GARDEN GROVE, California -- Division II's long journey to make its championship regionalization policy more equitable advanced another step at the July 18-19 meeting of the Division II Management Council.

Although no formal action was taken, the Council supported a Championships Committee recommendation to explore two options that would add flexibility to the Division II regional structure.

The first would create eight regions, with two to three conferences assigned to each region. Institutions would be able to count games against any conference opponent and any institution within the region as an in-region opponent. In addition, institutions outside of their conference's region would be able to count games against institutions in their state as in-region games.

The second option also would create eight regions containing two to three conferences each. In that option, games against conference members and against opponents within the region would count as in-region games, along with games against opponents from states contiguous to the region.

The in-state option would maintain more tightly defined regions and thus seemingly would adhere more to what regionalization is designed to achieve -- reduced travel costs and less missed class time.

However, proponents of the second option noted that, in many cases, the contiguous-state feature could make more nearby opponents available than the in state option, thus reducing travel and missed class time. They also said that many states are exclusively populated by Division II members from a single conference (that is, all Division II members in Kansas and Missouri are members of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association), meaning that many members would not benefit from that option.

The Management Council's discussion did reveal that the division is far from a consensus on how to proceed with the issue. While members were asked to consider the topic with regard to the totality of Division II, several members candidly acknowledged that their perspectives would be influenced by how their conference was affected.

The Regionalization Task Force, the Management Council subcommittee working on the issue, is focusing at this point only on concepts. No regional boundaries have been drawn, other than for illustrative purposes.

The task force, which was formed last summer (see "Regionalization becomes a national issue" in the July 4 issue of The NCAA News), will continue to address the topic in concert with the Division II Championships Committee. Members of the task force and staff will discuss the issue at conference meetings this fall. Also, the issue will be examined thoroughly at an educational session at the January Convention.

Legislation

The marquee legislative item involved a proposal to establish a new standard for certifying the academic eligibility of student-athletes who are transferring with only one year of eligibility remaining (see related story, page 17).

Among other things, the Management Council agreed to the legislative form of proposals for the 2006 NCAA Convention that would:

* Specify penalties for institutions that fail to complete the required institutional self-study as scheduled (a modified ISSG schedule will be communicated soon to top administrators at all Division II institutions).

* Establish a penalty structure as part of the enforcement and championships-selection process (as recommended by the Championships Eligibility Project Team).

However, the Council voted to recommend that the Division II Presidents Council withdraw its sponsorship of a proposal that would permit sports-specific coaching staff members with strength and conditioning responsibilities to monitor voluntary individual workouts for safety purposes without counting the time as a countable athletically related activities. Most Council members felt that the proposal had too much potential for abuse.

The Council also asked that the Presidents Council approve a number of legislative concepts forwarded by the Legislation Committee. Among them is a proposal from the National Association of Basketball Coaches that would specify that, in all sports, a student-athlete would be permitted to engage in a maximum of eight hours of countable athletically related activities per week outside of the playing season during the academic year, with no more than two of the hours devoted to individual or team skill-related instruction. The provision also would eliminate limitations on how many student-athletes can be involved in such activities at any one time.

Another proposal would permit the name, picture or likeness of a student-athlete to be used in any institutional, charitable, educational or nonprofit promotion that involves a commercial entity (including media entities), under specified conditions.

The Council also approved an interpretation confirming that student-athletes may not purchase athletics equipment, supplies or clothing from a manufacturer or commercial enterprise at a discounted price that is not offered to the general student body. While the Council agreed that the interpretation accurately reflected current legislation, several members appeared interested in re-examining whether the policy itself is appropriate.

Division II Management Council
July 18-19/Garden Grove, California

• Approved a recommendation from the Academic Requirements Committee to provide financial incentives for institutions to submit material for the Division II Academic Success Rate, which was approved at the 2005 Convention.

• Referred a Student-Athlete Advisory Committee recommendation that Division II require student-athlete exit interviews to the Student-Athlete Involvement Project Team.

• Agreed to sponsor legislation, as recommended by the Division II Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement, that would (under certain conditions) qualify student-athletes for a one-year extension of the 10-semester/15-quarter rule if the student-athlete redshirts in his or her first season and then -- for reasons beyond his or her control -- is able to complete only three of his or her four seasons of competition before the expiration of the 10-semester/15-quarter clock.

• Recommended that the Budget and Finance Committee and the Presidents Council approve $300,000 in additional funding for the Division II Strategic Alliance Matching Grant Program for the 2006-07 and 2007-08 biennial budget.

• Endorsed a proposal from the NCAA Committee on Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct to permit the Association to speak to serious unsportsmanlike acts that occur during the regular season.

• Elected a new Management Council representative from the California Collegiate Athletic Association. The Presidents Council must ratify the election of that individual at its August meeting.

• Received several reports on key Division II issues, including progress on the development of an Amateurism Clearinghouse from NCAA Vice-President Kevin Lennon, television coverage of Division II national championships from NCAA Vice-President Greg Shaheen and research on Division II finances from Jon Orszag of Competition Policy Associates (see the July 4 issue of The NCAA News).

• At the request of the Committee on Women's Athletics, discussed attitudes toward the practice of male practice teams in female sports. The discussion did not yield a consensus.

• At the request of the staff, discussed the possibility of moving the date of the annual Convention for 2009 and beyond.