National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- December 6, 1999

Baseball committee works to address commissioners' concerns

The Division I Baseball Committee examined issues and concerns raised by conference commissioners at the committee's annual meeting November 7-9 in Indianapolis.

The group looked at several issues, including the selection process for the championship, the umpiring program, the rating-percentage index (RPI), site selection and the championship format.

The committee was responding to concerns brought up at a recent meeting of the Collegiate Commissioners Association (CCA). In response to these concerns, the committee asked the umpire advisory group to examine and propose any applicable changes to the umpire improvement program.

The program, which was a major concern of the CCA, was discussed at length. The commissioners would like more input into the selection process for umpires to work the Division I championship. Toward that end, the umpire advisory group, headed by Dave Yeast, the NCAA's national coordinator of umpires, forwarded several changes to the umpire program.

The committee discussed these changes and approved several, including the following:

  • Each conference will be able to appoint an advisor to the NCAA umpire improvement program. This will ensure that every conference has the opportunity to have input in the program.

  • Each conference will be asked to recommend 10 umpires who they feel are able to work at the NCAA championship level. The umpire advisory group will continue to have final say on all umpire selections but asks every conference to submit a list, so all potential umpires may be recognized.

  • The umpire assignments for postseason competition will be completed the first weekend in May rather than the current system (selections previously were made in November). This change allows the advisory committee to evaluate umpires during the season and use those evaluations in the selection process.

  • The committee will resubmit a proposal to the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet requesting that all conferences designate an individual as the supervisor or coordinator of umpires and certify that each conference does not utilize "scratch" policies. These requirements, if passed, would be linked to automatic-qualification privileges for each conference.

  • The umpires requested that the structure of the umpire improvement program staff (one national coordinator and four advisors) remain the same. The committee felt the program has worked in the past and is in support of the current system.

    The umpire improvement program will conduct eight in-person clinics around the nation in January and February of 2000.

    The committee also discussed the RPI and how it is used to select teams for the championship. The committee reiterated that the RPI is a tool in the selection process and that the information provided by this system is valuable but is not the final determination for selection. No changes in the RPI were made. The committee did state that any recommendations for recalculation submitted by the membership would be considered in the future.

    Site selections and formats for the championship also were discussed. After a successful expansion in the 1999 tournament, which had 64 teams compete for the championship, the committee reviewed how sites were selected.

    The committee agreed that its goal is to be financially responsible, while attempting to place regionals in as many areas of the country as possible. The committee agreed that seeding should not be the sole basis for site selection. A $35,000 minimum guarantee for hosting regionals and super regionals will remain in effect.

    The committee also talked about the championship format. The committee agreed that the current format (eight four-team regionals and eight two-team super regionals) worked well last season; however, there were a few proposals the committee discussed and deferred to a future meeting.