With discussions about academic enhancement, student-athlete employment and regional leadership conferences well underway, the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee broached another topic with overarching impact on student-athlete welfare: managing the many time demands placed on student-athletes.

The SAAC, meeting July 19-21 in Providence, Rhode Island, heard a report from the Championships/Competition Cabinet's playing and practice seasons subcommittee regarding a deregulation model developed in concert with other academic reform initiatives. The Board of Directors charged the subcommittee in 2000 with deregulating playing and practice seasons and reviewing the time-demands issue.

The subcommittee model includes a decrease in the overall playing and practice season length to 126 days, a possible increase in the overall number of hours of countable athletically related activities (but counting any interaction a student-athlete has with an athletics department staff member) and regionalizing nonchampionship-segment competition.

While the SAAC did not take a formal position on the proposed model, it discussed the following issues:

Travel days should not count as a day off during the week. (Current rules allow schools to count travel days as the day off.)

Some conferences are faced with travel issues when competing with other conference institutions due to geographic proximity. Time issues relating to travel under such circumstances may be an issue for student-athletes.

A decrease in the length of the playing season may not effectively decrease time demands since in some sports such a decrease would limit the amount and level of competition in which student-athletes may engage and would possibly conflict with end-of-term examinations.

The SAAC also emphasized that the rules currently in place might be the right rules -- as long as they are enforced. SAAC members believe that enforcing the current regulations may address many of the time-demand issues (for example, daily practice hour limit, required day off per week, voluntary athletically related activities), rather than a reducing the number of days in the playing and practice season.

The committee also discussed several other issues in the playing and practice seasons model, including:

Elimination of all foreign tours (institutional and conference) during the summer vacation period.

Competition day activities should count as four hours, not three.

Elimination of the exception that applies daily and weekly hour limitations separately to each sport in which the student-athlete participates.

Maintaining eight hours of required weight training, conditioning and skill instruction; however, require two days off per week. Skill instruction would not be voluntary.

Eliminating all supervised activities, including voluntary weight training and conditioning, summer workouts in individual sports and the safety exceptions.

The playing and practice seasons subcommittee model applies to all sports. Another group, a subcommittee of the Football Study Oversight Committee, is looking at time-demand issues in football. Both groups are expected to have their final recommendations ready later this fall.

Academic enhancements

In addition to the time-demands issue, the SAAC also developed positions on the various academic enhancement proposals that were endorsed by the Management Council and distributed for comment.

SAAC members supported the initial-eligibility model with the full sliding scale (No. 02-22-C) and the increase to 14 core courses. However, the SAAC does not support any future increases in the number of core courses. That runs counter to a resolution passed by the Board of Directors in April that directs the NCAA Academic Consultants to discuss with high-school associations the concept of increasing the number of core courses to 16, if research supports such action.

The SAAC also supported the continuing-eligibility credit-hour requirements, including the six credit-hours-
per-term requirement, and the increased percentage-of-degree requirements (40/60/80). However, the group did not support the decrease in the number of remedial credits that may be used for satisfactory progress.

The Management Council and Board of Directors are expected to vote on the measures during their fall meetings.

In other action, the SAAC discussed ongoing concerns related to scholarship renewal. SAAC members agreed to ask student-athletes within their respective conferences about the period of institutional financial aid awards and the renewal or nonrenewal process, especially in instances where the institution makes a coaching change.

The SAAC also supported the concept of creating ad hoc committees to deal with issues that uniquely affect student-athletes in the high-profile sports of football and basketball. SAAC members believe that legislative changes in amateurism, recruiting and financial aid may have a unique impact on student-athletes in those sports and that ad hoc groups should serve in an advisory capacity to the SAAC on such matters.

The football ad hoc committee would be composed of the football student-athletes on the SAAC plus one football student-athlete each from the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Mid-American, Mountain West, Pacific-10, Southeastern, Sun Belt and Western Athletic Conferences and Conference USA. Those selections would be made by representatives from the American Football Coaches Association and ratified by the SAAC.

In basketball, the ad hoc committee would consist of the basketball student-athletes on the SAAC plus the basketball student-athletes who serve (at the time of each meeting) on the National Association of Basketball Coaches Student Basketball Council.

The primary duties of both groups would be to respond and react to issues the SAAC refers to them. The ad hoc groups would meet via conference call before the three SAAC meetings each year.

Other highlights

Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee
July 19-21/Providence, Rhode Island

Reviewed updates to the SAAC Web site, including the addition of a committee member biography page, committee accomplishments, tools for starting campus and conference student-athlete advisory committees, and frequently asked questions for student-athletes.

Discussed feedback provided by representatives who attended the 2002 NCAA Leadership Conference in Orlando, Florida. The committee discussed different ways that the national conference could be improved for the betterment of all participants and how the regional leadership conferences would allow for more student-athletes to be affected.

Expressed concern with legislatively permitting a student-athlete who transfers from a service academy to have a separate transfer regulation. SAAC members agreed to ask student-athletes in their respective conferences whether the one-time transfer exception should be amended to permit a men's ice hockey student-athlete to use the exception if the specified conditions are met. The SAAC also agreed to discuss the matter further in January.