The NCAA Convention once again offered an extensive menu of Association-wide educational sessions on Saturday, January 10. Following is a brief summary of each session.

The president's role in maintaining the integrity of intercollegiate athletics on campus

A panel of chief executive officers told NCAA Convention delegates January 10 that the secret to effective presidential administration of intercollegiate athletics involves two principal elements: setting appropriate expectations and having trustworthy personnel.

"When in doubt, you should take the high road," said Richard Pattenaude, president of the University of Southern Maine, "so high that they see the bottom of your shoes as they go by."

Pattenaude described how his school successfully weathered a serious infractions case because athletics administrators and coaches knew that the appropriate response was to fix the problem -- in this case, student-athlete gambling -- rather than trying to resist penalties. Pattenaude said the approach not only led to successful resolution of the problem but that the school even received media praise for its aggressive response.

Pattenaude and the other panelists -- James Netherton of Carson-Newman College and John Bardo of Western Carolina University -- agreed that every CEO should have clearly understood structures and philosophies in place to prevent problems. As an example, Netherton noted that at Carson-Newman, six individuals touch the eligibility process for every student-athlete; of those six, the faculty athletics representative, registrar and compliance officer have the authority to declare any student-athlete ineligible.

Bardo described how, soon after his arrival, the athletics program at Western Carolina was characterized by near riots between athletes and fraternity members, litigation, bad publicity, and a general feeling that the program was a liability. In response, he commissioned a study to set expectations, which determined four priorities: that the welfare of the student-athlete should always come first, that every student-athlete should have the opportunity to graduate, that student-athletes should be good citizens of the campus and community, and that student-athletes at Western Carolina should have the opportunity to compete for a conference championship. He said that the approach, combined with increased support for the athletics program, has yielded positive results.

Netherton stressed that CEOs should be aware of the importance of reporting secondary violations. He asked those attending the session how many times they have reported secondary violations and said, "If the answer is 'none' or 'not in a long time,' you may want to look at your commitment to the rules."

-- David Pickle

Gender-equity planning: Using the three-part test of Title IX

More than 30 years have passed since the passage of Title IX, but the issue remains at the forefront of collegiate athletics as university administrators struggle to ensure gender equity in their athletics programs.

A panel of administrators representing each division -- Marcia Saneholtz, senior associate athletics director at Washington State University; Mary Gardner, director of athletics at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania; and Kelly Hart, assistant director of athletics at Springfield College -- led the discussion. Earl Edwards, director of athletics at the University of California, San Diego, moderated the session.

Saneholtz discussed her school's experience in complying with Title IX and additional legislation specific to the state of Washington. She noted that gender equity is more than just "counting heads" and watching budgets. Universities, she said, need to establish an atmosphere that values both men and women athletes.

The fact that gender equity is still an issue at all shows the need to develop a "moral imperative" of fairness, she said.

Gardner said that her school offers 10 sports for men and 10 for women, though wrestling, she noted, competes in Division I, not Division II like all other sports at Bloomsburg.

She said the student population is about 60 percent female and 40 percent male, while student-athletes are about 57 percent male and 43 percent female. However, Gardner noted in other areas, such as scholarships, equipment, traveling, scheduling and coaching, administrators have worked hard to ensure men and women are equal.

Hart presented her school's examination of athletics opportunities available at Springfield, which included looking at participation rates for varsity and club sports, comparing the school with others in its conference and surveying student-athletes.

She noted that of 148 interviews with women, only five said the school did not offer their sport. Those sports included luge and rhythmic gymnastics.

The final step, she said, is to evaluate the findings and look for possible changes if needed.

Saneholtz said in her years of dealing with this issue, she has learned several valuable lessons, including (1) understand that you can't be all things to all people; (2) sports are just as important for women as they are for men; (3) focus more on students, not money; (4) administrators must be willing to make difficult decisions; and (5) until hearts and minds are changed, universities must rely on laws for equality.

