Division I

Override vote halts increases  in grants for three sports

Women’s soccer emerged as the only one of four sports involved in a historic Division I vote January 7 that will be allowed to increase scholarship limits.

Three other sports — gymnastics, track and field, and volleyball — will stay at current maximums because of a membership override of previous actions to increase grants.

As anticipated, all four override votes were close. Each required a five-eighths majority to pass (roughly 62.5 percent), and the roll-call votes for gymnastics, track and field, and volleyball passed by 188-111 (62.88 percent), 204-117 (63.55 percent) and 202-117 (63.32 percent), respectively. The final vote on women’s soccer was defeated by a similarly narrow margin of 191-125 (60.44 percent).

In other actions, the Division I Board of Directors approved a program January 9 that honors the top 10 percent of teams in each sport based on Academic Progress Rates (including ties). The initiative from the Division I Committee on Academic Performance (CAP) is part of a broader incentives and rewards program still being developed.

The Board also received 68 measures approved a day earlier by the Division I Management Council by at least a two-thirds majority.

Board members delayed taking action on only a handful, including one that affects the number of regular-season games in baseball. The Board adopted the uniform start date and the season parameters provided in Proposal 05-91-B, but it continues to be bothered by the maximum number of contests it allows.

Division II

All but two proposals win support in voting by delegates

Delegates approved 37 proposals either by a show of paddles or by pluralities of 90 percent or more, but defeated two other proposals in close votes during the Division II annual business session January 9.

All seven proposals in the Presidents Council grouping were approved. The “closest” of them was No. 22, which creates new academic requirements for student-athletes transferring to Division II institutions with only one year of eligibility remaining. That proposal passed by a count of 247-10-1. Among the other proposals passed wass one that will discourage the use of ineligible student-athletes.

Delegates also attended forums January 8 about Division II postseason football and championships regionalization, and demonstrated more consensus on those issues than in the past.

The membership seemed to positively acknowledge the effort of the Division II Regionalization Task Force, and support was evident for a proposal that would create common regions for sports with similar bracket sizes and, among other things, would count conference games, games against in-state opponents and games against opponents in contiguous states as in-region contests.

Division III

‘Redshirting’ bid defeated; ‘Future’ proposals approved

The membership rejected a proposal to reinstate “redshirting” by a 2-1 margin — a more decisive action than the original vote at the 2004 Convention to eliminate the practice — then endorsed three proposals that resulted directly from recommendations of the Future of Division III-Phase II Oversight Group during the Division III annual business session January 9.

Delegates gave near-unanimous support to Proposal No. 9, which amends the Division III philosophy statement to clearly state that athletics should be conducted within institutions’ academic and cultural mission.

The membership also approved proposals to create a Conference Self-Study Guide (CSSG) and to cap the size of championship brackets at 64 teams (32 in football).

The CSSG proposal includes a one-time, two-year opportunity for conference realignment without loss of automatic qualification for championships, beginning in August 2008. Delegates actually went a step further, approving upon reconsideration an Empire 8 proposal that would protect conferences any time — not just during the Council’s one-time opportunity — when realignment reduces league membership below the number required for AQ.