REPORT OF THE
NCAA DIVISION III
CHAMPIONSHIPS COMMITTEE
1. ACTION
ITEMS.
a. Men’s
and Women’s Tennis Date Formulas.
(1) Recommendation. Approve that the date formula for the Division
III Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships (team portion) be moved
to start competition the fourth Wednesday in May, effective as soon as is
feasible.
(2) Rationale.
A change in date formula will allow conference competition to take
place the first weekend in May. With
the implementation of automatic qualification in 2007 and increased bracket
sizes, a greater number of institutions will be competing for berths in both
the men’s and women’s championships. Allowing conference play the
first weekend in May will help alleviate shortened seasons due to weather
issues faced by a large portion of the membership during the spring season.
(3) Budget
Impact. None.
b.
Membership Regions – In-Region Contests.
(1)
Recommendation. Approve that any contest
against a school within an institution’s defined membership region per Bylaw
4.12.1.1 (Geographical Regions/Division III) count as an in-region game.
(2)
Rationale. This option provides
greater flexibility in obtaining in-region contests, while holding true to the
Division III philosophy. This
alternative for identifying further in-region contests would be in addition to
the established sport regions and the 200-mile policy.
(3)
Budget Impact. None.
c.
Reclassifying Institutions – Selection Criteria.
(1)
Recommendation. Approve that third-and
fourth-year reclassifying institutions be considered consistent with third-and
fourth-year provisional members as active members for selection criteria
purposes, effective 2006-07.
(2)
Rationale. Third- and fourth year
provisional members are currently treated as active Division III members for
selection criteria purposes only (e.g., not eligible for championships). This will aid qualified reclassifying
institutions in the scheduling process as it allows active Division III
institutions to count such contests as in-region, primary competition.
(3)
Budget Impact. None.
d.
Selection Criteria – Average Opponents’ Winning
Percentage and Opponents’ Opponents Winning Percentage.
(1)
Recommendation. Approve a change in the
selection criteria from opponents’ opponents record to opponents’
opponents winning percentage, effective 2007-08
(2)
Rationale. The Championships Committee
previously requested approval for implementation of opponents’ opponents’
record, effective 2006-07. Upon
further consideration, the committee would like to adopt opponents’
opponents winning percentage rather than opponents’ opponents record. Opponents’ opponents’ average
winning percentage will give team sports committees an actual number versus an
applied number to evaluate a teams results for selection purposes. The committee will be reviewing feedback
from team sports committees at its June, 2006 meeting in regards to
opponents’ average winning percentage; if adopted, this criterion will
support the opponents’ opponents’ average winning percentage
calculation.
(3)
Budget Impact. None.
2. INFORMATIONAL
ITEMS.
a.
2006-08
Biennium Budget Recommendations. The
committee recommended the following budget items; a detailed summary was
submitted to the Budget Committee:
(1)
Travel party per diem ($70 to $75) [$283,000];
(2)
Official’s fees [$128,000];
(3)
Participation awards [$158,000];
(4)
Officials per diem ($30 to $40) [$33,000];
(5) Web Casting [$30,000];
(6) Mementos for student-athletes at the final site ($50-$55) [$26,000];
(7) Increase in travel party size for the sports of baseball, men’s and women’s basketball and women’s rowing [$195,000]; and
(8)
Other sport committee initiatives. [$388,000]
b.
Team Sport
Bracket Size Determination. Confirmed that,
effective 2006-07, bracket sizes will be based on the previous year sponsorship
numbers and pool
berths
will be based on automatic-qualification declarations and current year sponsorship
numbers.
c.
Out-of-Region
Contests during Institutional Breaks. The committee opted to consider other
avenues to gain additional flexibility in regards to in-region contests and
removed this concept from consideration.
d.
Men’s and
Women’s Golf and Tennis Survey. The committee reviewed the membership survey
results and noted the lack of support for a change of championship season in
men’s/women’s golf or tennis. The committee noted the results regarding
support for defining a traditional/non-traditional season for golf and tennis
would be referred to the Division III Playing and Practice Season Subcommittee.
The committee also accepted the
results of the questions related to the proposed volleyball rule change.
e.
Institutional
Policy – Religions Reasons [Bylaw 31.1.4.1]. The committee confirmed that it will
research and review objective data related to this issue (e.g., missed class
time related to moving championship dates from Saturday/Sunday to
Friday/Saturday) and provide a recommendation to the Council at a future
meeting. The committee also reviewed
related issues surrounding 2005 fall championships.
f.
Travel Policy. The committee requested that a survey be
completed year-end to assess the effectiveness of the new travel policy. The survey would compare dollars spent
in 05-06 versus 04-05. The
committee is also interested in how many institutions were unaware they had an
opportunity to request additional funds if the allocation for ground
transportation fell short.
g.
