Conferences -- long a tool primarily for filling playing schedules with games -- are getting unprecedented attention as they assume increasingly significant roles in the governance of Division III athletics.

And even though the 42 voting leagues currently established in Division III vary widely in the ways they are organized and operate -- mirroring the diversity of 420 member institutions -- all are becoming significant players as the membership continues to search for common ground in sponsorship of intercollegiate athletics.

The increased attention stems in part from adoption of 2004 Convention Proposal No. 66. That resolution is guiding a current study, recently named "Future of Division III -- Phase II," of issues relating to membership growth and diversity. Among the resolution's objectives is consideration of "steps to further enhance the greater exercise of institutional and conference autonomy, including issues related to the establishment of more restrictive legislative standards and practices."

That objective is behind a current effort by the Division III Membership Committee to improve the level of knowledge about conferences. The committee recently sent a survey to league officers requesting information for use in compiling an "inventory" of those conferences' structure, governance and practices.

"We are trying to look at any areas -- based on NCAA legislation -- where a conference may have a more stringent policy," said Tim Downes, director of athletics at California Institute of Technology and chair of the committee. "The primary areas we're looking at are eligibility, playing and practice seasons, squad limits, recruiting, benefits and expenses."

All conferences must at least comply with NCAA legislation governing such areas as length of seasons and number of games, but many Division III conferences have adopted policies that are more restrictive than the Association's. It is clear that differences in policies exist among conferences, but the extent of those differences have not previously been documented -- and understanding those variations may prove crucial in efforts to determine Division III's future.

"The January Convention helped eliminate some of the discussion of subdivision, but I think there's still some pretty major issues out there," said Chris Martin, commissioner of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin and a Membership Committee member who believes compiling the inventory will help in better defining what those issues are.

"Those differences, in terms of a more restrictive approach to athletics, will come to the forefront more as we take this inventory of what conferences are doing across the board."

Downes said, "I think once we have this, we'll have a better sense that maybe we're all right there, or maybe we're further apart than we could have imagined. Once we have that, I think we'll be able to set a better course."

Results of the inventory, which will be shared with the Division III Commissioners Association when that group meets in Indianapolis in June, also may point to another factor: Differences exist not only among conferences, but within them as well.

"There is as much diversity within our conferences as there is across conferences," said Richard Rasmussen, executive secretary of the University Athletic Association since 1987, who has compiled extensive data from conferences and their members to profile their similarities and differences. "When you look at conferences, you see a substantial number where there is substantial variation in enrollment, some variation in sports sponsorship and the degree to which they fund their programs, and so on.

Dan Dutcher, NCAA Division III vice-president, notes that many conferences have formed through the years for such reasons as geographic proximity, to maintain historical rivalries, or -- especially with implementation of automatic qualification -- convenience.

"There is significant diversity within conferences, and members within those conferences may not share identical athletics philosophies," Dutcher said.

Rasmussen believes most institutions currently are comfortable with that diversity. "There probably are a few exceptions, but I think they're comfortable because they have a sense that, within the conference, there is a common approach to things," he said. "Even through there are differences, there's a sense of equitable competition."

But no one really knows how pronounced those differences may be. The answer to that question may come more clearly into focus with the Membership Committee's conference inventory.

Personnel variances

Just the need to understand that degree of diversity says much about the growing importance of conferences in Division III.

In recent years, there clearly has been a trend toward hiring more personnel to run conference offices -- in some cases, to ensure that conferences have a greater voice in Division III policy discussions.

A 2003 survey of conference commissioners conducted by Carlyle Carter of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference determined that 22 conferences currently employ full-time personnel holding the title of commissioner or its equivalent.

"If you went back to the early to mid-1980s and looked at the model, you had someone serving as a commissioner or executive director who was part-time or was employed at one of the institutions," Rasmussen said. "Or you had an athletics director or sports information director who took care of the record-keeping and so on, and conference policies were in a file folder in an AD's desk.

