When it comes to integrating intercollegiate athletics into higher education, there is room for everyone. Never before have so many stakeholders in intercollegiate athletics been so engaged in enhancing the enterprise.

In the past, the NCAA might have reacted defensively to such external concerns, but not now. In fact, the NCAA has actively sought input from several important groups recently and has partnered with others to strengthen current reform efforts. Reform is hard to accomplish -- the more who share in the common goal of improving the intercollegiate athletics experience, the better.

Several recent examples illustrate how the NCAA is partnering with its constituents. The National Association of Basketball Coaches, in a collaborative effort with the NCAA, conducted a summit for all Division I head men's basketball coaches to discuss ways to enhance the overall integrity of the game through higher ethical standards and better communication. The coaches came together not only to reassert their own commitment to high ethical standards, but to partner with the NCAA in rule making. It was a signal event, and it indicated that the coaches are serious about ensuring the continued integrity of the game and their profession.

The NCAA also has partnered with the Black Coaches Association in advocating a more thorough search process for filling head coaching vacancies in college football. The BCA's development of a "report card" that will evaluate Division I institutions on how well they adhere to the suggested hiring practices in the coming years will provide the needed accountability.

The NCAA also has welcomed input from faculty senates and governing boards. The American Association of University Professors recently conducted a two-day seminar that focused on academic reform in athletics. NCAA representatives were at the table during those discussions, too. Again, this represents a positive, constructive approach and is an indication that faculty members understand the role of athletics on campus and that they desire to see student-athletes succeed academically. Faculty governance leaders in Division I-A also have worked with the leadership of the Association of Governing Boards to find common ground on academic reform. Together, with campus faculty representatives and the national FARA organization, faculty members are engaging in the reform movement.

Athletics directors represent another constituency intent on reform, a message I heard during the Division I-A Athletics Directors Association's recent annual meeting. Athletics directors' leadership, based on their experience and expertise, is needed for a successful reform movement.

Many other groups have been outspoken as well. The Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, which plans to reconvene later this month, set the standard for external influence when it was established in 1989, and it has remained active in NCAA matters ever since. The Mellon Foundation has become involved with the reform effort under way in Division III, and though not all Division III presidents agree with every aspect of the Mellon research, the effort has helped frame discussions about Division III's future. The Mellon group also has been influential in the Division I baseline economic study that will help institutions make more informed decisions about their athletics operating budgets. The National Association of College and University Business Officers also is helping in this regard.

An excellent example of the NCAA working with external constituents occurred earlier this year when the Association partnered with the National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education and former Indiana Sen. Birch Bayh, among others, to achieve a desired outcome in Title IX deliberations. The issue was resolved July 11 when the U.S. Department of Education announced its commitment to continuing the progress that Title IX has brought toward equal opportunity for male and female student-athletes, that the elimination of men's teams would be viewed as a disfavored practice for achieving Title IX compliance, and that no changes would be made to the current three-part test.

The NCAA has pledged to work with colleges and universities, in conjunction with the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, to support the intent and goals of Title IX. This means ensuring not only the health of women's intercollegiate athletics, but of men's and women's Olympic sports programs as well. The NCAA will work closely with those constituencies, too.

The NCAA has not backed away from any of these groups and is in fact embracing their assistance in the reform movement. The purpose of establishing an association, after all, is to accomplish more together than could be accomplished by any individual element. That has been the NCAA's purpose since it was founded in 1906. Collectively, the NCAA can effect change. That means the NCAA should welcome as many helping hands as it can. These days, there is no shortage of volunteers, and that is a good thing. Working collaboratively, the NCAA and its affiliates are making sure that the intercollegiate athletics enterprise is on the right track.

The NCAA's close alignment with stakeholders will be enhanced because of the Association's strategic-planning process that has been under way since last spring. Development of the plan has been an inclusive exercise -- no stakeholder has been left out -- and many of the strategic-thinking discussions in past months have revealed common goals among groups that previously may have been perceived to be at odds.

This coming April, the NCAA Executive Committee is expected to sign off on the final version of the strategic plan. That plan, which will reflect a core purpose, core values and objectives, and both short-term and long-range goals, will bear everyone's fingerprints and represent a shared vision that moves the Association into the future.

Not unlike an athletics team that relies on teamwork and chemistry to win a championship, the NCAA is relying on all its constituents who value intercollegiate athletics to make sure it has a place in higher education.