REPORT OF THE
NCAA COMMITEE ON SPORTSMANSHIP AND
ETHICAL CONDUCT
ACTION ITEMS.
·
None.
INFORMATIONAL ITEMS.
Association-wide.
1. Mission
statement. The committee reviewed and reaffirmed
the mission statement.
2. Review
of report of November meeting. The committee’s divisional
Management Council representatives reported each division’s reaction to
the committee’s report from the November meeting. The Division II Management Council
endorsed the direction of the committee and the recent actions of the committee
contacting conferences when unsportsmanlike conduct occurs.
3. Sports
wagering update. The committee discussed multiple
initiatives being implemented by the NCAA agents, gamb
a. Facebook.com. The committee discussed the growth of
this Web site and the impact that negative images/pictures on a
student-athlete’s page could have on sportsmanship issues. The staff also noted that inclusion of
details related to student-athlete participation could be information sought
out by gamblers and bookmakers, undermining the Association’s efforts
against sports wagering.
b. Sports
wagering task force initiatives.
Background checks for football officials will be implemented for the
2006-07 postseason football games.
c. The
sports-wagering staff met with the equipment managers association. Focused on Divisions II and III, the
sports wagering staff had more of a presence at the Division II and III
leadership conferences.
d. Another
Association-wide initiative on which the staff is working during the 2006-07
academic year is a “Don’t Bet On It” campaign, in which head
coaches will be provided lapel pins to be worn during a designated
“Sports Wagering Awareness Day.” The committee previewed the newly
developed “Don’t Bet On It” educational DVD. The committee noted that this DVD should
be widely distributed and also discussed the value of having public service
announcements (PSAs) at championship events. With the increase in Web casting championship
competition, the committee noted this avenue would be a good opportunity for
PSAs in the future.
4. Playing
Rules Oversight Panel (PROP) update. Ty Halpin and Heather Perry, staff liaisons
for PROP, discussed issues of interest to both committees. The liaisons noted that supporting
officials was critical to enforcing the playing rules, especially in the area
of technical fouls. The liaisons
also noted that the issue of sportsmanship is discussed at every playing rules
committee meeting and the groups welcomed and supported any action of the
committee in its efforts to instill some accountability on behalf of the
Association in addressing unsportsmanlike conduct. The committee suggested that the playing
rules committee annually review, (and revise where appropriate), sportsmanship
statements included in each sports rules book.
5. Subcommittee
breakouts. Prior to the strategic plan subcommittee
and the accountability subcommittee breakout sessions, the full committee
discussed its NCAA Bylaw 10.01.1 policy (July 2005 report). The committee agreed to increase
educational efforts and ensure that all commissioner groups understand the
process for communicating with a conference office regarding an incident. The charge of the accountability subcommittee
includes establishing a protocol for addressing such incidents.
a. Accountability
Subcommittee. The subcommittee
noted that when the committee or NCAA staff contacts a conference or
institution regarding a negative incident, the purpose of the communication is
to determine how the issue was handled.
The NCAA is frequently asked to comment on these issues and additional
background information is helpful.
The subcommittee noted that examples of positive
sportsmanship are not always forthcoming as individuals are not as conditioned
to share those instances as they are to share examples of unsportsmanlike
conduct.
The subcommittee agreed to the following methods for
collecting information related to positive instances of sportsmanship.
(1) Ask
officials to share observations of exemplary behavior.
(2) PROP
will work with individuals with which it comes in contact to encourage
reporting of positive actions.
(3) Have
the regional site representative for a championship relay instances of positive
behavior to the national office.
(4) If
a host institution/conference conducts a championship or even a regular-season
event in an outstanding way that promotes sportsmanship, this needs to be
highlighted to the committee.
When positive behavior is reported to the national
office or a subcommittee member, a letter acknowledging the positive actions
will be sent to the involved individual, institution, etc.
The second issue the subcommittee addressed relates to
unsportsmanlike conduct that meets one of the following three factors that were
adopted at the committee’s July 2005 meeting:
Ÿ Issue
of national significance.
Ÿ National
exposure/ extensive regional press.
Ÿ Actions
did not uphold sportsmanship.
In terms of a specific protocol to address situations
meeting one of the three criteria, the subcommittee will allow a reasonable
amount of time for the school and conference to respond and adjudicate the
issue. In the interim, the issue
will be circulated to the subcommittee members for private reaction. If the institution and/or conference have
met its responsibility under Bylaw 10.01.1, then the issue is considered resolved.
If the action taken is not known to the subcommittee
or it appears that no action was taken, then either the chair or staff will
contact the conference or institution to determine if action was or is being
taken. [Note: Action can be limited to a thorough
review of the matter.] If no review
or action was taken, then a letter may be sent to the institution, conference
or both, depending on jurisdictional issues.
b. Strategic
Planning Subcommittee. The
subcommittee identified additional best practices for inclusion in the
sportsmanship and ethical behavior tool kit. Institutional sportsmanship initiatives
include:
(1) Individual
sportsmanship awards presented annually at an athletics banquet, for each team.
(2) The
provision of a letter to the parents of student-athletes with a message of
“Cheer for us, not against the other team.”
(3) Collaborate
with campus student-athlete advisory committee groups to organize a seminar on
good sportsmanship and share examples of good sportsmanship.
(4) A
contest for athletics teams where attendance and good sportsmanship are tracked. If the sport team has 60 percent of its
team attend another team’s event and exhibit good sportsmanship (as
approved by the administration), that team will receive a certain number of
points. The team that has the most
points at the end of the season receives a party.
(5) A
tracking system similar to many conference tracking systems that monitors negative
sportsmanship/behavior and is captured in real time.
