A request to change the first contest date in men’s and women’s basketball to the second Friday in November is among just three legislative proposals from Division II member schools and conferences submitted by the July 15 deadline.

The three proposals join about a dozen generated from within the governance structure as the legislative package for the January Convention in Atlanta. The Division II Management Council will review the proposals at its meeting on Monday and Tuesday and is likely to refer all three to the Legislation Committee for further review.

The basketball proposal should be familiar to Division II delegates since they have seen and defeated versions of it in each of the last two years. The vote was close this past year, though, as just 11 votes kept the measure from passing. Proponents noted on the Convention floor that 286 games (exhibition or “discretionary” games that do not count toward maximum limits) were played before November 15 (the currently legislated start date) in 2008, indicating that the membership may be interested in playing countable games during that period as well.

This year’s proposal again comes from the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association and the Peach Belt Conference, though the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference also signed on.

The sponsors’ rationale says the proposal’s primary benefit is to allow institutions to schedule their first contest on a weekend night.

“This proposal will not allow an institution to compete earlier than what is allowed under current legislation, as most Division II basketball teams compete in exempted contests on or soon after November 1,” the proposal states. “This change will also provide a benefit to student-athletes as no season-opening games or events will take place during the week, and teams can also schedule ‘countable’ games earlier in the season to provide flexibility for conference playing dates that occur during final examination periods.”

The sponsors also say the second Friday is easier to track for scheduling purposes, and it may facilitate most Division II basketball teams officially starting their season on the same day.

Written notice in recruiting

The MIAA also is co-sponsoring a proposal (along with the Lone Star and South Atlantic Conferences) to eliminate requiring institutions to provide a prospective student-athlete written notice of the limit of five official visits.

The sponsors say the proposal eliminates unnecessary paperwork, eases the workload on compliance personnel and reduces “inadvertent violations due to administrative oversight.” Sponsors also note that Division I adopted similar legislation in 2004 without ramifications.

Golf nonchampionship segment

Another proposal from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference intends to spread out the nonchampionship segment in golf and thus keep golfers from missing class time periodically for several weeks in a row.

The proposal states that during the nonchampionship segment, golfers may participate in any practice or competition as permitted by other legislation, provided it is restricted to a maximum of 24 days that occur within 60 consecutive calendar days.

It also allows an institution that declares fall as its championship segment and discontinues championship-segment activities by November 1 (instead of November 15) to add 15 calendar days to the 60 consecutive calendar days available during the nonchampionship segment.

Sponsors say the change would not increase missed class time because the 24 days of practice and competition in the nonchampionship segment would not increase, and most institutions already compete in four to five tournaments during the segment.

“The proposal will allow institutions additional flexibility in scheduling, which is vital as many institutions do not own their golf facilities and are subject to the availability of the venues in which they compete,” the proposal states. “Under the current nonchampionship segment, student-athletes typically have less than a week of practice time before their first competition of the season, which leads to the majority of the first week of practice consisting of qualifying rounds because a coach has not had the opportunity to assess his or her roster.”