MINUTES OF THE

NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION

DIVISION II CHAMPIONSHIPS COMMITTEE

NCAA National Office January 28-30, 2003

Indianapolis, Indiana

Participants:

Rita Castagna, Assumption College

Clyde Doughty Jr., New York Institute of Technology

Lynda Goodrich, Western Washington University

Joan McDermott, Metropolitan State College of Denver, chair

Monique A.J. Morgan, Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association

Jim Naumovich, Great Lakes Valley Conference

Frances Nee, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

David Riggins, Mars Hill College

Nancy Simpson, California State University, San Bernardino

Hindman Wall, University of Tampa

Troy Arthur, NCAA

Jan Brown, NCAA

Sharon Cessna, NCAA

Mike Racy, NCAA

Anthony Capon, University of Pittsburgh, Johnstown, NCAA Division II Management Council representative, and Angela Desmarais, Ferris State University, student-athlete representative, also attended the meeting.

[Note: These minutes contain only actions taken (formal votes or stated "sense of the meeting") in accordance with NCAA policy regarding minutes of all Association entities. While certain items on the committee's agenda were acted on at various times throughout the meeting, all final actions within a given topic are combined in these minutes for convenience of reference.]

Tuesday, January 28

The meeting was called to order at 8:05 a.m. by the chair, Ms. McDermott. All members were present as noted above. Ms. McDermott welcomed the new committee members and conducted introductions.

1. Approval of Previous Minutes.

It was VOTED

"That the minutes of the September 15-18, 2002, meeting be approved with the following modification: Lynda Goodrich was in attendance for the entire meeting."

2. Review of the October 21-22, 2002, NCAA Division II Management Council and October 31, 2002, NCAA Division II Presidents Council Meetings. The committee reviewed actions taken by the Management and Presidents Councils and noted the following:

a. Agreed to sponsor noncontroversial legislation to modify NCAA Bylaw 21.6.7.11 (lacrosse committee, women’s) to indicate that the NCAA Division II Women’s Lacrosse Committee will consist of four members, with equal representation from each region.

b. Approved the recommendation to adopt an administrative regulation to amend Bylaw 31.3.4 to include a reference to NCAA Constitution 3.3.1 (conference competition requirement), effective immediately.

c. Approved the recommendation to adopt an administrative regulation to amend Bylaw 31.3.4.1 (exception—men’s and women’s tennis) to include men’s golf to the exceptions set forth in the bylaw.

d. Agreed to increase the minimum pole-vault pad measurements in Division II, effective immediately.

Note: The Management and Presidents Councils strongly encourage institutions to increase the minimum size of the pole-vault landing pad for 2002-03 and require institutions to increase the pole-vault pad size by 2003-04.

e. Reviewed the site selection for the 2004 NCAA Division II Spring Sports Festival. The festival has been awarded to the Central Florida Sports Commission, Rollins College and the Sunshine State Conference.

3. Governing Sports Committee Reports. The committee took the following actions on the recommendations from sports committees:

a. Men's Basketball. The committee recommendation was not acted on due to the failure of a second for the recommendation to be moved. The committee agreed to revisit the issue at its June meeting and allow all sports committees the opportunity to comment on whether or not to count conference tournaments in a team's strength of schedule for selection purposes

b. Men's Golf.

(1) Approved the recommended change in the date formula for the NCAA Division II Men's Golf Championships from May 18-21 to May 11-14 to accommodate the spring sports festival. The committee noted that the change is needed only for the 2004 championships.

(2) Approved that Greensboro, Georgia, be designated as the site for the 2003 Atlantic/Southeast super regional with Georgia College & State University serving as the host for the competition. The competition will be conducted at The Harbor Club.

c. Women's Golf.

(1) Approved a one-year committee term extension for Susan Reinders, associate athletics director, Minnesota State University Mankato. The committee noted that this case presented significant extenuating circumstances that warranted approval of this recommendation.

(2) Approved the recommended adjustment in the date formula for the NCAA Division II Women's Golf Championships from May 12-15 to May 11-14 to accommodate the spring sports festival. The committee noted that the change is needed only for the 2004 championships.

d. Women's Lacrosse.

(1) Approved the adjustment of the dates of competition for the NCAA Division II Women's Lacrosse Championship from May 15-16 to May 13-15 to accommodate the spring sports festival. The committee noted that change is needed only for the 2004 championship.

(2) Approved in concept the format change of the women's lacrosse championship to allow a day off between the semifinals and final. The committee determined that the recommendation was submitted outside of the budgetary cycle and should be resubmitted in September.

e. Women's Rowing. Approved the recommendation to adopt legislation to specify that the final day of competition, which is Sunday, may begin prior to noon.

f. Women's Soccer.

(1) Approved the recommended changes to the tournament format based on the expansion of the championship field from 24 to 32 participating teams, effective with the 2003 NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Championship.

(2) Approved the recommended changes to the date formula for the women's soccer championship to match the proposed championship format.

(3) Approved Siegfried Nagele, head women's soccer coach, Eckerd College, as chair of the committee.

g. Men's and Women's Track and Field. Approved that Raleigh, North Carolina, be designated as the site for the 2003 NCAA Division II Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships. St. Augustine's College will serve as the host for the competition to be conducted at the SAS Soccer Park.

