National Collegiate Athletic Association

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The NCAA News -- August 16, 1999

I-AA football governance group gives legislation second look

The Division I-AA Football Governance Committee addressed several legislative proposals at its July 25 meeting in Hilton Head, South Carolina, that had previously been or subsequently were approved by the Division I Management Council.

The committee asked that the full Management Council give final approval to Proposal No. 99-43, which would permit all Division I-AA conferences to select the individuals who serve as their representatives to the Division I Football Issues Committee. The Council subsequently gave final approval to the legislation and forwarded it to the Board of Directors for adoption.

The committee also approved Proposal No. 99-39 regarding preseason football practice but amended the effective date to August 1, 2000. The proposal, which specifies that a maximum of 105 student-athletes may participate in Division I-AA preseason football practice, also gained final approval from the Management Council, but the proposal subsequently was defeated by the Division I Board of Directors.

The committee also reviewed Proposal No. 98-102, which had been reviewed previously by the Division I Academics/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet. The committee, however, tabled the proposal that would permit coaching staff members in Divisions I-A and I-AA football to attend the state high-school football championship within the state in which the institution is located without such attendance counting as a contact or an evaluation.

The proposal subsequently was defeated by the Division I-A members of the Management Council.

In a nonlegislative action, the committee revisited the issue of Student-Athlete Advisory Committee representation on the Division I-AA Football Governance Committee. The committee reaffirmed its position not to involve a representative from the SAAC in all committee meetings because all actions of the Division I-AA Football Governance Committee are reported to the full Management Council, where two SAAC representatives are present. Also, no other sport has a specific representative from the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee to the Management Council. The committee agreed that the SAAC could request that a representative attend a meeting to discuss a particular issue.

In other actions, the committee:

  • Received a report regarding the number of Division I-AA institutions that have been invited to participate in the licensing for football video games and noted that progress continues to be made in involving Division I-AA institutions.

  • Received a report that a company may be interested in sponsoring an all-star game for student-athletes who have exhausted their eligibility in Division I-AA and Divisions II and III; noted that there was not much information available regarding the contest; and agreed that any information should be forwarded to the Division I-AA Football Governance Committee and that the committee would be the appropriate entity to consider the certification of an all-star contest involving Division I-AA student-athletes.

  • Noted the recent creation of identifying names for several Division I championships and agreed to ask the Division I-AA Football Committee if it has considered creating an identifying name for the championship.