The NCAA Committee on Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct fortified plans to upgrade the sportsmanship page on the NCAA Web site and continued to polish its strategy for addressing poor sportsmanship during its June 13-14 meeting in Indianapolis.

The revamped sportsmanship site will feature three main areas: a tool kit that includes best practices; resources and programs; and the "Soap Test," which is an institutional self-evaluation. The committee also plans to include downloadable sportsmanship-related posters and videos. The site also will offer a user-friendly central location for individuals to submit complaints and questions about sportsmanship. The new site is expected to be unveiled in early August.

The group’s accountability subcommittee hopes to use the upgraded site to identify and address acts of poor sportsmanship, especially at the national and regional levels. The subcommittee will enlist the help of officials, members of playing-rules committees and conference officials in posting examples of positive sportsmanship on the Web site.

The subcommittee also proposed a process for responding to unsportsmanlike behavior and, more specifically, acts that are nationally significant or that draw extensive regional or national media attention. The subcommittee agreed that when incidents occur, it will monitor institutional and conference response and circulate details throughout the subcommittee. If the subcommittee has not seen or is still unaware of a response after a reasonable amount of time or if no action is taken, it will send a letter to the conference office and the director of athletics to determine if action was taken. In the most egregious cases, the subcommittee may decide to make a public statement.

"We don’t want to put our member institutions and conferences in a bad light, but we do want to make sure these instances are being addressed," said newly appointed committee Chair Alan Patterson, commissioner of the Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference. "There’s an expectation by the public and by our membership that someone is watching this. So we want to work with our conferences and institutions to be able to answer those questions when they arise. It’s a collaborative, cooperative approach we are trying to take."

A second subgroup, the strategic planning subcommittee, which is charged with examining sportsmanship issues related to the NCAA strategic plan, noted progress in the past year, pointing specifically to the success of the June 23 sportsmanship summit held in conjunction with the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics convention in New Orleans (see related story, page 11).

The subcommittee agreed to focus on four areas: (1) emphasizing the value of good sportsmanship and tying current practices to the NCAA’s guiding principles; (2) engaging constituent groups; (3) creating a common acceptance of fundamental sportsmanship principles; and (4) encouraging a common set of expectations for college athletics events that further differentiates the collegiate model of athletics from professional sports.

In other matters, the committee discussed student-athletes’ use of social networks such as Facebook.com and MySpace.com. Committee members were particularly concerned about potential embarrassment to student-athletes and institutions because of inappropriate material posted on the Internet. They also noted the gambling implications associated with social networks because compromising information could be exchanged. The agent, gambling and amateurism activities staff at the national office already has begun to address the situation.

"This has happened so quickly, but it has become a huge issue and we are raising a red flag," Patterson said. "Our understanding is that our membership is taking this very seriously. We know most athletics departments are talking to student-athletes about how public these sites are and that employers are rejecting applications as a result of information that appears on them. Our student-athletes need to know that, and we hope our institutions are sharing that information."

In other gambling-related items, the group previewed a new "Don’t Bet on It" DVD to be released this fall and emphasized its use at championships. The committee also noted that background checks will be conducted for football officials chosen for postseason competition beginning this season.