Division I Men's and Women's Tennis Committee members visited future championship host Stanford University as part of the group's annual meeting July 11-13 in San Francisco. Stanford will host the first combined men's and women's championships in 2006.

The committee met with Earl Koberlein, associate athletics director; Jenny Claypool, director of championships; and Dick Gould, director of tennis, to discuss details about the championship, including the schedule of events.

The schedule will be similar to that at a Grand Slam tournament -- meaning that a men's singles match could be played next to a women's singles match, and doubles will be played at the same time as singles matches. Time will not be blocked off for each gender at the championship site. There also will be an opportunity for both genders to participate in social activities together.

The committee also discussed the selection and assignment of officials for the championships. Members recommended that to be eligible to work the championship, officials must have worked eight college matches during the regular season, and three of those must be of national caliber (that is, an Intercollegiate Tennis Association championship or an NCAA conference championship).

The committee will ask the two head referees to submit a plan for the selection and assignment of officials.

The 2006 championship also will implement a new policy that is similar to that in place at other championships -- hotel property assignments will be made ahead of time.

Bracket modifications

Overall, committee members were pleased with the preparations for the combined championship. Committee Chair Randy Smith, associate athletics director at Tennessee Technological University, said the visit to Stanford was beneficial for the group.

"The Stanford staff is on top of this so much," he said. "They're doing so much to make this a premier event. It's going to be great."

Smith's committee also will recommend a change in bracketing to the Championships/
Competition Cabinet. The committee advocates a return to previous policies that would rank four bands of 16 teams (as is currently done), but that teams seeded Nos. 1-4 will be matched at sites with teams in the second band from 29-32 and so on. Teams in the third and fourth bands would continue to be assigned geographically.

Smith said that the current bracketing method results in a weaker bracket than one that allows more extensive ranking.

"It strengthens the integrity of the draw," Smith said, explaining that a No.1-ranked team would be more likely to be matched with a team ranked in the 30s, whereas under current rules, a No. 1-ranked team could be matched with a team ranked as high as No. 17.

The cabinet will meet in September.

Realignment discussion

The committee also examined the possibility of realignment, which could include a reduction on the men's side from eight regions to six. That would affect committee representation, reducing the size of the group from 14 members to 12, six representing the men and six representing the women. Any committee reduction would take place through attrition. Members expect the change to have little, if any, effect on team selection, though individual selection of both singles and doubles players could be affected.

In other action, the committee recommended that the allowable match start times be standardized at first- and second-round sites, whether they host one or both genders. At single-gender sites, matches on the first day must start no earlier than 10 a.m. and no later than 5 p.m. unless the host team is playing the second match. If the host team is playing the second match, it can start as late as 7 p.m.

The site must allow for three hours between the start times of the first and second matches each day. For example, allowable first-round match times would be 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., noon and 3 p.m., 1 and 4 p.m., and 2 and 5 p.m. If the host institution plays in the second match, the times would be 3 and 6 p.m. and 4 and 7 p.m.

If Day 2 at single-gender sites is a Saturday, matches must start within the same window as the previous day. For example, if the start times for Friday are 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., then the start time for the Saturday matches must be between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. If the start times for Friday are 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., then the start time for Saturday must be between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., etc. If the second day is a Sunday, the second-round match must begin between noon and 2 p.m. local time.

At dual-gender sites, the allowable first-day start times would be the same as at single-gender sites. On the second day, host institutions would have three options -- start times of either 9 a.m., noon and 3 p.m.; 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.; or 11 a.m., 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. The last match on the second day would be played by the same gender that played on the first day.

On Day 3, the second-round match will be played at noon, 1 p.m. or 2 p.m. However, if an institution hosting both genders has sufficient courts to allow both genders to play simultaneously, that site would follow the single-gender Friday-Saturday schedule. If an institution hosting both genders has another plan for scheduling, it must be submitted to the committee for approval with the facility evaluation form.

Other highlights

Division I Men's and Women's Tennis Committee
July 11-13/San Francisco

• Met with Intercollegiate Tennis Association Executive Director David Benjamin and Communications Director Casey Angle to discuss possibly modifying the ITA rankings, including possible bonus points for road wins and counting more than nine of a team's or player's "best wins" in the rankings. Several options will be explored and presented to the committee for further review and possible refinement during an August conference call.

• Recommended to the Championships/Competition Cabinet an increase in officials' fees, which would not be implemented until the 2006-07 season at the earliest.

• Agreed to alternate which gender plays first at the combined championships site. The women will play first in 2006 and the men would play first in 2007.

• Established the deadline for lineup forms as 1 p.m. the Monday of selection week. Teams will be fined $300 for late submissions and will receive a warning call if they are an automatic-qualifying team or under consideration for selection. Teams whose lineup forms are not received by 6 p.m. that same day may be eliminated from consideration.

• Voted to require ball kids at the finals site, at least for the team final and singles and doubles individual finals. If the host wants to expand the use of ball kids, it must submit to the committee an outline for expansion by December 1 of the preceding year.

• Discussed possible social activities that would enhance the student-athlete experience at the first and second rounds.

• Discussed enhancing the production of the team championship for ESPN and the singles and doubles championship for the Tennis Channel.

• Voted to recommend an increase in the travel party size from 10 to 13 to allow for assistant coaches, an athletic trainer, a manager and the sports information director to attend the championship.

• Recommended that performance in "late-season play" (defined as the last eight matches of the season) be eliminated from the championships selection criteria. The committee noted that late-season play already is included in both the won-loss record and the ITA rankings.