The NCAA News - News & Features

Transition teams identified for Division I; May 15 meeting set

The Board of Directors was approved recently after review and consideration by the Division I subcommittee of the NCAA Presidents Commission, and the Management Council was in turn approved by the Board of Directors. The transition teams are constituted in the same manner as the administrative bodies will be for Division I when the new governance structure takes effect. The effective date for the new structure that was approved at the 1996 NCAA Convention is August 1, 1997.

The Board of Directors, which will be chaired by Samuel H. Smith, president of Washington State University and chair of the Presidents Commission, met via conference call for the first time April 30.

The Management Council will have its initial meeting May 15, primarily to establish a timetable and process for resolving issues assigned to it, probably including dividing into smaller working groups. The Management Council is working under a tight deadline since the Presidents Commission will need at least to give consideration to any legislative proposals at its June 25-26 meeting.

The Management Council meeting will be chaired by Division I Vice-President Robert M. Sweazy, faculty athletics representative at Texas Tech University. Sweazy, however, is not a member of the Management Council and will be serving only in a nonvoting, moderating capacity.

The ethnic and gender makeup of the Division I Board of Directors is more diverse than the Division I subcommittee of the Presidents Commission and the Management Council makeup is similar to that of the Division I Steering Committee.

Diversity of representation has been especially difficult to achieve on the Board of Directors because so many Division I chief executive officers are white males.

Of the 94 institutions represented by the eight conferences with full-time seats on the Board of Directors, 90 have male CEOs.

As the 16-member board is currently constructed, there are two women and two ethnic minority representatives (the board will have only 15 members when the transition is complete; however, the Mid-American Athletic Conference and Big West Conference each currently have a representative on the board, although they have only one vote between them).

The Management Council, however, is more diverse, with 14 of the 34 members being females or ethnic minorities (one is both). By subdivision, the breakdown is Division I-A, five females and three ethnic minorities out of 18 representatives; Division I-AA, two females and one minority out of seven representatives; Division I-AAA, three females and one ethnic minority out of nine representatives (figure includes one African-American female).

Management Council charge

The Board of Directors has charged the Management Council with developing detailed recommendations concerning legislation that must be considered at the 1997 Convention, and also with recommending actions concerning Division I policy issues that will not necessarily require legislation.

Issues that will be considered include the following:

* Division I substructure. The Division I Task Force to Review the NCAA Membership Structure earlier had recommended a substructure based on four "cabinets": Academics/Eligibility, Championships/Competition, Strategic Planning and Business/Finance.

The restructuring task force identified the following issues related to the substructure that must be resolved by the transition team:

a. Whether the transition team supports the cabinet concept.

b. The assignment of current committee functions to each cabinet.

c. What committees, if any, should continue to exist as Division I-specific bodies that report directly to the Management Council?

d. What current interpretation procedures should be retained if the Division I Management Council is empowered to interpret Division I rules throughout the year?

e. The number of representatives on each cabinet.

f. The selection process for cabinet members.

g. The desirability of specific gender, ethnic-minority and job-position guarantees in the Division I substructure.

h. Whether coaches should be permitted to serve in the Championships/Competition cabinet.

i. The appropriate subdivision ratio per cabinet.

j. Terms of office for cabinet members.

k. Each cabinet's specific duties and responsibilities.

The Management Council also will consider the issue of Association-wide committees, as well as access to the governance structure for student-athletes.

Regarding student-athlete access, the NCAA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee has recommended that student-athletes have direct access to the Management Council. During its April 30 conference call, the Board of Directors agreed that student-athletes should have a meaningful role in the substructure but left the responsibility for identifying the means to the Management Council.

* Diversity issues and rotation of conference seats. At the 1996 Convention, the membership approved Proposal No. 9, which requires development of a plan for addressing diversity. The Management Council will be responsible for developing that plan, which may then be adopted as policy by the Board of Directors.

The Management Council also will consider whether vice-presidents or vice-chancellors who are not designated as faculty athletics representatives will be permitted to serve on the Management Council.

* Financial guarantees. The Management Council will need to follow up on 1996 Proposal No. 7-2, which specifies Division I revenue-distribution formulas that will be constitutionally protected.

At the time the legislation was passed, the sponsors (members of several Division I-AA and I-AAA conferences) expressed a willingness to consider adjusting the application of the legislation to provide the Board of Directors with more flexibility in allocating revenues, as long as revenue to I-AA and I-AAA institutions was not reduced.

The transition team will review this issue to determine whether it wishes to pursue relevant legislation.

* Substitutes/alternates. Proposal No. 7-4 requires the transition team to study the issue of whether or how substitutes or alternates will be permitted on the Executive Committee, the Board of Directors and the Management Council. A related issue pertains to the use of video and telephonic conferences to involve members in meetings they cannot attend in person.