Change is hard, she said, but it must be done.

-- Beth Rosenberg

Protecting student-athlete opportunities: The future of Olympic-sport sponsorship at NCAA institutions

While the future of Olympic sports on college campuses is an issue of great concern to athletics administrators, there are clearly no easy answers on how to keep these sports from being dropped in this age of tight budgets and financial constraints.

The issue took center stage at an NCAA Convention panel discussion designed to discuss solutions to the problem.

Christine Grant, former director of women's athletics at the University of Iowa, noted that while there was a net gain of 61 men's teams between 1988 and 2002, most of that increase has come in Divisions II and III.

Division I, she noted, has lost 174 men's teams during that time period, and sports such as wrestling, tennis, rifle, gymnastics and other Olympic sports have taken the biggest hit. Of those losses, 109 were in Division I-A -- the schools with the largest athletics budgets in the country.

Andy Geiger, athletics director at Ohio State University, noted that his school has not dropped any sports and sponsors 35 varsity sports. He acknowledged, however, that his school does not have the budget problems facing some other schools -- one home football game at Ohio State can bring in up to $5 million.

However, Geiger said nothing would change until athletics administrators embrace all athletes as important.

"We mourn the loss of gymnastics teams and tennis teams," he said. "A gymnast is an asset to the community."

Kyle Kallander, chair of the NCAA Olympic Sports Liaison Committee, said the committee has begun discussions on some possible methods of saving these sports, including possibly offering bonuses for sponsoring certain sports, using the NCAA Student-Athlete Opportunity Fund to help with funding, reducing the cost to sponsor sports by reducing the number of scholarships or coaches, and making travel regional to help save money.

Also, the committee plans to work with the United States Olympic Committee to develop strategies to assist NCAA institutions in seeking ways to extend sponsorship of endangered Olympic sports.

"Perhaps the most critical factor in protecting student-athlete opportunities, however, is our philosophical approach. There was a time when institutions believed that sponsoring a broad-based program was vital," Kallander said. "That philosophy is slowly evaporating on most of our campuses so that now many of us are just struggling to meet sponsorship requirements in our division."

-- Beth Rosenberg

Minority coaches: What can be done to increase the number of minority coaches in intercollegiate athletics?

Panelists Carlyle Carter, executive director of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, and Floyd Keith, executive director of the Black Coaches Association, led a discussion of the current state of affairs in the coaching ranks and implored participants to seek solutions.

Both panelists pointed to dismal figures from the latest NCAA race demographics report in 2001-02 that have not changed significantly since the first report in 1995-96. In all sports in all divisions, only 11.7 percent of coaches are ethnic minorities, compared with 29.6 percent for minority student-athletes. Assistant coaches fare a bit better at 18.6 percent. But even the best category for minority coaches -- Division I men's basketball -- while reflecting a 27.8 percent mark for minority head coaches still pales in comparison to the 67.5 percent of minority student-athletes in the sport.

Carter told attendees that "I am not here to antagonize, but to provoke." Then, noting the lack of college presidents in the room, he said, "Not enough of those who are responsible for hiring are here, and until they are, the issue isn't likely to change."

Keith told participants about the BCA's "Hiring Report Card," an initiative developed last year to evaluate hiring practices in intercollegiate athletics. The "grading scale" focuses on awareness of the issue, institutional accountability, and, if necessary, political and financial influence to effect change.

Keith said until member schools are willing to acknowledge the poor numbers and create public awareness of the problem, the current trends likely will continue. He urged members to educate campus leaders and present real data to presidents, athletics directors and boards. He also said to use reliable candidate lists and not to hesitate to call historically black colleges and universities for potential candidates. "Some of the people at those schools have done much more with much fewer resources than are available at even a portion of some predominantly white schools' athletics programs."

He also emphasized that the search process, which in many cases is conducted in a short period of time, needs to change. "An over-the-weekend decision is not a search," he said.

