National Collegiate Athletic Association

NCAA News Archive - 2010

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Apr 19, 2010 8:46:46 AM

An awkward game-management situation earlier this year turned into a game-environment success thanks to some creative work by the Minnesota State Mankato athletics staff.

After Commissioner Butch Raymond noted several sportsmanship and crowd-control issues at some Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference basketball games this winter, Minnesota State Mankato Athletics Director Kevin Buisman (left) chose to get in front of the problem locally. Although Mankato students and fans had not exhibited any especially bad behavior, Buisman chose to put up TensaBarriers (the devices that create the queues in ticket lines) to sequester the student section.

The response was as icy as the Minnesota weather outside.

"We had a variety of reactions," Buisman said, "everything from adult fans and boosters to coaches and players and certainly students in that section. They thought it was a little intense and restrictive in relation to what the crowd behavior had been."

Explanations that the installation of the TensaBarriers were meant to prevent a problem rather than fix one provided little satisfaction, so Buisman and Assistant Athletics Director Mike Powicki sat down to figure out a better way. They brainstormed and hit on the idea of bright yellow tape – it evokes thoughts of crime-scene tape – with a prominent message of "Don't Cross the Line." Accompanying references to the NCAA Respect campaign and Division II's game-environment initiative also were included.

"We just felt it was a bit more positive approach," Buisman said. "It didn't put a physical barrier between our fans and the basketball floor, but it had a unique way of communicating expectations and the message. It was literally and figuratively ‘don't cross the line,' and we won't have a problem. But if there is a problem, then we're going back to the TensaBarrier."

This time, the response was warm.

"It was actually going down on the court during the shootaround before the first game we were going to use it," Buisman said. "The coaches and student-athletes were going down to take a look to see what we were putting down and they were like ‘That's awesome!' The message is sort of a double entendre, but they got it: Don't cross the line because you're not supposed to, but also don't cross the line in terms of bad behavior."

The tape is applied in the same manner as other floor decals. The concept requires that the decal is linear, and care has to be taken to keep it straight in application, but once down, it sends a strong message, one noted not only by Mankato fans but also by visitors.

"Everybody was down there kind of taking notes on it, looking at it, asking questions, saying that's a clever idea – we'd like to do something like that at home," Buisman said.

A detailed description of the initiative is available on the Division II Web site at www.diicommunity.org, but before members rush to create their own tape, they should know the Division II Management Council's Identity Subcommittee is exploring whether something like this might be made available for the Division II membership.

That's good news to Buisman, who thought from the outset that he had a winner on his hands.

"We were hoping that somebody would pick it up and that maybe it would be a tool that others would find value in," he said.

A decision from the Identity Subcommittee is expected later this spring, in time for use at fall events if it's deemed practical for broad distribution.

But whether or not that occurs, this product is in line, quite literally, with the Division II mission.