National Collegiate Athletic Association
NCAA News Archive - 2007
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Reformers say Division I presidents headed in right direction
Knight Commission co-chairs encourage further monitoring of financial trends in athletics
Knight Commission co-chairs encourage further monitoring of financial trends in athletics
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By Michelle Brutlag Hosick
The NCAA News
The NCAA News
ORLANDO, Florida — The co-chairs of the Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics told the Division I Board of Directors that their respective groups share a commitment to the collegiate model.
Co-chairs Clifton Wharton and Gerald Turner also said during their presentation at the Board’s January 8 meeting in conjunction with the NCAA Convention that they share the Board’s concerns about fiscal responsibility and the integration of intercollegiate athletics into the educational mission.
The two men addressed the Board and reiterated the Knight Commission’s support of the Presidential Task Force on the Future of Division I Intercollegiate Athletics, which released a report in October.
Wharton, who said the Task Force was right to be worried about spending trends in big-time college sports, would prefer the growth rate of athletics departments to match the growth rate of the university as a whole. While a challenging goal, both he and Turner said keeping the issue in the public eye might prompt results.
“We need to keep the issue before us until we can work out an answer,” Turner said.
Board members affirmed their commitment to keeping Task Force issues alive by commissioning a smaller group of presidents to prioritize Task Force initiatives and propose recommendations for their implementation to the Board.
In other business, the Board approved a Committee on Academic Performance recommendation that establishes a tiered structure for institutions facing their second year of historically based penalties. Teams would face varying levels of practice-time restrictions and scholarship reductions based on a formula that includes improvement as a prime factor.
A second CAP proposal creating a supplemental fund to assist limited-resource institutions that complete a formal application process, undergo ongoing assessment and provide matching funding was tabled until April. Board members requested more time to review the proposal, which would use the annual inflationary increases from the Division I Academic Enhancement Fund to pay for the grants.
The Board also approved most of the legislation the Division I Management Council forwarded, tabling only two proposals until April. Proposal No. 06-100 would give Division I Presidential Advisory Group members representing the Football Championship Subdivision the authority to act on behalf of their representatives on the Board on issues specific to championship subdivision football. Proposal No. 06-107 would eliminate the event-certification program in sports other than football and basketball.
Among proposals adopted were those requiring mandatory medical exams for all student-athletes before participation, increasing the number of recruiting days in women’s basketball to 100 and permitting institutions to provide a matching grant to student-athletes receiving the NCAA degree-completion award.
January 8/Orlando, Florida
Heard a report from Joe Crowley, member of the Diversity Leadership Strategic Planning Committee, and Charlotte Westerhaus, NCAA vice president for diversity and inclusion, on the committee’s work in student-athlete diversity; inclusive environments; recruitment, hiring and retention; and support of women’s sports.
Reviewed proposals that were defeated by the Management Council, including one supported by the Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics that would have required the creation of a Campus Athletics Board on every campus. The Council had concerns about accountability of the board and the makeup of the membership.
Heard from Baseball Academic Enhancement Working Group Chair Ron Wellman, the athletics director at Wake Forest University, about changing the transfer culture in the sport and examining recommendations such as adjusting the way equivalencies are distributed.
Co-chairs Clifton Wharton and Gerald Turner also said during their presentation at the Board’s January 8 meeting in conjunction with the NCAA Convention that they share the Board’s concerns about fiscal responsibility and the integration of intercollegiate athletics into the educational mission.
The two men addressed the Board and reiterated the Knight Commission’s support of the Presidential Task Force on the Future of Division I Intercollegiate Athletics, which released a report in October.
Wharton, who said the Task Force was right to be worried about spending trends in big-time college sports, would prefer the growth rate of athletics departments to match the growth rate of the university as a whole. While a challenging goal, both he and Turner said keeping the issue in the public eye might prompt results.
“We need to keep the issue before us until we can work out an answer,” Turner said.
Board members affirmed their commitment to keeping Task Force issues alive by commissioning a smaller group of presidents to prioritize Task Force initiatives and propose recommendations for their implementation to the Board.
In other business, the Board approved a Committee on Academic Performance recommendation that establishes a tiered structure for institutions facing their second year of historically based penalties. Teams would face varying levels of practice-time restrictions and scholarship reductions based on a formula that includes improvement as a prime factor.
A second CAP proposal creating a supplemental fund to assist limited-resource institutions that complete a formal application process, undergo ongoing assessment and provide matching funding was tabled until April. Board members requested more time to review the proposal, which would use the annual inflationary increases from the Division I Academic Enhancement Fund to pay for the grants.
The Board also approved most of the legislation the Division I Management Council forwarded, tabling only two proposals until April. Proposal No. 06-100 would give Division I Presidential Advisory Group members representing the Football Championship Subdivision the authority to act on behalf of their representatives on the Board on issues specific to championship subdivision football. Proposal No. 06-107 would eliminate the event-certification program in sports other than football and basketball.
Among proposals adopted were those requiring mandatory medical exams for all student-athletes before participation, increasing the number of recruiting days in women’s basketball to 100 and permitting institutions to provide a matching grant to student-athletes receiving the NCAA degree-completion award.
Other highlights
Division I Board of DirectorsJanuary 8/Orlando, Florida
Heard a report from Joe Crowley, member of the Diversity Leadership Strategic Planning Committee, and Charlotte Westerhaus, NCAA vice president for diversity and inclusion, on the committee’s work in student-athlete diversity; inclusive environments; recruitment, hiring and retention; and support of women’s sports.
Reviewed proposals that were defeated by the Management Council, including one supported by the Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics that would have required the creation of a Campus Athletics Board on every campus. The Council had concerns about accountability of the board and the makeup of the membership.
Heard from Baseball Academic Enhancement Working Group Chair Ron Wellman, the athletics director at Wake Forest University, about changing the transfer culture in the sport and examining recommendations such as adjusting the way equivalencies are distributed.
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