(6) A
sportsmanship survey that asked questions of student-athletes about attitudes
and behaviors regarding sportsmanship.
The results of the survey were broken down by gender, classification and
sport to provide an assessment as to where additional educational emphasis
should be placed. .
Conference sportsmanship initiatives included:
(1) A
conference call with the coaches of the fall sports to review conference
policies, sports information, and sportsmanship policies, behaviors and expectations. This conference also explains that head
coaches should avoid being ejected from a game as he/she is responsible for
game and team control.
(2) Creation
of a Sportsmanship Pledge for Division III.
(3) Conference
spotlight in The NCAA news that highlights a conference that demonstrates good
sportsmanship.
(4) A
director of athletics and senior woman administrator meeting to establish
standards for which conference members should be held accountable.
(5) Expansion
of the conference sportsmanship statement to include not just coaches, but all
student-athletes and athletics department staff members.
(6) Conference
office should review every on-field/court incident that occurs.
(7) The
inclusion of Big 12 Conference recommendations from the Fan Behavior/Sportsmanship
campaign.
The subcommittee began a short-term planning
process. The basis for planning included
the following:
(1) Sportsmanship/ethical
behavior initiatives are currently underway at the national office, conference,
and institutional levels.
(2) The
current individual initiatives are worthy and experience varied levels of
success with the advantage of focusing on specific needs.
(3) The
subcommittee determined that it would be beneficial to create a corporate
“face” to the sportsmanship issue through combined division
branding opportunities.
(4) Specifically,
the subcommittee discussed a “shining moments” initiative to
include video examples of “shining moments” of sportsmanship
behaviors and initiatives to be available and used across divisions,
conferences and institutions.
(5) The
subcommittee also believes that once a “face” had been created, it
would be beneficial to have representatives attend certain NCAA
events/conferences/meetings to present standardized speaking points to further
the branding initiative.
(6) The
subcommittee believes that five basic criteria should exist for the “face
of sportsmanship”:
Ÿ All
participants, coaches and fans share a love of the game.
Ÿ All
should exhibit respect for each other.
Ÿ All
should learn and demonstrate honor through sport.
Ÿ Glory
of the game supersedes individual accomplishment.
Ÿ A
common bond of effort, passion and allegiance fosters friends in sport.
The subcommittee will schedule a follow-up conference
call to continue its discussion and determine next steps.
6. Online
Web site update. The committee reviewed the draft plans
for overhau
7. Sportsmanship
brochure draft. The committee reviewed a draft brochure
for distribution to the membership.
The focus of the brochure is to provide a model sportsmanship pledge for
institutional and conference implementation.
8. Letters
regarding complaints. The committee reviewed multiple
instances of alleged unsportsmanlike conduct, some of which prompted requests
for follow-up as to how the institution or conference addressed the issue.
9. Strategic
plan update. The committee reviewed the components of
the NCAA Strategic Plan related to sportsmanship noting that significant
progress has been made. However,
after analyzing the results of a recent survey to all three divisions related
to the definition of and expectations surrounding sportsmanship, the committee
noted the need to establish additional goals.
The committee discussed the best approach to strengthen
the membership’s commitment to making sportsmanship a mainstream
issue. The committee agreed that
raising awareness with conferences and presidents is critical to succeeding in
the strategic plan.
10. NACDA
Sportsmanship
11. Sportsmanship
survey results. The committee reviewed the preliminary
results from the survey, and will continue to analyze the data to gain an
understanding of how the membership approaches and dedicates resources to
sportsmanship.
12. Sportsmanship
conferences. Representatives of the committee or NCAA
staff have presented at the following conferences to discuss sportsmanship and
raise awareness: Symposium on
Civility, Sports and Society, Clemson University (April 12, 2006); Post Game
Crowd Control Summit (April 8, 2006); American Football Coaches Association
(AFCA) Coaches and Officials Sportsmanship Meeting (January 11, 2006);
Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Coaches Meeting (March 31,
2006); National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Board of Directors
Interview (May 12, 2006); Division I Athletics Directors Association.
13. NCAA
Sportsmanship Award update. The deadline for submissions was June
15, 2006. Gene Doris agreed to
chair the Division I selection team; Dan Mara agreed to chair the Division II
selection team; Chuck Mitrano agreed to chair the Division III selection
team. Each division has a
men’s and women’s winner and then from the six winners, a national
men’s and women’s winner is chosen. [The national winners for 2006 were Mike
Rose,
Nathan Edmunds,
14. Citizenship
Through Sports
15.
Committee chair. The committee selected
Alan Patterson as the chair of the committee, effective September 1, 2006.
Division
I only.
16. Division I
update. There was no discussion of the actions
of the committee at the Management Council meetings. The group agreed to invite the
Management Council representative to the November committee meeting.
Division
II only.
17. Division II
update. The Conference Commissioners Association
is sponsoring a conference awards program.
Division
III only.
18. Division
III update. The crowd control summit preceded the
recent Division III Management Council meeting and was a topic of discussion at
the Management Council. The NCAA
has taken over administration of the misconduct program established by the
Empire 8 Conference and participation in the program has increased by 80% with
softball and baseball being added to the program. Also, participants are moving towards
real-time (contemporaneous) tracking since a decrease in incidents is more
likely to occur if real-time tracking is used. A fan conduct program has also
been implemented by the Division III Commissioners Committee on Sportsmanship
with emphasis in three areas: fan
education, game management policy, and policy enforcement.
Committee
Chair: Alan Patterson, Commissioner,
Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference.
Staff Liaisons: Rachel
Newman, enforcement services; Julie Roe, enforcement services;
Ron
Stratten, education services.