REPORT OF THE

DIVISION III STRATEGIC-PLANNING SUBCOMMITTEE

 

 

1.         ACTION ITEMS.

 

a.         Division III Strategic Initiatives – 2005-06 Update.  [Attachment A]

 

(1)        Recommendation.  Review and approve the following 2005-06 program changes, new programs and reallocations; forward them to the Presidents Council:

           

(a)                Student-Athlete Regional Leadership Conference.  [Attachment B]

 

·                    Regions.  Condense from six to four.  This will provide
institutions access to the conference every other year.  Institutions were grouped according to athletics conference
affiliation.  Independents and provisional members were assigned based on geographic location. 

·                    Institutional teams.  One of the three student-athlete participants must be a member of the campus or conference student-athlete advisory committee (Each institution must send at least two student-athletes; a third student-athlete may participate provided one is an ethnic minority or international student-athlete).  The coach or administrator is no longer limited to full-time athletics personnel.  Members of the student-affairs staff or faculty, such as the faculty athletics representative, are now encouraged to attend.

·                    Participation.  Conferences will be offered on a first come basis with a maximum of 300 participants.  Institutions are encouraged to register in a timely manner to ensure participation.

·                    2005-06 Conferences Region, Date and Site.

o                   Region 1 - October 2005 (September 30 – October 2,  Dallas, TX)

o                   Region 2 - January 2006 (January 20-22 or 27-29, Northeast)

 

The mission of the Regional Leadership Conference is to prepare student-athletes for leadership in a diverse and dynamic society.  Student-athletes, coaches, athletics administrators and faculty will work together to facilitate critical dialogue, address Division III specific issues and create the partnerships needed to create positive


change at the campus, conference and divisional levels.  Condensing the regions provides greater access to Division III institutions on an alternate year basis; enhances use of Division III resources by filling conferences to capacity; and engages more student-athletes, coaches, administrators and faculty within the division on an annual basis with a first come approach.

 

(b)        Division III Conduct Foul Program.  [Attachment C] Reallocate $25,000 from the Initiative Grant Fund - Student-Athlete Well-Being to establish a division-wide Sportsmanship Education fund.  A portion of the fund ($11,000) would be allocated to a contractor, Mr. Chuck Mitrano (Commissioner, Empire 8) to oversee the implementation of the Conduct Foul Program on a division-wide
basis on behalf of the governance structure.  During the last two years, the Empire 8 has administered the program as a conference-based initiative grant, although the scope of the program has grown to include a majority of Division III conferences.  The program includes creating/maintaining a database; creating reports and memos; distributing information to the membership; collecting, tabulating and disseminating personalized conference/independent institution results.  In addition, all data will be provided in three forms for each Division III sport:  national data, a real-time collection which tabulates data for all institutions/conferences, and end of season collection sheet which tabulates data for institutions/conferences that simply collect data at the end of their year.  The value of the three form tracking method is to explore the benefit of the “real-time” tracking program for all Division III
institutions/conferences.  An annual written summary of findings, areas of improvement and developments for the program also will be provided.  The subcommittee noted its intent to evaluate the program on an annual basis in support of division-wide and
association-wide sportsmanship initiatives. 

 

(c)        Chief Executive Officer (CEO)/Chief Student Affairs (CSA)/Chief Academic Officer (CAO) Grant.  Reallocate $25,000 from the Initiative Grant Fund - Membership Education to establish a fund to provide grants up to $500 per person on a first-come basis to
encourage attendance at the NCAA Convention of CEOs, and CSAs/CAOs to whom athletics reports.  The establishment of the


fund is in response to the Future of Division III- Phase II Survey results noting that the majority of directors of athletics report to the Chief Student Affairs Officer (48.8%) with the remainder reporting to Chief Executive Officers (20.1%) and Chief Academic Officer (19.8%). The subcommittee also noted feedback during the 2005 NCAA Convention Forum and Division III Membership Committee discussions, both of which focused on ways to enhance the
engagement of these individuals in the affairs of the Association and Division III in a more consistent manner.

 

(d)               National Association of Division III Athletic Administrators (NAD3AA) Partnership Grant.  [Attachment D] Reallocate $49,500 ($25,500 from the Initiative Grant - Membership Education; $24,000 from elimination of Postgraduate Scholarship fund) to establish a NAD3AA and NCAA partnership grant.  The fund will support the development of an NAD3AA convention in
conjunction with one of the two annual NCAA regional rules seminars, effective 2005-06.  The NAD3AA will offer one or one and a half days of professional development/educational programming for Division III athletics administrators (directors, associates, assistants, SWA’s, FAR’s and possibly coaches).  Membership education, particularly in the area of rules education, remains a high
priority for the division.  The NAD3AA could reach a larger constituency with a “piggyback” approach to an existing professional meeting (e.g., NACDA) or NCAA rules education seminars.  Specific details of the programming and allocation of resources must be addressed with the executive committee of NAD3AA, members of the Division III Membership Committee and NCAA staff to
determine the best approach on an annual basis.  Rationale for linking to the NCAA regional rules seminar include: cost effectiveness and Division III-specific programming; opportunity for rules
education, and utilization of the existing NCAA Web-based registration process.


