NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland -- The Academic Progress Rate “lifetime batting averages” of all Division I head coaches could be available through a publicly searchable Web site as early as summer 2010 after the Division I Board of Directors voted Saturday to pursue the creation of such a database.

The database would include the name of each head coach, the institutions where he or she has coached, hire and departure dates, and single-year APRs for each year. The database would include multiple years of data.

The Board is also interested in pursuing data that could potentially lead to a separate, password-protected Web site with more extensive information about individual head coaches, including more detailed academic information (academic profiles of recruits, Academic Performance Program penalties) as well as infractions data. The site would be used by university administrators to assist with hiring decisions.

 If approved by the Board, the earliest such a database could be available would be 2011.

Board members long have been supportive of tying the APR to coaches, pointing to a need for transparency and accountability, and the concept has been discussed since the early days of academic reform.

Some Board members also are in favor of connecting a team’s APR to both an athletics director and the institution’s president and believe that academic success is an institutional issue.

The Division I Committee on Academic Performance is expected to devise a model for the public database and present it to the Board in April.

In other business, Board members received a report from Graham Spanier, Penn State president and chair of the Task Force on Commercial Activities formed by NCAA President Myles Brand at the 2008 NCAA Convention.

The report, which outlines a set of principles for commercial activities in Division I athletics, was referred to the Leadership Council for discussion and development of implementation details.

The principles decry the use of student-athletes’ names or likenesses for endorsement or sale of products and services as well as the exploitation of student-athletes for commercial gain. The task force also decided student-athletes should not be paid for the use of their images or likenesses.

The principles called for the creation of an oversight committee, mentioned in the State of the Association address delivered by NCAA Senior Advisor to the President Wallace Renfro, to consider individual instances of commercial activities to determine what constitutes exploitation as well as to monitor the commercial activities environment.

One Board member called the approach “sensible.”

The Leadership Council and Amateurism Cabinet will work together on the issue and provide regular updates to the Board on progress made.

Finally, the group tabled the Legislative Council’s approval of Proposal 2008-62, which gives the Presidential Advisory Group Football Championship Subdivision members the authority to act on behalf of the FCS members of the Board of Directors in football matters. The Board will discuss the issue in April after seeking feedback from the Presidential Advisory Group.

The Board accepted the remainder of the Legislative Council’s report, and all other Council actions were considered final at the conclusion of the Board meeting.