The people who monitor compliance at NCAA member institutions are signaling through a reorganization of their national association that they’re ready to become more than sentinels guarding against rules violations.

They want to play a greater role -- in fact, become indispensable partners -- in shaping the environment of intercollegiate athletics, according to the president of the recently renamed National Association for Athletics Compliance.

“In a nutshell, what the restructured or reengineered NAAC is best at is providing compliance solutions on behalf of college athletics,” said Judy Van Horn, associate director of athletics and senior woman administrator at Michigan and president of the organization.

“We need to step up to the plate, and I think that’s what we’re doing now.”

NAAC focused during its first decade of existence on networking and education for members working in a field that itself came into being just a couple of decades ago as the complexity of rules increased. Now, it is taking steps to gain a leadership role for compliance professionals in athletics administration.

For starters, it is seeking more visibility by holding its convention for the first time in conjunction with the annual meetings of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics.

The June 8-9 convention in Dallas will continue to focus on professional-development themes that the organization -- then known as the National Association for Athletics Compliance Coordinators -- began addressing during roundtable discussions at NCAA Regional Rules Seminars, then developed during its first two conventions at Minnesota and last year at Texas.

But Van Horn suggested that meeting alongside athletics directors also gives the association an opportunity to begin engaging key constituencies in intercollegiate athletics, and to begin leveraging its membership’s knowledge and experience into a partnership.

“Those of us who are in the compliance profession have had a need for a stronger connection nationally, and a way where we can be part of the process, involved in legislation, involved in the discussion of collegiate issues vs. being a spectator and being reactive to things that happen compliance-wise within intercollegiate athletics,” Van Horn said.

“In conjunction with that, I also believe that there is increased recognition by other constituencies within college athletics -- athletics directors, presidents, conference commissioners -- who are counting on us to serve as a resource for them.”

Compliance staffs already interact with a variety of constituencies on their own campuses, so it seems like a natural step to expand the collaborative nature of the profession.

“Compliance professionals are the only position within the athletics department, except for perhaps the AD or maybe an executive associate (AD), who is involved in every aspect of the athletics program,” Van Horn said.

“NCAA rules are infused in every aspect of the athletics department. So I know what development does, I know what marketing does, I know what the strength and conditioning coaches are doing, I know about the trainers, I know about the media relations professionals and have a sense of their job -- in addition to all of the issues our coaches deal with and our student-athletes -- because there are NCAA rules that cover all of their areas.”

Being stationed at an intersection in college sports brings perspective, and NAAC believes it is ready to be more than an organization of traffic cops.

For starters, it plans to establish standards by which an institution can judge whether it is doing all it can do to abide by the rules.

“We’ve already engaged in some preliminary work involving compliance monitoring, and established a committee for that purpose,” Van Horn said, adding that the effort could result in adoption of monitoring standards by the end of this decade.

“We feel we are in the best position to assess and evaluate what is reasonable for compliance monitoring on a campus that wants to function appropriately as a member of the NCAA.”

Van Horn believes establishing standards is the best way in the near future that NAAC can serve others involved in intercollegiate athletics -- including presidents, athletics directors, coaches and the NCAA staff.

“It’s critical to have standards,” she explained. “Without standards, an athletics director or a president has nothing tangible with which to assess the efforts of their athletics compliance personnel. They have nothing tangible with which to determine whether or not they are successfully protecting the best interests of and integrity of their athletics program.

“In a sense, (without standards) institutions are a moving target, and there’s no safe harbor, because you never know when enough is enough. You have no bar, no standard, for determining if you’re below what your institution should do, whether you’re meeting the standard, or whether you’re actually exceeding the standard and your compliance staff should be rewarded or recognized for their efforts.”

Related to that initiative, the organization also anticipates establishing professional standards for compliance administrators, thus offering athletics directors guidelines for use in hiring well-prepared professionals for campus roles.

The organization also has other short-term goals that are firmly rooted in its earliest purposes -- professional development and networking. The agenda for next month’s convention (appropriately, its theme is “Elevate Your Game”) includes sessions on managing ethical issues, establishing relationships with coaches, providing rules education and allocating compliance resources.

“Our heart is in helping people who are mid-level or entry-level compliance professionals, and to help grow them and lift their lids so they see the big picture -- so they move beyond the minutia of the day-to-day monitoring and understand why we do what we do, and who we do it for,” Van Horn said.

Beginning with its efforts to establish monitoring standards -- and drawing from a deep well of expertise and experience -- NAAC also expects to establish its place as a voice engaged in the improvement of athletics administration.

“We want to serve as an athletics compliance resource, which is not limited to but would include providing input on legislative issues, being a resource for the NCAA if they call and ask whether something translates to the campus experience -- having people ready to assist in that regard,” Van Horn explained.

As NAAC begins its second decade, Van Horn also is looking another 10 years down the road.

“I see us as a strong partner within intercollegiate athletics,” she said. “We’re in this regulated environment that (seeks), as much as possible, to level the playing field, and I think the expertise within the compliance ranks is invaluable to helping athletics directors, presidents and FARs navigate the legislation and navigate the legislative process. We want to be there to better serve intercollegiate athletics.”