"There's been a real evolution in terms of Division III conferences formalizing their structure, hiring a conference officer to facilitate the governance structure, and in service operations of conferences -- everything from keeping stats to coordinating scheduling -- and also tending to pay attention to legislative issues and to help athletics directors focus on those things," Rasmussen said.

Rasmussen points to the significant growth of athletics programs at Division III institutions and increasing demands on athletics administrators as reasons for that evolution.

Downes, who served until recently as commissioner of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in addition to his athletics director duties, said those were the primary factors behind the SCIAC's recent decision to hire a full-time executive secretary.

"We were all sharing administrative tasks, whether it was me serving as the liaison to the NCAA, or the sports information director, or working with officials -- we had certain individuals within the conference doing this," he said "What we're doing is centralizing those administrative functions, and having someone who will really assist us in communicating internally and externally."

Much of the need stems from the external side, where conference officers increasingly are serving as a conduit between the NCAA and league members.

"What's made it tough on the people who don't have a full-time operation is that so much is expected of Division III conferences," said Dennis Collins of the North Coast Athletic Conference, the first full-time commissioner of a Division III league consisting of private institutions when he was hired in the early 1980s. "It's hard for me to understand how people who are not full-time can keep up with the work load; it's tremendous, with all of the things that are needed.

"I take my hat off to the people who are part-time or have limited duty, because they do a tremendous job. But in the end, somebody pays the price if they don't have help to get things done."

That's much of the motivation behind many conferences' move to establish a full-time staff; in fact, Downes said his conference's administrators are not surrendering much actual authority to the new executive secretary.

"We wanted to leave the decision-making on campuses, but we knew there was a way for us to function better," he said. "The NCAA is doing much more communication through conference offices, because it is effective.

"I think, by and large, the position of commissioner or executive secretary at the Division III level is more administrative in nature. That's the way our conferences have been set up. You'll find that most of the governance, the decision-making, is in the hands of presidents or faculty or athletics administrators."

Increased presidential involvement

However, the campus administrators who make those decisions increasingly are relying on conference personnel to identify emerging issues not only within the league but across Division III -- and ensure the conference's interests are represented as those issues are debated by the membership.

"One of the advantages of having a full-time director is that you can advance your position," Collins said. "Like Woody Allen said, showing up is half a life; you have to be willing to speak and support something.... You need that in Division III; you need some activism."

And just as presidents -- slowly but surely -- are assuming more responsibility for athletics on their own campuses and speaking out more at the NCAA Convention, they also increasingly are making their presence felt in conferences -- and relying more on the commissioner to assist in that effort.

"Having a commissioner or director, (presidents) can tell that person what they want, and he can go to the NCAA, he can stay tuned in 12 months of the year, let them know what's going on, and give them choices to make," Collins said. "And I think that's what presidents are looking for."

Martin said presidents are asserting themselves more in the CCIW, and that has helped define his role as that conference's first full-time administrator.

"When I started in 2002, when the conference made that step to hire a full-time commissioner, the power shifted," he said. "The presidents, by bringing me on board, took a lot more power over how things operate, and we have much more involvement of presidents than we've ever had before."

Collins occasionally serves as a consultant to other conferences considering organizational changes, and he urges ensuring that presidents are involved in conference governance. He agrees there is a trend toward increased presidential involvement -- perhaps spurred recently by unprecedented participation by chief executive officers at the 2004 Convention -- but he would like to see more movement in that direction.

"Some of those presidents that came to the Convention in January, maybe for the first time, I think they realized when they saw some of the presidents from my conference, from the Centennial Conference, from the NESCAC (New England Small College Athletic Conference) -- all three run by presidents -- not only getting up and speaking, but informed on the issues and willing to speak out vigorously, I think they were impressed," Collins said.

"I'm already getting inquiries from other conferences: 'Would you send me your constitution, and how are your presidents involved in running your conference?' "

Still a diverse group

Of course, no matter how much presidents become involved in athletics, and no matter how many conferences hire full-time commissioners, differences will remain among Division III members simply because the division's universities and colleges are so diverse in mission -- and are growing in number.

