The NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics agreed to change the selection process for the annual NCAA Woman of the Year award during its January 23-24 meeting in Key West, Florida.

The new selection process requires schools to submit nominations through their conferences. All NCAA member conferences are eligible to participate. Each conference will select one winner that will be forwarded to the Woman of the Year selection committee. Conferences may choose two winners if one honoree is a student-athlete of color. The selection committee will announce the top 10 winners in Divisions I, II and III, respectively.

From each group of 10, a top three will be designated, and the CWA will choose one overall winner from the pool of nine divisional honorees. The committee wants the new process in place by this spring, when nominations begin for the 2006 award.

Conferences will receive details about the new selection process soon. Institutions will be notified in a March 10 mailing about the availability of nomination forms. Nominations will be due in conference offices by late May, and conferences will forward winners to the national office by mid-June.

CWA Chair Darlene Bailey said the committee believes the proposed change is more equitable than the current practice of selecting one winner per state because some states have more NCAA institutions than others. 

“We decided to look more closely at the conference alternative, particularly because many NCAA matters have been carried out through conferences since restructuring brought about the federated system of governance in 1997,” said Bailey, an associate director of athletics and the senior woman administrator at Missouri State University. “By focusing on conferences and divisions, we feel that every student-athlete — and every institution, perhaps — has a better chance of advancing.”

The committee also revisited the issue of women’s teams that use male practice players. The CWA has drafted a statement that encourages institutions to be aware of the practice and has asked the Divisions I, II and III Management Councils to consider possible legislation that restricts or even eliminates it. The statement, which will appear in the committee’s report to the divisional Management Councils, also will be distributed to other key stakeholders such as faculty athletics representatives, sport committees and student-athlete advisory committees.

The statement comes after the committee’s review of anecdotal evidence and feedback to a 10-question survey sent to the national student-athlete advisory committees, sport committees and Management Councils, as well as coaches and administrators who generally supported the idea but who also had some reservations. The CWA acknowledged that the use of male practice players may be necessary in some cases, such as when there are not enough members on the team to conduct practice. Overall, though, the committee continues to be concerned that using male practice squads interferes with the chance for women student-athletes to receive equitable opportunities and may jeopardize the health and safety of the male athletes serving in that role.

Other issues

During a discussion of emerging sports, the CWA noted that equestrian is approaching the 40 sponsoring institutions needed for a sport to be eligible to earn NCAA championship designation. Divisions I and II have declared equestrian as an emerging sport, and current numbers indicate that 18 Division I and five Division II schools already sponsor it. Should Division III decide to recognize equestrian as an emerging sport, the 17 sponsoring schools in that division would boost the sport’s sponsorship number to 40.

The committee also renewed its call for enforcement of NCAA legislation stipulating that emerging sports on the list for more than 10 years be removed. The CWA initially made the request after its October meeting. According to NCAA bylaws, sports that are removed from the list may reapply to have the designation restored.

In other actions, the CWA talked about developing a report card focused on women coaches and administrators similar to the Black Coaches Association’s Hiring Report Card that evaluates the hiring processes Division I-A schools use when filling head football coaching vacancies.

The committee also applauded the national office’s corporate and business alliance group, which worked closely with NCAA corporate champions and partners to ensure that females are portrayed in a positive light during promotions and advertisements displayed at NCAA championships.

The CWA noted the success of the January 18 Title IX Web cast and encouraged continued use of the technology.

CWA members also met with the Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee to review current, new and additional budget requests for 2006-07 and 2007-08. The two committees operate programs and initiatives from a shared allocation. A summary of the joint meeting is included in the Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee story elsewhere on this page.