The NCAA Divisions I, II and III Field Hockey Committees reinforced the high expectations they have for players, coaches and bench personnel by adjusting the penalty structure during its January 21-24 meeting in Indianapolis.

The committees applied a stricter standard for penalties assessed to the coach or bench personnel by eliminating yellow-card penalties (which provide for time-specific suspensions) for those participants. The yellow-card penalty will apply only to players in the future. Coaches and bench personnel will instead be subject to a green (warning) or red card (ejection). Head coaches are responsible for the actions of their teams' bench area and shall receive any green card assessed related to bench decorum. A red card assessed to the team bench area will result in the head coach receiving a red card and removal from the venue.

The committees also approved requiring the umpire to designate to the scorer’s table the suspension time assessed to a player receiving a yellow card. If additional time is assessed to the player during the suspension due to conduct, the umpire will again notify the scorer’s table of the additional penalty time. Suspended players will still be assessed a minimum of five minutes of penalty time.

In other action, the committees reaffirmed that the reserve umpire may card coaches, bench personnel or players. The reserve umpire also may award additional penalty time to a suspended player and disqualify a suspended player as warranted.

The committees also discussed the status of the ball contract with Penn Monto and formed a subcommittee to evaluate the rules-interpreter position.

Meeting separately, the Division I committee decreased the amount of warm-up time allotted for teams in the championship games by 17 minutes. Teams will now have 45 minutes to prepare before the contests. Also, as part of a newly established pregame protocol similar to soccer, squads will line up at midfield and be introduced before the competition begins.

In addition, the committee adjusted the start time of the first game of the first round of the national championship tournament to 11:30 a.m. All other times in the first and second rounds will remain the same. In other actions, the Division I committee recommended to the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet that Nancy Lyons, senior associate director of athletics at Boston University, serve as chair.

The Division II committee talked about ways to enhance the national championship. The committee focused particularly on the championship site and directed NCAA staff to explore the possibility of a six-team format at one location.  

In other actions, the Division II committee adjusted the pre-championship game timeline. With the change, team captains and umpires will meet at center field after the official pregame warm-up period expires. The group felt this was a more natural progression of pregame activities and allows captains to remain with their teams for the entire warm-up period.

The committee also rearranged the order of post-championship game activities. The all-tournament team will be announced first, followed by the introduction of the second-place team and the presentation of the national championship trophy to the winning squad.

The Division III committee confirmed that the national championship tournament field will remain at 24 teams. Pool berths are expected to be 14 for Pool A, three for Pool B and seven for Pool C. Ursinus College has been recommended to host the 2008 championship. The NCAA Division III Championships Committee will act on that request at its next meeting.

In addition, at the request of attendees at the National Field Hockey Coaches Association Convention last month, the committee is commissioning a survey on playing surfaces. Although hosting responsibilities typically are awarded to the higher seeds in the tournament regardless of playing surface, the survey may determine whether coaches prefer a particular playing surface for championships competition.

In other action, the committee elected Nancy Bals, associate athletics director at Westfield State College, as the new chair.