Jan. 17, 2010
ATLANTA, Georgia -
By Gary Brown, The NCAA News
ATLANTA - Division II proved it was serious about shortening seasons and cutting contests to align with its strategic platform Saturday when delegates approved all four proposals in the presidentially led Life in the Balance package at the NCAA Convention.
Delegates at their business session approved the following measures:
•Provide a one-week-later date for the first permissible contest in all fall sports (to the Thursday preceding September 6) and a later reporting date for fall-sports student-athletes (17 days before the first permissible contest in soccer, volleyball, cross country and field hockey, and 21 days before the first permissible contest in football). The proposal also applies to golf and tennis for schools in conferences that conduct their lone league championship or most of its conference matches in the fall.
•Reduce the number of contests in soccer from 20 to 18 and the number of matches in volleyball from 28 to 26, effective in August 2010. The reduction in field hockey contests from 20 to 18 will be effective in August 2011.
•Reduce the number of contests in baseball from 56 to 50 and the dates of competition in golf from 24 to 21. The proposal also eliminates the tournament exception in softball.
•Reduce the maximum number of contests in basketball from 27 to 26.
•Establish December 20-26 as a seven-day dead period during which no athletically related activities can be conducted in winter sports. The proposal also restricts voluntary activities for all sports during that time unless the facilities are open to all students.
The four proposals were approved by wide margins after a year-long effort from presidents to take steps to ensure that the division's playing and practice season policies aligned with its balance-driven strategic-positioning platform. The proposals were generated after consultation with several constituencies by the Legislation and Championships Committees and then vetted through the governance structure for the past eight months.
Division II Presidents Council chair Stephen Jordan from Metropolitan State said the passage of the package was "an absolute positive manifestation of presidential leadership" and a clear indication of the division's intent to align its athletics policies with its strategic position.
"When chancellors and presidents in the division are committed and take the time to become involved in the process, their leadership can take the division in a positive direction," he said. "The votes today reflect that commitment."
The closest vote was on the dead period, which passed by 63 votes. Opponents didn't like the prescriptive aspect of the proposal and wanted the Presidents Council to come back next year with a proposal to let institutions and conferences to decide a seven-day dead period that best meets their individual circumstances.
But Presidents Council member Cheryl Norton said by establishing the same seven days for all student-athletes and coaches in Division II, they will be able to enjoy the winter break and focus in other areas of their lives, without worrying about any competitive commitments.
"In addition," Norton said, "athletics administrators, athletic trainers and sports information officers will be able to have a legitimate seven-day period when all winter sports are not practicing or competing, and all other sports have limitations on voluntary activities."
Both amendments-to-amendment regarding the Life in the Balance package also passed by wide margins. One delays the effective date of game reductions and season modifications for field hockey until August 1, 2011. Proponents cited the effect of next fall's National Championships Festival on the field hockey season as the need to give the 24 sponsoring institutions relief.
The other amendment allows relief for geographically unique institutions regarding the seven-day dead period, permitting teams to travel on December 20 after an away game on the 19th as long as that is the earliest practical opportunity to return to campus.
Delegates at Saturday's business session also adopted a major revision to the division's organized-competition rule, approving new definitions of organized competition and providing a one-year grace period between high school graduation and college enrollment for prospects to participate in organized competition without penalty.
A proposal to structure playing and practice seasons and financial aid parameters for sand volleyball also was adopted.
Delegates also approved a proposal from the Lone Star Conference, the South Atlantic Conference and the Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletics Association that eliminates the requirement for an institution to provide a prospect written notice of the five official-visit limit.
In addition, a proposal from the Peach Belt Conference, the Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletics Association and the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference to establish the first permissible contest date in basketball to the second weekend in November (rather than November 15) was adopted after reconsideration.
DII changes start date in basketball
By Gary Brown, The NCAA News
ATLANTA - After three years of trying, sponsors of a proposal to change the first contest date in basketball to the second Friday of November rather than November 15 finally got their way.
It wasn't easy, though.
It took two tries - and a narrow decision to reconsider - for the Peach Belt Conference, the Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletics Association and the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference to win the day at Saturday's Division II business session.
Delegates initially defeated Proposal No. 2010-14 by five votes after a rigorous debate on the floor. As the last proposal to be considered in the business session - and after delegates had spent much of their energy on the Life in the Balance package earlier in the morning - members still managed to get their second wind with the basketball proposal.
Proponents used a similar rationale from previous years - that the proposal provides for a uniform "opening weekend" for Division II basketball and adds another weekend opportunity to the schedule, among other reasons - but they also countered what they considered to be misinformation that had been circulating before the Convention.
MIAA Commissioner Jim Johnson pleaded with delegates to consider the proposal on its merits and not to defeat it "just because this is the third time and some of you are tired of the discussion."
But the discussion continued as opponents countered that the second Friday would make that weekend a cornucopia of fall and winter sports (since the football, soccer and volleyball seasons would still be going at many schools), thus putting additional stress on already burdened staffs.
Their biggest complaint, though, was that the new start date lengthens the playing season. But sponsors argued that the basketball season was for all practical purposes October 15 through the final game, and that Division II schools already were playing many games in early November.
