The NCAA Women’s Bowling Committee is recommending a change for regular-season, nonconference tournaments that applies the Baker format for all or parts of one-, two- and three-day events.

If the Championships/Sports Management Cabinet approves the proposal, one-day tournaments would follow the Baker format (either match play or total pinfall) and two-day tournaments would be five-person team matches on the first day and apply the Baker format (match play) on the second day. For three-day tournaments, the first day would use the Baker format (total pinfall), the second day would be five-person team match play and the third day would be Baker format (match play).

The committee also is surveying the membership to determine whether the format change should be extended to conference tournaments.

Brian Reese, committee chair and an associate athletics director at Vanderbilt, said the committee endorsed the proposal to introduce consistency to regular-season competition. The change will not affect any championship selection criteria or how squads are selected for the NCAA tournament.

Reese said the committee has been studying the issue for several years and noted support from the National Tenpin Coaches Association.

“We listen to the concerns of the coaches association, and they’ve been calling for consistency,” Reese said. “We’re finally at the point where we feel comfortable that we can go in that direction. We’ve got the support of the coaches association and we feel it’s going to be a welcome transition.”

Facilitating transparency

The committee also agreed to host a series of conference calls in September, in part to familiarize new coaches with rules, protocol, championships policies, competition guidelines and score-reporting requirements.

Reese said the idea is to ensure that new coaches have pertinent information, especially regarding deadlines for entering results in the online score-reporting system. Although the effort targets first-year coaches, all coaches are invited to participate.

Additional conference calls for conference administrators responsible for overseeing bowling also will be scheduled for September. In addition to serving as an open forum for questions or concerns, Reese said the committee will take the opportunity to reiterate points of emphasis, such as the importance of reporting results in a timely manner to help to ensure that the committee has complete and accurate information for rankings and selections.

Secretary-Rules Editor Ron Holmes, the head coach at Central Missouri, is scheduled to participate on the calls.

In another initiative, the committee strongly encouraged coaches and student-athletes to take an online rules exam to increase their knowledge of the rules (those interested may register by clicking on the “Click here to register” link). Coaches and student-athletes who take the open-book exam, which is available in the rules and officiating section of the women’s bowling Web page on NCAA.org, will not be graded or penalized.

“We’re just trying to make sure that coaches, whether they are full time or part time, have a basic understanding of the NCAA rules for bowling,” said Reese. “Nothing is going to be held against them if they don’t do well. It’s just a gauge for them to see where they are in their knowledge of the rule book.”

Coaches and student-athletes do not have to take the exam, but the committee is requiring officials to take and pass the test. Head officials must score 80 percent or above, while all other rules officials must pass with a score of 70 percent or above to be eligible for assignment.

Other highlights

In other actions, the committee reviewed future rules proposals. As part of that discussion, the group considered possible changes to the championship format that would reduce the number of games teams would bowl during qualifying rounds on the first day of the championship. The conversation was prompted by survey feedback from student-athletes and coaches who participated in the championship that indicated that the first day was too long. Reese said the group is still formulating options to address the concern but that ultimately it could mean a decrease in the number of games teams bowl in the qualifying rounds. 

“It’s such a long day,” said Reese. “We want to make sure we are getting the best out of our student-athletes.”

The committee also recommended New Jersey City’s Frank Parisi as chair and Tara Wuorinen of St. Peter’s as vice chair.