* Other issues. These include the membership's right to establish a Convention program or its right to call a special Convention, the effective date of the new structure (the restructuring task force recommended that the effective date for some or all of the restructuring be at the adjournment of the 1997 Convention; recently, the Division I Steering Committee suggested the possibility of delaying the effective date until the end of the 1998 Convention if the necessary issues cannot be resolved before then), national and division championships (how new ones will be established), and 1997 elections.

The Management Council also will consider a number of issues that will not require legislation, including questions involving geographical representation and accommodation of independents, the legislative process, override petitions and votes, emergency legislation, selection of chairs and determination of terms, and the formation of a Division I administrative committee to consider issues between meetings.

Division I Board of Directors Transition Team

Carol A. Cartwright, president, Kent State University.*

George M. Dennison, president, University of Montana.

Anthony J. DiGiorgio, president, Winthrop University.

Edward B. Fort, chancellor, North Carolina A&T State University.

E. Gordon Gee, president, Ohio State University.

Milton A. Gordon, president, California State University, Fullerton.*

Alan Harre, president, Valparaiso University.

Carol C. Harter, president, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Charles A. Kiesler, chancellor, University of Missouri, Columbia.

William E. Kirwan, president, University of Maryland, College Park.

Charles B. Knapp, president, University of Georgia.

V. Lane Rawlings, president, University of Memphis.

Brother Thomas J. Scanlan, president, Manhattan College.

Kenneth A. Shaw, chancellor, Syracuse University.

Samuel H. Smith, president, Washington State University.

Rev. David T. Tyson, president, University of Portland.

*Big West Conference and Mid-American Athletic Conference are permitted two positions on the Board of Directors Transition Team, but only one vote. The conferences will agree on a single representative by the time the new governance structure is fully implemented.

Division I Management Council Transition Team

Division I-A

Atlantic Coast Conference

Arthur W. Cooper, faculty athletics representative, North Carolina State University.

Deborah A. Yow, athletics director, University of Maryland, College Park.

Big East Conference*

Carol J. Sprague, senior woman administrator, University of Pittsburgh.

Laurence C. Keating Jr., athletics director, Seton Hall University.

Big Ten Conference

Robert A. Bowlsby, athletics director, University of Iowa.

Percy Bates, faculty athletics representative, Michigan State University.

Big 12 Conference

Daniel G. Gibbens, faculty athletics representative, University of Oklahoma.

Eugene D. Smith, athletics director, Iowa State University.

Big West/Mid-American Conferences

David Jamison, faculty athletics representative, University of Akron.

Albert Gonzales, athletics director, New Mexico State University.

Conference USA

Kevin M. White,** athletics director, Tulane University.

Nancy R. Hamant, faculty athletics representative, University of Cincinnati.

Pacific-10 Conference

Robert H. Aronson, faculty athletics representative, University of Washington.

Kathleen LaRose, senior woman administrator, University of Arizona.

Southeastern Conference

Joan C. Cronan, women's athletics director, University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Jeremy N. Foley, athletics director, University of Florida.

Western Athletics Conference

Peter Simis, faculty athletics representative, California State University, Fresno.

W. James Copeland Jr., athletics director, Southern Methodist University.

Division I-AA

Ivy Group

Jeffrey H. Orleans, executive director, Ivy Group.

Ohio Valley Conference

Michael D. Strickland, athletics director, Murray State University.

Patriot League

Eve Atkinson, athletics director, Lafayette College.

Southern Conference

Wright Waters, commissioner, Southern Conference.

Southland Conference

Greg Sankey, interim commissioner, Southland Conference.

Southwestern Athletic Conference

James Frank, commissioner, Southwestern Athletic Conference.

Big Sky Conference (I-AA at-large)

Kelly Patton-Woodward, senior woman administrator, Northern Arizona University.

Division I-AAA

Atlantic 10 Conference

Linda Bruno, commissioner, Atlantic 10 Conference.

Colonial Athletic Association

James Jarrett, athletics director, Old Dominion University.

Midwestern Collegiate Conference

John C. Parry, athletics director, Butler University.

Missouri Valley Conference

Charlotte West, senior woman administrator, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.

North Atlantic Conference

Edgar N. Johnson, athletics director, University of Delaware.

Northeast Conference

Chris Monasch, commissioner, Northeast Conference.

Sun Belt Conference

Rick Mello, athletics director, University of Arkansas, Little Rock.

Trans America Athletic Conference

Orby Moss Jr., athletics director, Georgia State University.

Mid-Continent Conference (I-AAA at-large)

Vivian L. Fuller, athletics director, Northeastern Illinois University.

*Big East Conference currently is represented by its NCAA Council representatives. Management Council representatives will be confirmed at the Big East Conference meeting in May.

**White recently accepted a position as athletics director at Arizona State University but will continue as a Conference USA representative until a replacement is designated.