Eugene Marshall, athletics director at Ramapo College and chair of the NCAA Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee, echoed the panelists' thoughts when he said from the floor, "The NCAA spends $4.5 million on diversity programming. It's time for the membership to realize that it's not up to the Association, but the members of the Association, to resolve the problem."

-- Gary T. Brown

How ready is your campus?

Crisis management, an interactive simulation

Administrators living in the post-September 11 world may be so fixed on security issues that they have lost sight of other important elements of crisis management.

"Every administrator should think of crisis management as the protection of the institution's people, property, and its reputation or image," said Dan Donovan, chief executive officer of Inocon, a crisis management firm.

To illustrate the important of image, he cited the case of Coca-Cola. He said if Coke sold all of its worldwide assets, they would total about $35 billion. But he said that the total value of Coca-Cola stock is closer to $50 billion, which reveals the huge value of the corporation's image.

Donovan said that 80 percent of all crises result from communication or character failures, and that 80 percent involved mismanaged incidents. With that in mind, he stressed the importance of management and planning -- "having the right information to the right people at the right time to make the right decision." He also said that when confronted with a crisis, administrators need to make important distinctions between being "in it" (tactical) vs. "on it" (strategic). Key planning elements involve prevention, assessment, management and recovery, he said.

Ed McLaughlin, vice-president of FEI Behavioral Health, said that NCAA members confronted with a potential crisis may contact FEI at 888/827-4737. The initial consultation is free. He said that those using the service should attempt to have information available describing the incident, the location and time of the incident, a damage assessment and the name of ongoing contact person.

-- David Pickle

Empirical effects of collegiate athletics: An interim report

An interim report looking at the empirical effects of collegiate athletics shows that many long-held beliefs about the effects of athletics on higher education may not be true.

Peter Orszag, the Joseph A. Pechman Senior Fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institute, presented the preliminary findings of an independent analysis on the effects of college athletics. The study was commissioned by the NCAA.

Orszag reported that initial research could not confirm many beliefs; for example, the relationship between spending and revenue varies significantly by subgroups of schools and increased operating expenditures on big-time sports affect operating expenditures on other sports.

The study also could not prove (1) that increased expenditures on sports affect measurable academic quality in the medium term, (2) that increased operating expenditures on sports affect other measurable indicators, such as alumni giving, and (3) that the football and basketball markets exhibit an "arms race" in which increased operating expenditures at one school are associated with increased spending at other schools.

Research did confirm that the football and basketball markets exhibited increased levels of inequality in the 1990s; that the football and basketball markets exhibit mobility in expenditure, revenue and winning percentages, and that increased operating expenditures on football or basketball, on average, are not associated with any medium-term increase or decrease in operating net revenue.

It also confirmed that increased operating expenditures on football or basketball are not associated with medium-term increases in winning percentages, Orszag said.

The analysis, Orszag said, also found little support with the so-called "Flutie effect" -- the belief that winning in sports leads to a surge in applications and other benefits. The theory is called the "Flutie effect" because Boston College reported a 30 percent increase in applications in the two years after the famous game-winning pass by quarterback Doug Flutie.

The report also states the data cannot substantiate a belief that expanded athletics programs involve substantial financial losses. Expanded athletics programs, Orszag said, appear to be neither the road to riches nor the road to financial ruin. Operating athletics expenditures in Division I-A are a relatively small share of the overall academic budget, the report noted.

Despite the report's findings, Northern Illinois University Director of Athletics Cary Groth said her school has experienced a so-called "Flutie effect" after the football team's successful season. Groth said applications are up 42 percent and there's been a 24 percent increase in annual giving.

She also noted that other schools in her conference, which also had successful football seasons, have seen similar scenarios at their campuses.

Orszag noted that while this may be true for some schools, reverse situations, such as a lowering of applications when a football team is losing, often are not reported or discussed. However, it would show up in data leading to findings showing that such an effect does not truly exist.

-- Beth Rosenberg