Faced with ongoing, division-specific problems with professional opportunities for women and minorities, the Division II Presidents Council chose action over deliberation.

At its April 29 meeting in Indianapolis, the Council voted to create a program to provide stipends to develop more women and minority coaches at Division II institutions.

The presidents took the action unilaterally after hearing a report on a February 2 leadership summit on diversity issues (see the February 16 issue of The NCAA News).

Although the Council did not address the potential volume of financial support, Division II Vice-President Mike Racy said he anticipated a program of about $300,000 annually. He said funding probably can be arranged by using Division II reserves.

In its consideration of the issue, the Council reviewed a memorandum about diversity issues from George Hagerty, Council chair and president of Franklin Pierce College. In stating his concerns, Hagerty said he was frustrated that Division II is no better off on diversity matters than it was a decade ago.

In his memo, Hagerty said the route to success involves determining the ideal for diversity among coaches and athletics administrators and identifying the best course to narrow the distance between the ideal and the current condition.

The presidents wasted no time in answering the second point. They agreed that they need to assist their athletics directors by acting to "fill the pipeline" with minority and women coaches who have been hired early in their careers with the intent of pursuing a career in coaching or athletics administration. The Council also directed the staff to assemble a resource book to help presidents know where to turn to build diverse candidate pools for coaching and administrative vacancies.

"The Presidents Council was very clear on this issue," Racy said. "They didn't refer this back to the Management Council or any other group for further study. Instead, they said to make it happen. We will be back to them in August with a proposed course of action."

If the Council were to approve a $300,000 program, that would mean that about 5 percent of Division II's annual budget would be directed to diversity issues. Other large Division II annual expenditures include $500,000 for the Strategic Alliance Matching-Grant Program and at least $375,000 for conference grants that must be targeted to diversity issues (much of that currently is directed at enhancing the senior woman administrator position). Division II also provides a $50,000 grant each year to the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators. Those programs would total about $1.2 million; the Division II budget for 2004-05 will be $22.0 million.

"Five percent is a significant portion of the discretionary money that is available for Division II," Racy said. "For 2005-06, about 63 percent of the budget will be directed to championships, so this does represent a major commitment considering the limited amount of funding that remains after championships are paid for."

Financial aid

The Presidents Council also approved a Management Council recommendation to take no action at this time to change Division II financial aid equivalencies. The action was a follow-up to a 2003 Convention resolution that mandated a review of the limits.

In endorsing no action, Division II Management Council Chair Sue Willey, director of athletics at the University of Indianapolis, said that lowering financial aid limits wouldn't necessarily contain costs but that it could potentially harm student-athletes by making less money available for their education.

The presidents discussed a commonly held belief that the matter pertains much more to football than any other sport. In that vein, they noted that any 15 members may sponsor Convention legislation to lower the limits in football, if they choose.

Membership stability

The Presidents Council also approved a pair of Management Council recommendations relating to Division II image issues (see the April 26 issue of The NCAA News). The presidents voted to create a Management Council subcommittee to coordinate various Division II identity initiatives and to recommend that the national office provide advocacy and public relation services on a division-specific basis, as necessary.

They also asked the NCAA Executive Committee to establish a subcommittee to examine membership-classification issues as they relate to the NCAA's overall health. The Executive Committee, which also met April 29, discussed the matter, but the Division II Presidents Council withdrew the proposal pending the development of additional details regarding Executive Committee oversight in this area.

Although Division II membership has grown over the last decade as new members have joined from outside the NCAA, that growth has slowed as prospective new members have had to comply with increased financial aid and sports-sponsorship legislation that was approved at the 2002 Convention. In the meantime, current Division II members have become increasingly willing to pursue Division I membership. That willingness may be enhanced by a recent Division I action that reduces the amount of time required for a reclassifying member to be eligible to compete in Division I championships.

The problem is exacerbated by attrition of Division II football-playing institutions in the Western half of the country.

The presidents discussed the issue with NCAA President Myles Brand, who said the problem is an extension of the "mission-creep" pressure that colleges and universities experience for all of their programs.

"There is a false sense that 'if only we can win, we'll have more students and more money,' " Brand said. "It's more attitude than anything, but the thought is there. You can try to address this through rule-making, but ultimately there has to be pride in being a Division II member."

Other highlights

Division II Presidents Council
April 29/Indianapolis

The Presidents Council approved the Division II budget for the next biennium. The budget includes about $2 million in championship-bracket and field-size expansion. That includes funding to expand the football championship bracket from 16 to 24 teams beginning with the 2004 season. Other championship brackets that will increase in the 2004-05 academic year include field hockey (from four to six teams) and women's volleyball (from 48 to 64 teams). Also in 2004-05, men's and women's indoor track will add the 200-meter dash and the distance medley relay. In 2005-06, the baseball bracket will increase from 32 to 48 teams and the softball championship will grow from 48 to 64 teams.

Agreed to sponsor 13 legislative proposals for the 2005 Convention. Key among them are proposals to require institutions to meet minimum participation and minimum-contest requirements to participate in the indoor track championships, to allow the NCAA to reduce a drug-testing penalty because of mitigating circumstances, to honor drug-testing suspensions from a national or international sports governing body that has adopted the World Anti-Doping Agency Code, and to require NCAA members to be subject to mandatory binding arbitration of claims arising under federal law against the Association. The Council also authorized development of a proposal that would permit a student-athlete who has not participated in countable athletically related activities for a consecutive two-year period to be immediately eligible for competition (to close a loophole that provides eligibility in such cases only for those who transfer to another institution); however, the presidents expressed concern about whether any student-athletes should be immediately eligible under such circumstances and asked the Academic Requirements Committee to provide feedback for the August meeting of the Presidents Council.

Approved a drug-testing pilot study to include all championships sports in Division II's year-round drug-testing program.

Asked the Division II Nominating Committee to provide a new slate of candidates for three vacancies on the Nominating Committee to ensure greater gender balance for that group.