4. Football Project Team. The staff gave a presentation regarding the work of the Football Project Team and recommendations for the championship.

a. Women's Expansion. In an effort to maintain the 50-50 ratio of men’s and women’s championship opportunities, the committee will develop a strategic plan to accommodate the expanded opportunities in 2004 (when football expands) and beyond. Therefore, the committee requested that the following sports committees present proposals for expanding opportunities in the future: baseball, field hockey, men's and women's lacrosse, softball, men's and women's soccer, and women's volleyball.

b. Football Regional Alignment. The championships committee agreed to refer the regional alignment options to the NCAA Division II Football Committee for further review. The committee requested that the football committee include in its recommendation the priority order and rationale for each option. The football committee should consider geographic proximity, balance of institutions and equitable number of conferences per region. Further, the committee should consider the impact regional alignment would have on smaller conferences and independents when making its final recommendation.

c. Football Committee Expansion. The championships committee discussed the possibility of expanding the football committee.

It was VOTED

"That a recommendation be forwarded to the Management Council to modify Bylaw 21.6.7.6 to expand the composition of the football committee from four to eight members."

The championships committee asked the football committee to develop the regions before the NCAA Division II Nominating Committee starts to solicit new members.

d. Student-Athlete Discretionary Model. The Presidents and Management Councils asked the championships committee, the NCAA Division II Legislative Committee and the NCAA Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee to identify individuals from each committee to study the issue of discretionary time for student-athletes. Mr. Naumovich and Mr. Doughty volunteered to be on the group.

e. Earned Access Philosophy [Bylaw 31 (Automatic Qualification)]. The committee discussed the possibility of earned access.

It was VOTED

"That a recommendation be forwarded to the Management Council to sponsor legislation that football be permitted to grant earned access, effective with the 2004 championship."

5. Regional Alignment/Definition of a Region. The committee discussed options for expanding the definition of a region. The committee did not reach a decision but agreed to suggest this topic as an education session at the NCAA Convention. The committee also discussed the definition of a non-conference in-region contest.

It was VOTED

"That a non-conference contest be defined as competition against any Division II opponent that is not a member of its own conference."

The committee agreed that this definition would be policy for all sports, including football.

6. Sports Festival. The committee received a progress report regarding the sports festival. Staff shared information regarding the possibility of a press conference involving Myles Brand, NCAA president, and the Central Florida Sports Commission in the spring of 2003.

7. Letter of Appeal. The committee reviewed an appeal of a private reprimand issued by the championships committee for misconduct during a regional advisory committee call. The committee denied the appeal and the private reprimand was upheld.

8. Promotions. The committee reviewed the marketing and promotions dollars for Division II championships. The staff reminded the committee that the $100,000 that was allocated for the 2002-03 championships would go to the sports festival for 2004-05. The committee agreed to evaluate if it would request additional funding at its June meeting.

[Note: The meeting recessed at 4 p.m.]

Wednesday, January 29

The meeting was called to order at 8:04 a.m. All members were present as noted above.

9. Fall Selection and Championships Summary. The committee reviewed the selection overturns by the sports committees for fall championships.

10. Participation Numbers. The committee reviewed the championships participant opportunities for all sports and noted it had attained its goals outlined in the Division II strategic plan of achieving gender equity for championships opportunities. The committee also noted its commitment to maintaining gender balance as it reviews expansion to sport brackets.

11. Budget Analysis and Review. The committee reviewed items that may be included in the next budget cycle. The items include the following: increase in per diem, participant awards, officials transportation to regional sites, increase in officials' per diem, airfare mileage decrease from 500 miles and fully funding all individual/team sports for regional competition.

12. Committee Appointments. The committee requested that the Management Council ratify the following committee appointments and reappointments:

a. Field Hockey. That Pamela Arpé, field hockey coach at Stonehill College, be appointed to replace Kelly West-McGowan, coach at Bentley College.

b. Women's Soccer. That Peter Campbell, associate athletics director, Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania, be appointed to replace Robert Hartwell, athletics director, Adelphi University.

c. Softball Rules. That Christi Wade, assistant athletics director and head softball coach, Saint Leo University, be appointed to replace Nicole Swan Donlin, assistant athletics director, Le Moyne College.

13. Minority Opportunities and Interest Committee (MOIC) Report on American Indian Mascots. The staff gave a report regarding the analysis of the MOIC report. The committee supports the concept of self-analysis; however, it believes it should be expanded to all institutions to address crowd behavior and crowd control in general. The inappropriate crowd behavior is not limited to American Indian mascots and/or the institutions these mascots represent. In many instances it is the rival teams that display inappropriate behavior toward the mascots and/or the fans of that institution. The committee suggests that all Division II institutions conduct a self-analysis to evaluate overall crowd behavior and develop and enforce policies and procedures to prevent offensive crowd behavior.

14. Technology Grants. The championships committee reviewed recommendations from sports committees with regard to how the funding would be used for selections and seeding to championships. It was noted that the additional funding was available because the technology grant for Division II conferences was budgeted on the assumption of 25 active member conferences. Currently, there are 22 active conferences eligible to receive grant monies.

15. Championships Reserve Fund. The committee agreed that the criteria for using the championships reserve fund should parallel the strategic plan. Staff will create a document including the criteria discussed for the committee's review in June.