"The sheer size of Division III has to be addressed by the membership, and that's what Proposal No. 66 really says," Collins said. "When we divided into three divisions back in 1973, there were only 600 members. We're probably overdue for some kind of reconfiguration. I don't know what it is, but I think the NCAA as a whole group -- not just Division III -- needs to take a look at it."

However, Downes and Martin believe actions at the 2004 Convention have eased pressures to subdivide Division III, and they are hopeful that conferences will be able to play a role in helping schools find a level of competition where they are comfortable, while remaining committed to a general division philosophy.

"I think, since we have brought ourselves closer together, that if someone's operating at one end of the spectrum, someone at the other end of the spectrum is more comfortable with that," Downes said. "I'm not sure we'd have been as comfortable with pushing this idea of conference autonomy if the spectrum was as wide as it was before the reform."

Martin believes permitting conferences and institutions the autonomy to operate at the point along that spectrum where they are most comfortable ultimately will be healthy for Division III.

"Part of the attraction of Division III, to me, is the ability to abide by institutional policies and deciding what's best for our own institution," he said. "We don't have things like satisfactory-progress rules in Division III; we're talking about, what does Carthage decide is satisfactory progress, or what does North Central decide? We, as a conference, have our own policy on what that means for us, and it's what we've decided is best for our student-athletes. That's a positive thing.

"There are things that sort of define us as conferences or as institutions, while keeping us under the umbrella of, we're all Division III institutions."

NCAC blazed influential trails in Division III composition

The North Coast Athletic Conference is 20 years old this year, and while many Division III conferences have been around longer, few can claim as much influence on what the division looks like today.

The NCAC pioneered the concept of presidential control by placing authority in the hands of its chief executive officers at its founding.

From the beginning, it committed itself to ensuring that men's and women's competition would be valued equally by conference members, and that all sports would be treated equally as well.

And it was one of the first Division III conferences -- and the first league consisting of private institutions -- to hire a full-time commissioner. Only the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and State University of New York Athletic Conference -- whose members are public institutions -- employed a full-time administrator before 1984.

"We try to live up to the best ideas of amateur athletics," said Dennis Collins, the conference's first and only commissioner.

"We really live by the philosophy of each student is treated equally; there's no admissions treatment. We all live by the philosophy of each sport is equal; there are no 'major' or 'minor' sports. Those are terms we all heard 20 years ago, but I think if you look at our programs today, there truly is equity in the sports.

"And historically, we were a leader in women's sports in the conference."

When the NCAC was founded, most conferences still primarily sponsored only men's championship competition. In fact, some charter NCAC members withdrew from other conferences that resisted adding women's sports.

"Giving status to women's athletics in a conference setting was huge at that point, and we clearly were a leader, but now they all look like us, so it's a little harder to distinguish ourselves," Collins said.

The conference currently sponsors a total of 22 sports, and is likely to add women's golf in the near future, giving women 12 league sports. And while the NCAC may not win as many national championships as other leagues, Collins believes conference teams are very competitive -- and in a few cases, like Kenyon College in swimming, dominant. He also is proud that the league is a Division III leader in Academic All-America selections and postgraduate scholarship recipients.

Collins thinks the conference also has played an influential role in the development of Division III -- and he attributes that to presidential governance of the NCAC. One of the league's presidents, Thomas Courtice of Ohio Wesleyan University, has served as chair of the Division III Presidents Council, and a total of five NCAC presidents have been active in the division's governance structure through recent years.

"Our presidents have been interested in advancing and supporting legislation that we feel is important, and so we've been active and sometimes outspoken," Collins said. "I think it's been good to do that, it's been healthy, and I think we've added to the debate in Division III."

Collins said the bottom line is that the NCAC provides athletics opportunities for 5,000 student-athletes, while maintaining a conference-wide graduation rate of nearly 85 percent.

"We're small schools that try to do the right thing and live by our ideals," he said. "Our presidents and our administrators really feel that athletics is a key part of the academic experience, and that it can prosper within the academic framework, but it's hopefully not going to take over."

--Jack Copeland