Though legislative packages from the men's and women's basketball coaches associations have been on similar tracks, they haven't enjoyed the same rides through the Division I legislative cycle. While the NABC has had to adjust its package a couple of times to reach a comfort level with the Division I membership, the WBCA proposals have remained largely unchanged since their entrance into the cycle in July.

Those in the women's basketball community say the apparent difference in acceptance among Division I members may have more to do with the status of the men's and women's games than how the packages have been developed or delivered.

"The fact that the WBCA package has met less resistance is indicative of the fact that the games are at a different point in time in their development," said Patriot League Executive Director Carolyn Schlie Femovich, who chairs the Division I Women's Basketball Issues Committee.

Because the stakes in the men's game have been so high for so long, Schlie Femovich said a trust gap has developed primarily -- and perhaps unfairly -- because of highly publicized problems that aren't representative of the overall culture. "Although those instances represent only a small percentage of all the student-athletes playing men's basketball, they receive a lot of publicity and they tend to have an impact on everyone else associated with men's basketball," she said.

The women's basketball community has been able to learn from the men's game over time. In fact, many see the most recent legislative package as preventative steps to avoid those problems that have befallen the men's game.

"WBCA members have done a great job of evaluating their game, knowing that it was at a different point in time than the men's game," Schlie Femovich said. "They've had the benefit of observing and learning from men's basketball. They've used that to chart their own course. They've really tried to get ahead of the game and look at active measures to preserve and protect the integrity of their game, to deal with equity and parity in the recruiting process and to reduce the influence of outside entities."

What WBCA CEO Beth Bass calls "the bedrock proposals" in the package now before the Management Council and Board of Directors do just that. Bass has said in many presentations over the past eight months that the package is designed to achieve four important principles: provide flexibility for schools to customize recruiting; balance access among prospects, current student-athletes and coaches; minimize the impact of outside entities; and empower the scholastic community.

"Those far-reaching principles and core values still hold true in the proposals that are still in the system," Bass said.

Bass said about 15 of the WBCA's original proposals remain active. Only a handful were defeated at the Management Council's January meeting, and none of those was critical to the package as a whole.

Bass emphasized caution in comparing the women's package to the men's, however, both in substance and outcome. That the WBCA package has met less resistance has nothing to do with a notion that women's coaches have a better grasp on the governance process, Bass said. In fact, she said that aspect is where both the WBCA and the NABC have learned the most, and it is where future trust will be strengthened.

"Never in our history have we had this much legislation in the NCAA pipeline," she said. "No matter what the outcome, the real benefit is that the lines of communication and the points of access between the WBCA and NCAA have opened."

Bass counted six times that she and other WBCA administrators have presented to NCAA governance groups over the past several months. "That's huge," she said. "That we can have a platform in front of the Management Council, the academics and championships cabinets, and the Women's Basketball Issues Committee has never happened before. We've made good strides of reaching out and canvassing the points of access."

Management Council members acknowledge that the women's package also benefits from the fact that not as many of the proposals are as controversial as the men's. While the women's game may have considered a fifth year of eligibility had that concept been approved for the men, it wasn't among their original requests. The women's package also didn't include proposals for tryouts, another contested item on the men's side.

"Their proposals were less controversial on the front end and therefore garnered a little bit less discussion," said Council member Jim Murphy, the Davidson College athletics director. "The issues are the same, but it's a question of whether the risk is as high."

Bass said whatever the outcome, the experience has been positive, and that the invitation last spring from NCAA President Myles Brand to develop the recruiting and access package won't soon be forgotten. "It has definitely broadened our horizons, and hopefully our skill set, as to how the NCAA governance structure works," she said.

Brand himself said, "Beth and the WBCA leadership have done an excellent job in using this opportunity to propose and advocate for significant improvements in the women's game."

"The process is as important as the outcome," Schlie Femovich said. "Beth and her staff have shown strong leadership and have educated themselves about the legislative process and how to work efficiently within the NCAA system. For that reason, the WBCA package has been well-prepared and well-received. In some ways, it's not as controversial as the NABC package, but it's just as important to the future of their game as the men's package is."

-- Gary T. Brown