NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland – Division II developed a strategic-positioning platform in 2006 in part to address what at the time was an identity crisis for the division. But data presented at a joint Presidents Council-Management Council meeting January 15 indicated that the crisis may be in the rear-view mirror.

About 90 percent of the almost 600 athletics and administrative staff and student-athletes who responded to a survey on the state of Division II strategic positioning said they were aware of the platform; and, of those, 63 percent of institutional staff and 100 percent of conference staff said it had been incorporated into their organization’s communication. And of those, 88 percent said it had added value at the local level (such as in improved planning, community engagement, defining identity or image of division/conference).

The survey also revealed that more than 98 percent of staff respondents felt that the platform’s strategic-positioning statement and attributes are appropriate for their athletics program, and 95 percent somewhat or strongly agreed that the membership is committed to implementing the platform.

“The good news is that we’re getting the message out – maybe not to everyone, but to most,” said West Texas A&M President Pat O’Brien.

The sobering news, though, is that coaches don’t appear to be receiving the message of the strategic-positioning platform. Thirty-four percent of coach respondents to the survey in fact reported they were not even aware of the platform.

In most cases, athletics directors bear the responsibility of communicating to coaches, and those who are members of the Management Council said at the meeting that they would renew those efforts. Many talked about how to relate the message in ways that resonate on more personal terms to coaches.

Valdosta State AD Herb Reinhard said he tells his staff that the platform can help increase attendance, revenue, and energy and excitement around the athletics department. “There’s nobody on our campus or in our conference who can’t benefit from better town-gown relationships or from attracting more casual fans through community engagement or from creating positive game environments,” he said. “The key is to relate the platform to how it helps your programs and your student-athletes – that’s where you get the buy-in from coaches.”

Mars Hill took a more basic approach. After telling meeting participants simply to breathe, he said athletics administrators and other campus personnel tend to take student-athlete well-being for granted – as they do something like breathing.

“Until you realize that all of this benefits student-athletes, then the platform or the attributes don’t resonate. But we don’t often think about the importance of something as simple as breathing – it’s the same with thinking about planning and positioning as benefiting student-athletes,” Riggins said.

Student affairs to the rescue

A campus group that can help with student-athlete success – especially outside of athletics – is student affairs. Debbie Ford, vice president for student affairs at West Florida, presented to the group about how to maximize campus partnerships to enhance the student-athlete experience.

“We truly are about the same mission – student success,” Ford said about student affairs personnel. “So when you go back to your campuses and engage about the strategic-positioning platform with coaches, staff and student-athletes, don’t forget about the student affairs people.”

Ford emphasized that the student affairs offices on campus typically include most of the services and programs that occur outside of the classroom. “But our mission is student success. It’s not about adding work, but about maximizing partnerships for collective success of our students,” she said.

Presidents and Management Council members brainstormed about ways to integrate the two departments. In many cases, they realized, athletics departments report structurally through student affairs. That shift in fact was recently made at West Virginia State.

Ford said among the programs and partnerships that link student affairs and athletics are the NCAA CHOICES program, academic-support services, first-year seminars for student-athletes, the NCAA speaker series, leadership-development programs and appreciation programs for partner faculty and staff – just to highlight a few examples.

O’Brien cited an example of athletics/student affairs integration on his campus. During periodic Q&A sessions that he conducts with student-athletes, one focused on how to curb alcohol abuse on campus. “They said, ‘Engage us,’ ” O’Brien said. “They wanted campus-based activities such as theme dances or sock hops – which I assumed they were too young to even know about – as ways to entertain them on campus.”

O’Brien turned to student affairs to stage the dances this winter after home basketball games on Saturday nights, and the series has already been successful.

Ford also said student affairs can serve as a centralized campus contact for community engagement, and as a life-skills consultant for athletics departments that wish to offer such programming for student-athletes (and she encouraged them to do so).