ATLANTA -- Just like any good football team, the Division II Football Issues Project Team is capable of making adjustments when a play looks like it will not work.

Faced with evidence that the Division II membership was concerned with its proposed method of funding a football bracket expansion and corresponding women's championships opportunities, the project team called an audible at its September 29-30 meeting and recommended another approach.

The estimated annual cost of the project is a little more than $1 million -- $750,000 to expand the football bracket from 16 to 24 teams, $230,000 to expand women's volleyball from 48 to 64 teams and $70,000 for a new Division II Women's Bowling Championship. (While the project team has focused on women's volleyball and bowling, any decision on the actual women's championships that are invited to expand will be made by the Division II Championships Committee. The earliest that any expansion could occur would be fall 2004.)

Taken together, those changes would get the championship-access ratio for football in line with other Division II championships without upsetting the division's 50-50 participation ratio between men and women.

Originally, the project team had recommended using on a temporary basis the part of the Division II Enhancement Fund that is divided equally among Division II member institutions -- a total of about $1.2 million and $5,000 per institution. At the time, the project team acknowledged that eliminating that revenue source could be an issue with some institutions, especially those that do not sponsor football. But the group believed that it presented the best opportunity to address a division-wide football problem and gain additional women's championships opportunities.

The approach was rolled out over the summer, and the membership revealed a reluctance to part with its annual payout, thus bringing about the need for Plan B.

The project team now has agreed instead to ask the Division II Presidents Council to fund the changes by using money from the Division II membership trust fund for a period from 2004 through 2010. Such an approach would provide enough money to implement the proposed changes by 2004-05.

Currently, the membership trust fund must be maintained as 25 percent of the division's annual revenue allocation, which would be about $5 million for 2003-04. The project team is recommending instead that it be maintained at $3 million annually from 2004-05 through 2009-10, with the 25 percent commitment resuming in 2010-11. The reduced contribution to the membership trust over time would permit the division to fund the proposed bracket expansions.

The Division II Budget and Finance Committee has yet to sign off on the recommendation.

Jerry McGee, president of Wingate University and project team chair, was a member of the Presidents Council when the 25 percent reserve policy was established, but he endorsed the proposed use of the fund.

"Since we are in the early stages of the CBS contract, I believe it is fiscally responsible to use these reserves for such a constructive purpose," he said. "The division will continue to maintain a rainy-day fund of $3 million, the membership will not lose its portion of the Division II Enhancement Fund, and the membership trust will be restored to 25 percent well before the CBS contract ends in 2013."

Championship access

In addition to the funding modification, the project team made several important new recommendations relating to access and health and safety.

First, the group settled on an "earned-access" approach to the 24-team championship. After defeating a proposal to provide automatic qualification to the current 13 Division II football-playing, multisport conferences, the project team settled on an earned-access approach that will provide Division II conferences with access to the championship, so long as the team automatically advancing from each conference is ranked among the top 10 teams in the region at the end of the season. The project team also voted to eliminate a component of its expansion plan that would have subdivided the four Division II regions.

As for health and safety, the project team forwarded proposals relating to preseason conditioning and spring practices to the Division II Management Council and Presidents Council to consider implementing via emergency legislation (see NCAA Constitution 5.3.1.1.2). The preseason practice recommendations (see accompanying list) must be placed on a legislative fast track if they are to be in effect for the 2003 season, as the project team recommends.

In short, the preseason requirements would call for a five-day acclimatization period and would establish more safety standards in the administration of two- or three-a-day workouts. For spring practice, the requirements would assist with acclimatization through controls over equipment and contact.

Bryan W. Smith of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, chair of the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports, said the recommended policies are based on a sound scientific approach.

"Acclimatization involves gradual adaptation to the environment, intensity of exercise and any equipment that decreases the body's ability to cool," Smith said. "The preseason model currently being considered in Divisions I and II is consistent with the science that recommends a gradual increase over time in volume and intensity of exercise in the heat, adding protective equipment in stages, and allowing appropriate recovery."

The project team noted that Division I has made similar changes and that Division II institutions could face liability if they did not adopt similar policies to address health and safety concerns.

While the project team approved the health and safety changes, it was less enthusiastic about a proposal to establish eight weeks of postseason discretionary time for football student-athletes. The motion -- which had no health and safety ramifications -- died without a second, mainly out of concerns that football players should not be singled out for such treatment and that such a policy could complicate rules compliance.

The project team will meet again at the 2003 Convention in Anaheim, California, when it will report on its recommendations to the Division II membership during a Saturday afternoon forum.

Health and safety recommendations

Health- and safety-related recommendations of the Division II Football Issues Project Team:

Preseason practice

1. Before participation in any preseason practice, training or testing activity involving physical exertion, all prospects and student-athletes shall be required to undergo a medical examination administered by a physician.
2. Modify the August 10 start date for fall sports to allow football institutions that start classes early (for example, August 20) by counting back 14 days from the first day of school to determine the football practice start date. Thus, schools could start football practice August 10, or 14 days before the starting date of classes, whichever is earlier.
3. Preseason practice shall begin with a five-day acclimatization period for both first-time participants and continuing student-athletes.
4. Sundays shall not be excluded from counting during the five-day acclimatization period.
5. During the five-day acclimatization period, student-athletes may engage in no more than one on-field practice per day, not exceeding three hours of on-field time.
6. During the first two days of the acclimatization period, helmets shall be the only piece of protective equipment worn.
7. During the next two days of the acclimatization period, helmets and shoulder pads shall be the only pieces of protective equipment worn.
8. During the final day of the acclimatization period, practice can be in full pads.
9. Any necessary conditioning, speed, strength or agility tests shall not be conducted before the five-day acclimatization period.
10. After the five-day acclimatization period, an institution may not conduct multiple on-field practice sessions (for example, two-a-days or three-a-days) on consecutive days (for example, 2-1-2-1 format).
11. On days of multiple practice sessions, student-athletes:

Must be provided with at least three consecutive hours of recovery time between the end of the first practice and the start of the last practice that day.

May not attend any meetings or engage in other athletics activities within the three-hour recovery period.

May include time spent receiving treatment and eating meals as part of the recovery time.

Shall not engage in more than five hours of on-field practice activities.

12. In all preseason practice activities, a member of the institution's sports-medicine staff (for example, athletic trainer, physician) must be present with the unchallengeable authority to cancel or modify the workout for health and safety reasons.

Spring practice

1. In the first two days of spring practice, practice would be with helmets only.
2. On the third day, practice would be with helmets and shoulder pads only.
3. After the first three days, out of the remaining 12 days:

Only eight of the 12 days may involve tackling.

At least one of the 12 days must be a helmet-only practice.

4. No more than two consecutive practice days of tackling would be permitted in order to allow for proper recovery and to minimize injuries.
5. It is highly recommended that officials be used for the spring scrimmage.