The Division III Championships Committee plans several steps in response to concerns voiced during this year’s NCAA Convention about the collection and use of data related to championships selection criteria.

The issue prompted sponsorship, then withdrawal, of a proposal at the Convention to permit Division III institutions to view data used by sports committees in ranking and selecting teams for championships.

Proposal No. 8’s sponsors expressed frustration about errors in the data and pointed to a lack of understanding among coaches and administrators about rankings and selections  – concerns that the Championships Committee sought to address during its February 9-11 meeting.

“I think Prop 8 probably brought to light that there still are some concerns that need to be addressed if we’re going to improve the selection and ranking process,” said committee chair Ira Zeff, director of athletics at Nebraska Wesleyan. “I think the Championships Committee has heard that loud and clear and is very committed to addressing some of the concepts that were raised in Proposal 8.”

The committee agreed on a mix of procedural and educational steps that it believes will help address those concerns.

Responding directly to the concern about errors, it discussed improving the score-reporting program’s current ability to flag conflicting information submitted by institutions, by adding a function that automatically would trigger e-mails to regional advisory committee (RAC) members and institutional representatives when such errors occur.

Sponsors of Proposal 8 asserted that ranking and selection decisions have been made in the past without resolving such conflicts in data. The Championships Committee wants to clear up such errors before each ranking of teams by a sports committee.

The Championships Committee also will seek better understanding of the selection and ranking process – beginning with the RACs and sports committees. The committee directed the championships staff to conduct training sessions annually for members of those groups before they begin ranking teams, to ensure they understand how the data are compiled and to promote more consistent application of criteria across regions.

“We hope orientating new members and current members of our RACs as well as the national committees – making sure they are very clear, step by step, about the process, and what the responsibilities are – will help,” Zeff said.

Educational efforts also will be offered for the Division III membership, addressing a concern that new and part-time coaches struggle to understand the championship selection process. Zeff said the committee will present educational sessions at coaches’ conventions, and possibly during such membership gatherings as the Convention and Regional Rules Seminars.

“We also think it’s important to address education of the membership, whether it’s coaches or athletics administrators, and we can do that through a variety of avenues…so that everyone at every level has a clear understanding of the tough job that committee members have in selecting and seeding, and the process they use to do the very best job for the student-athletes that are involved in the different sports.”

The committee also will explore creating an online video describing the roles of sports committees and RACs, similar to videos that the membership services staff have produced to explain rules and proposed legislation. The video would include subjects such as the selection/ranking process, how championship brackets are determined, and who to contact with questions, among others.

The championships staff also has been asked to explore developing a program to assist an institution in identifying every Division III in-region opponent located within a 200-mile radius. The purpose is to help institutions in scheduling in-region contests and knowing before a season begins which games are in or out of region.

Budget priorities

Following up on budget discussions last fall, the committee also agreed to proceed with recommendations to fund its top budget priorities for 2009-10.

It will recommend a $2 increase in per diem to $80 for next year, and also recommend paying for additional coaches or staff members to accompany larger travel parties in individual/team sports, such as track and field, or swimming and diving. It also will recommend increasing the squad size for cross country teams from seven to eight members, effective during the fall 2009 season.

Funding will come from the inflation-based budget increase previously approved for the second year of the 2008-10 biennial budget and reallocation of unused funds.

“The committee feels very strongly that we need to support the student-athlete experience, by raising the per diem and allowing each school to provide the best possible experience from a food and lodging standpoint,” Zeff said.

“We’re very committed to the individual/team sports, specifically by helping cross country with having a substitute, in a sense, so if a runner is sick or hurt at the championships meet or right before it, we provide for that extra runner so the team can compete at the national level. We also want to support individual/team sports with our recommendation to help more staff travel to championships and provide coaching or other support for student-athletes.”

Under the committee’s proposed formula for paying for additional travel party members, Division III would provide funding for one individual to accompany one to five student-athletes; two individuals to accompany six to 10 student-athletes; three individuals to accompany 11 to 15 student-athletes; and four individuals to accompany 16 or more student-athletes.

The recommendations ultimately are subject to approval by the Division III Presidents Council.

Championships sites

The committee also approved several sites for Division III championships scheduled during 2009-10 and 2010-11. It approved:

• Illinois Wesleyan as host of the 2010 and 2011 Division III Women’s Basketball Championships, to be played at the Shirk Center in Bloomington, Illinois.

• Elizabethtown as host of the 2010 Division III Men’s Golf Championships, to be held at the Hershey (Pennsylvania) Country Club and Hershey Links.

• The Northern Collegiate Hockey Association as host of the 2010 Division III Men’s Ice Hockey Championship, to be held at Ridder Arena on the campus of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

• Wisconsin-Eau Claire as host of the 2010 Division III Softball Championship, and the Old Dominion Athletic Conference and city of Salem, Virginia, as hosts of the 2011 championship.

• Coe, Cornell and the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference as hosts of the 2010 Division III Wrestling Championships, to be conducted at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and approved Wisconsin-La Crosse as host for the 2011 championships, to be conducted at the La Crosse Center in La Crosse.

Other highlights

In other actions during its winter meeting, the Championships Committee:

• Reviewed the Division III Presidents Council’s recent “white papers” addressing issues related to membership growth, and agreed to produce projections of the impact of growth on championships’ bracket sizes through 2020. It also will project the impact of growth on championships access, taking into account the mandated 64-team caps on championships (32 teams in football) and calculating how growth will affect the current access ratio of one championship berth for every 6.5 teams sponsoring a team sport (1:6.5).

• Reviewed a request to increase the number of individuals permitted in the bench area during outdoor team championships, but retained the current limit of student-athletes eligible to compete plus five individuals, including two medical staff members (10 individuals in football).

• Considered implementing earlier selection dates (typically, on Saturdays rather than Sundays) to ensure at least 48 hours’ time between the announcement of championship selections and midweek contests, but agreed that potential travel-cost savings from doing so are outweighed by the increased number of student-athletes who may have to compete in conference championships on class days in order to accommodate the earlier selections.

• Agreed to emphasize in championships handbooks the committee’s position that administrators must accompany teams to early-round competition in championships.