring deal was brokered.

Other highlights

Division II Management Council October 25-26/Indianapolis

Agreed to see what actions are taken in Divisions I and III regarding creation of division-specific women's rowing championships. Although the number of institutions sponsoring rowing in Division II currently is not sufficient to create a championship, the division would initiate one through Bylaw 18.2.6 if the other two divisions establish championships on their own (a similar circumstance occurred previously with women's lacrosse).

Approved a recommendation to adopt the Amateur Softball Association bat standard in January 2002.

Sent back to the Division II Championships Committee a proposal to have a shot clock mounted on each basket by 2003-04. The Management Council is seeking a clarification about what "on each basket" means and suggested that a diagram might be helpful.

Approved a moment-of-inertia standard for baseball bats and approved random testing of baseballs for coefficient-of-restitution compliance.

Approved a recommendation that sideline horns be eliminated in men's lacrosse, effective with the 2001 season, and that effective with the 2002 season, each Division II institution be required to have a visible shot clock.

Approved the following travel party sizes: women's ice hockey, 31; women's water polo, 19; Division II women's lacrosse, 30.

Discussed the concept of automatic qualification for all Division II team championships and noted that the Championships Committee has tabled further discussion of the matter until the Membership Review Project Team has completed its work.

Approved a modification to Convention Proposal No. 2-35 to permit an institution to count financial aid awarded to a multiple-sport student-athlete within the maximum institutional limitations of either or both sports as specified by the student-athlete's financial aid agreement.

Elected a new Management Council chair, new Management Council members, and new members to several committees. Those selections will be announced after ratification by the Division II Presidents Council.

Noted a concern from the Division II Nominating Committee about an ongoing shortage of qualified nominees for committee service.

Approved a request from the Diversity Project Team to sponsor a resolution at the 2001 NCAA Convention to emphasize the importance of the senior woman administrator position in Division II.