Now that the NCAA's newly created Football Study Oversight Committee has identified the issues in the Association's comprehensive review of the sport, the Division I Football Issues Committee is rolling up its sleeves and going to work.

The Football Issues Committee, meeting February 19-20 in Austin, Texas, will play an integral role in the following areas identified by the oversight committee for review: governance/
membership issues, bowl certification/postseason issues, finance and research, diversity, and student-athlete welfare. The group appointed members to serve on subcommittees that will work on those issues and coordinate efforts from other groups in order to prepare preliminary reports to the oversight committee by late May.

The comprehensive study, first recommended by the Football Issues Committee last summer, was launched in January by the eight college and university presidents who make up the oversight committee. They recognized the importance of the Football Issues Committee in its role of monitoring all issues that affect Division I football and saw to it that the committee had a significant hand in the process.

The subcommittee chairs that the Football Issues Committee assigned will take a leadership role in facilitating efforts among various groups charged with reviewing specific issues. For example, Butler University Athletics Director John Parry, who has been charged with chairing the governance/membership subcommittee, will work with the Management Council's governance and membership subcommittees, which the oversight committee has asked to review football classification issues.

Similarly, Kansas State University Athletics Director Max Urick, chair of the Football Issues Committee's bowl certification/I-AA postseason subcommittee, will facilitate efforts from the Championships/Competition Cabinet's subcommittee on postseason football certification and the Division I-AA Football Committee.

Other subcommittee chairs are Doug Dickey, athletics director at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (finance/research); Dennis Thomas, director of athletics at Hampton University (diversity); and Jim Copeland, director of athletics at Southern Methodist University (student-athlete welfare).

The idea is for the subcommittees to assemble all the recommendations from the assigned groups in time for the Football Issues Committee's next meeting in May. The Football Issues Committee then will forward recommendations to the oversight committee along with an indication of whether it supports the proposals or whether any amendments should be made.

The oversight committee has established an aggressive timeline in which to complete the study, with final recommendations being requested by April 2002.

Other highlights

Division I Football Issues Committee
|February 19-20/Austin, Texas

Recommended that participation in the NCAA injury surveillance program be mandatory for all Division I institutions and that a computer software system be developed for use by member institutions that is the same for each institution.

Endorsed a recommendation from the Committee on Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct that videos for student-athletes pertaining to safety and sportsmanship be enhanced and that football coaches be required to show the videos to football student-athletes.

Agreed to seek additional feedback from the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, as well as Division I conference SAACs, regarding Proposal No. 99-112 (skill instruction).

Recommended that the Championships/Competition Cabinet sponsor an amendment to Bylaw 17.02.1 (1) to allow prospects who have signed a National Letter of Intent to participate in conditioning activities conducted by the institution's strength coach during the summer before initial college enrollment, provided the activities are voluntary and are requested by the prospect.

Reviewed legislative proposals that were referred to the Football Issues Committee by the Management Council's Administrative Committee, including Proposal No. 2001-06, which would enable institutions to employ graduate assistant coaches who are enrolled at another institution. The committee supported this proposal, as well as Proposal No. 2001-20, which would permit an institution to "bank" a maximum of six unused visits annually in Division
I-AA football (as is currently permitted in Division I-A). The committee did not support Proposal No. 2001-23, which would permit an institution to provide athletically related financial aid to a prospective student-athlete to attend the institution's summer term before initial enrollment.