b.         Division III Strategic Initiatives - 2006-08 Conference Grant Program. 
[Attachment E]

 

(1)   Recommendation.  Approve in concept a Division III Conference Grant Program, effective for the 2006-08 biennial budget: 

 

(a)                                        Division III voting conferences and the Association of Division III
Independents receive a $30,000 annual grant allowance. 

(b)                                       Allocation would replace the current annual per-conference allowances of $10,000 for technology and $2,000 for SAAC, as well as the NCAA administration of several existing or proposed grant programs and enhancements.

(c)                                        Use of grant must fulfill specific annual and cyclical expectations and policy goals.

(d)                                       Establishment of conference development and administrative group (i.e., committee of constituent representatives) to oversee the process, help establish priorities, select participants, discuss events and assist with submission of the annual Grant Request and Grant
Report.

(e)                                        Annual grant request must be submitted to receive funds and
detailed annual report must be completed to be eligible for subsequent grants.

(f)                                         NCAA would retain direct oversight of the following Division III Strategic Initiatives:

·                    Women and Minority Internship grants ($828,000).

·                    Coaches Enhancement grants ($24,000).

·                    Strategic Alliance Matching grants ($1,065,720).

·                    Division-wide Sportsmanship Education ($25,000).

·                    NAD3AA partnership ($49,500).

·                    Student-Athlete Regional Leadership Conference ($550,000).


Subsequent to Council approval of the concept, staff will pursue additional details with the Division III Commissioners Association and forward those details to the subcommittee and Council for additional review.  Issues will be resolved pursuant to the 2006-08 budget timetable (i.e., spring 2006).

 

(2)               Rationale.  The following rationale supports the concept, consistent with the Association-wide and division-specific strategic plans:

 

·                    Further enhances the principles of increased conference and institutional autonomy and adds flexibility to allow for different projects in different years based on conference/institutional needs.

·                    Broaden participation by the division’s membership in initiatives that further the division’s strategic goals and objectives.

·                    Clearly defines key divisional membership education and communication priorities and allocates resources for each conference and Association of Independents to identify a process for selection and participation.

·                    Supports efforts for increased cost saving measures and more efficient operations by decreasing NCAA national office application processes, finance and business office processes, and overhead fees, particularly fees associated with the administration of the
initiative grant programs.

 

(3)        Budget Impact.  None.  Total allocation of approximately $1.3 million, based on $30,000 per conference/Association of Independents allocation, will be funded through the reallocation of existing strategic initiative funds, and budget savings of approximately $200,000 due to elimination of overhead. 

 

 

2.         INFORMATIONAL ITEMS.

 

a.                  Division III Strategic Plan.  The subcommittee reviewed the Division III strategic plan including the preface, vision, timeline, planning priorities and
implementation.  The subcommittee reviewed the format for tracking mid-year progress of the Outcome measures.  It was noted that 2004-05 would serve as the establishment of baseline measures for several outcomes.  The subcommittee discussed whether the outcome measures were realistic and may need adjustments, noting that a full review of the plan will occur in July.  Staff was directed to
present a strategy including necessary adjustments and the format and plan for


communication with the membership related to all pertinent outcome measures.  [Attachment F]

 

b.                  Division III Strategic Initiatives – 2004-05 Summary.  The subcommittee
reviewed the 2004-05 summary noting the recent completion of several grant programs:  NCAA minority and women’s enhancement postgraduate scholarships (16 Division III applications; 15 women/7 ethnic minority; 4 women and 4 minority awarded); student-athlete regional leadership conferences (80 of 142 institutions participated in 2004-05 - 56%); Initiative Grant – Diversity Education grants (11 Division III institutions were serviced by the NCAA Diversity Education program); SWA Enhancement grant (NACWAA/Hers received 36 Division III applications - 28 accepted to date); Regional Seminar grant (206 applications to date, funding will support up to 200 individuals with a maximum of two per campus).  A complete executive summary will be reviewed during its July conference call.  [Attachment G]

 

c.                   Division III biennial budget process.  The subcommittee reviewed the biennial budget process timeline and the Division III six-year budget projections, including the Division III 2004-05 budget-to-actual report and 2005-06 budget, noting the previous changes in the non-championships initiatives. 

 

 

 

Committee Chair:  Sandra Slabik, Neumann College

Staff Liaisons:  Dan Dutcher; Bridget Belgiovine; Leah Nilsson; Debbie Kresge