Gulf South Conference Commissioner Nate Salant told delegates that he suspected most of those games were not home contests, but "guarantee games" at Division I schools or the Division II Disney Tip-Off tournaments.
The first vote failed, 136-141-2, and many in the room began suspecting that the proposal would be reconsidered, even as some people were leaving the ballroom thinking there was no more business to conduct.
Even the vote to reconsider was close, passing only 133-129-1.
More debate ensued, highlighted by Abilene Christian Athletics Director Jared Mosley, a former basketball player himself, who said larger conferences needed the flexibility that the new start date provides. He added that those who wanted to keep the November 15 start date could, since the proposal was permissive legislation.
Others also pointed out that the recently adopted dead period for winter sports that was approved as part of the Life in the Balance package earlier in the day made the new start date even more important.
The announcement of the final tally (136-131) was greeted by applause from those on the prevailing side, ending three years of struggle.
The proposal will be effective for next basketball season.
DII's Balance package: One down, one to go
By Gary Brown, The NCAA News
When the lights went out in Georgia after the Division II business session Saturday, most presidents left the room sensing brighter days ahead for a division that had just completed an ambitious - and at times tumultuous - project under their leadership.
With the four-proposal Life in the Balance package approved by wide margins, Division II chancellors and presidents showed their peers in intercollegiate athletics that leadership can go a long way in a reform agenda.
As Division II Presidents Council chair Stephen Jordan of Metropolitan State put it after all the votes were counted: "It was an absolute manifestation of presidential leadership. When chancellors and presidents take the time to become involved in the process, they can take the division in a positive direction."
That direction begins next fall when student-athletes in football, cross country, field hockey, soccer and volleyball report to school a week later. That will reduce the time that only student-athletes occupy campuses and, in turn, lighten the financial burden on the institutions to house and feed them.
Student-athletes in soccer and volleyball also will play two fewer contests (a two-game reduction in field hockey begins in 2011), and the Division II Football Championship will be played a week later than in previous years.
Baseball and softball student-athletes also will spend less time on the diamonds through a six-game reduction for men and no more tournament exceptions for women. Golfers also get a three-contest-date reduction starting next year.
The Balance package also affected basketball with a one-game cut for men and women. In addition, a seven-day dead period over the winter holidays gives student-athletes and staffs alike some strategic down time.
"It's important to remember," Jordan said, reflecting on the year-long legislative effort, "that this initiative was rooted in our strategic-positioning platform and was not merely an exercise in cutting games. While cutbacks in the very thing many student-athletes and coaches regard as their primary pursuit - competition - was hard for some to accept, once people saw the big picture, they realized the Balance package was the right thing to do."
Most of the package came into the 2010 Convention with support from the governance structure, faculty representatives and the Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. Members of the latter said after their November meeting that while doing less of what they love most was initially counterintuitive, they saw that "balance" in this context wasn't merely between athletics and academics.
"It's not balance if you're having to stay up until 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning four nights a week to keep up with the school work that you're not able to do during the day because of practice or games," said SAAC chair Christopher Odom of Angelo State after the SAAC's fall meeting. "The purpose of college is to make for a more well-rounded person."
The vote totals at the business session showed that, for the most part, delegates agreed with that assessment.
•Proposal No. 2010-5 (reductions in fall sports) was adopted by roll call vote, 207-72-1
•Proposal No. 2010-6 (reductions in baseball, golf and softball) was adopted by roll call vote, 241-37-2
•Proposal No. 2010-7 (dead period during winter holidays) was adopted by roll call vote, 171-108-2
•Proposal No. 2010-8 (reduction in basketball) was adopted by roll call vote, 198-79-2. Phase II under way
But while the 2010 Convention has ended, Division II's quest for balance hasn't. Work on Phase II already has begun, with nonchampionship segments and exempted contests in applicable sports targeted as the next areas for review. Also to be considered are possible changes in the hourly limits for athletically related activities in and out of season (the so-called 20/8-hour rules).
As with Phase I, Phase II will undergo an inclusive and far-reaching review, from coaches associations and governance committees (including the Division II SAAC) to the commissioners and athletics directors associations.
The goal is to have recommendations for the Division II Legislation and Championships Committees by June. Final recommendations will go to the Management and Presidents Councils and SAAC in the summer for possible sponsorship at the 2011 NCAA Convention.
One certainty for Phase II is that the people the proposals affect will be encouraged to provide input on the concepts early and often.
Grand Valley State Athletics Director Tim Selgo, who chaired the Management Council during Phase I and remains as a member on the Council for Phase II, said busy athletics administrators usually wait until proposals are imminent before really thinking about their impact. He urged that not be the case as whatever emerges from Phase II heads for the 2011 Convention in San Antonio.
"As an AD myself, I know there will be a lot on our plates waiting for us when we return from this Convention," Selgo told a group of Division II leaders last week. "But this is something that needs our immediate attention. From January to June is the critical period for Phase II, not July to December."
Eckerd College Athletics Director Bob Fortosis echoed those sentiments at the Management Council meeting shortly after the business session.
"This is a party to which everyone is invited," he said, "and it doesn't help to show up late."
