The Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet at its June 24-25 meeting approved a new qualifier allocation formula for wrestling that will go into effect for the 2009 championship.

Cabinet members, who convened in Oak Brook, Illinois, praised the Division I Wrestling Committee for developing a plan that aligns the sport more closely with selection criteria used for other Division I championships.

Specifically, the plan eliminates the use of historical data, eliminates the practice of selecting wild-card participants and allocates enough conference and regional qualifying positions while maintaining the importance of conference and qualifying tournaments. It also balances the goals of selecting the most highly qualified individuals and achieving regional representation.

The only part of the plan that was not approved was the recommendation to increase the number of qualifiers from 330 to 360. Expansion of the field would cost $57,000.

Based on a recommendation from the cabinet’s bracket/format subcommittee, the cabinet did not take a position on the wrestling committee’s recommendation to increase the sport’s championships field by 30 participants.

The cabinet appreciated the committee’s position on the increase but decided to consider the recommendation after further discussion on whether it aligns with the cabinet’s guiding principles for bracket expansion and related funding options for the increase.

“We understand that the expansion of the bracket for additional participants is desirable and that it might be important to the future and health of the sport,” said cabinet Chair Carolyn Schlie Femovich, executive director of the Patriot League. “But we need to respect the cabinet’s policies and procedures with respect to the bracket expansion and funding issues.”

As for allocations to the 2009 Division I Wrestling Championships, champions in each of the 10 weight classes at conference and NCAA regional qualifying tournaments will receive automatic qualification into the national meet. That represents 110 of the 330 allocations. The remaining 220 spots will be determined through a primary criteria formula in which wrestlers will be measured on (1) winning percentage; (2) a rating percentage index conducted by the National Wrestling Coaches Association; and (3) a coaches poll (five coaches from each conference and regional qualifying tournament will be assigned to nationally rank wrestlers in two different weight classes).

If wrestlers in a particular conference or regional qualifier reach standards in at least two of those three criteria, that qualifying tournament will earn a qualifier position in their respective weight class at their qualifying event. For example, if six wrestlers from the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association competing at 125 pounds meet the standards, then the top six finishers at that weight in the conference tournament would qualify for the national championships.

When all the selections are made, each of the 10 weight classes at the NCAA championships will have 33 wrestlers in the bracket.

These criteria will be used in each of the conference tournaments and NCAA regional qualifying competitions, so wrestlers will know where they have to finish in their qualifying event to reach the NCAA championships. Cabinet members believe that should elevate the importance of those tournaments.

Track and field

The cabinet asked the Division I Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Committee to further examine outdoor regional realignment in the sport.

Some people believe the current four-regional format is competitively imbalanced in that participants in some regions face a more strenuous path to qualify for the national meet simply because of the number of student-athletes in those regions.

The bracket/format subcommittee discussed the issue and asked the track and field committee to consider a system in which student-athletes at the top of a national descending order list in each event would advance directly to the NCAA outdoor championships, with the remainder of the field gaining access through regional qualifying.

The cabinet reviewed two other proposals from the track and field committee, including dividing the country into three contiguous regions (East, Central and West) for the first week of the outdoor track and field championships.

Each event in a region would have a field size of 24, a number many stakeholders believe best ensures an equal amount of heats in each of the three regions.

In this proposal, the East region would consist of teams in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

The Central region would include Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma.

Institutions located in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Hawaii would make up the West region. 

The top performers in the three regions would advance to a separate site where the individual and team national championships would be determined.

Another proposal called for the outdoor championships to be held over a two-week period at a single site.

Each event would have a field size of 64 determined by a national descending order list. Heats would be conducted the first week with finalists advancing to a second week of competition. Individual and team champions would then be determined.

Among the concerns for that proposal is that student-athletes would miss too much class time during the summer session.

“The track and field community, not just the committee, is trying to find the best approach to solve this,” said Femovich. “By the next cabinet meeting in September we should be able to make a decision to move forward.”

Structure changes

This was the final meeting of the cabinet as it is currently structured.

When it next convenes September 16-17 in Indianapolis, it will be known as the Division I Championships/Sports Management Cabinet. It will consist of 31 members – one representative from each of the 31 multi-sport conferences in the division.

“It’s good to know that many on the current cabinet are going to continue,” Femovich said. “We will have some organizational history that will provide guidance for the new cabinet.”

Jeff Schemmel, the director of athletics at San Diego State University, will be the new chair. A vice-chair will be elected during or shortly after the September meeting.

To assist the cabinet’s transition in the new structure, subcommittees were asked to identify issues for the new cabinet to consider.

Among items submitted were:

• Field size ratios used in determining those sports that are considered for bracket/field expansion.
• Quality of officiating and the identification of new officials.
• Different funding models.
• Policies governing bracket/field sizes and seeding/pairing/site selection.
• Issues related to endangered sports and the influence of national team programs in these sports.
• Procedures related to bowl selection.
• Length of seasons and number of contests.
• Non-championship segment competition.
• Format and structure of multiple-team qualifying events in basketball.
• Elimination of the bye week in the Football Championship Subdivision.