President’s
Athletic Conference. The
committee denied the request to waive the second year (2006-07) of the two-year
waiting period for automatic qualification privileges for the President’s
Athletic Conference.
h.
Regional
Advisory Committees. The
committee confirmed that if a sports committee chooses to pair conferences for
representative purposes, then all conferences must be paired equally. If there are an odd number of
conferences, then the true independents should always be represented, if
possible. If a conference is spread
amongst regions, the committee may work with the commissioner to determine appropriate
representation.
i.
Sports Committee Recommendations.
(1)
Men’s Golf. Accepted the information that the
committee did not approve the use of range finders during the 2006 Division III
Men’s Golf Championships. The
United States Golf Association modified a decision that would now allow the use
of range finding devices; the committee will review the decision and decide
whether to implement the local rule for the 2007 championships.
(2)
Men’s and Women’s Swimming and
Diving.
Accepted the follow-up information
provided regarding the process for distributing additional deck passes to
competing institutions. The
committee noted that a fee may be charged for additional deck passes, as long
as the Division III Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Committee
adheres to the policy of not allowing free admission to championships events.
(3)
Men’s Tennis. Approved the request for an increase in
the squad size from seven to eight and in the travel party from eight to nine. This request was accepted and moved
forward with the other budget considerations.
(4)
Women’s Tennis. Approved that a minimum of five dual
matches must be played in the spring to be considered for an at-large berth to
the Division III Women’s Tennis
(5)
Men’s and Women’s Track and Field.
(a) 2006
Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Regional Sites. Approved the following institutions to
serve as hosts for the 2006 regional sites:
(b)
Cross Country Field Expansion. Accepted the information that if the
proposed Division III Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championships
expansion to 32 teams and 56 individuals is approved, the championships allocations
would be as follows: sixteen teams would automatically qualify (two teams per
region); sixteen teams would be selected per the at-large selection criteria;
and 56 individuals would automatically qualify (seven per region).
(c)
Championships Internship Job Description. Accepted the job description with minor
changes for the proposed championships internships to assist with planning and
management of the championships. This
position was designed to assist host institutions in running the indoor and
outdoor track and field championships.
It will also assist those individuals who are interested in working in
event management and athletics administration by providing on-the-job learning
experiences.
(d)
Enhancement Feedback. Accepted the
feedback related to the student-athlete enhancement initiative that was
provided at the 2005 men’s and women’s cross country championships.
(6) Wrestling.
Approved an exception to the
qualifiers allocation criteria to allow the Division III Wrestling Committee
jurisdiction to reward a qualifying tournament more than the minimum number of
qualifiers that is provided by the formula.
j. Sports
Committee Appointments.
The committee
approved recommendations for
appointments to the following committees. All appointments will be effective
(1) Men’s
Basketball Rules Committee. Steve Moore, men’s basketball coach,
(2) Football
Rules Committee. Frank Carr, director of athletics,
(3) Men’s
and Women’s Ice Hockey Rules Committee. Michael Carroll, head ice
hockey coach,
(4) Women’s
Lacrosse Rules Committee. Reappoint Kathy Railey, coach,
(5) Playing
Rules Oversight Panel. Reappoint Donald Tencher, director of athletics,
(6) Women’s
Volleyball Rules Committee. Fran Vandermeer, head women’s volleyball
coach,
(7) Division
III Baseball Committee (two vacancies).
(8) Women’s
Bowling Committee. Frank Parisi, head bowling coach,
(9) Men’s
and Women’s Fencing Committee (one reappointment). Reappoint Sheryl
Sousa, director of athletics,
(10) Division III
Field Hockey Committee.
(11) Division
III Football Committee (three vacancies). East region: Michael DeLong, head football coach,
Eash,
associate director of athletics/head football coach,
(12) Division III
Men’s Golf Committee. Reappoint Stephen Campbell, coach, Salem State
College.
(13) Division III
Men’s Ice Hockey Committee. West region: Cory Borys, head ice hockey coach,
(14) Division III
Women’s Lacrosse Committee. West region: Susan Stuart, head women’s lacrosse
coach,
(15) Division III
Women’s Rowing Committee.
(16) Division III
Men’s Soccer Committee (immediate vacancy). Chris Apple, men’s
soccer coach,
(17) Division III
Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Committee. Kiki Jacobs
Moore, head women’s swimming coach, Washington and
(18) Division III
Men’s Tennis Committee. Eric Stacey, director of athletics,
(19) Division III
Women’s Tennis Committee. George Kolb, director of athletics,
(20) Division III
Women’s Volleyball Committee (two vacancies). South region: Edward Matthews, head volleyball coach,
(21) Men’s
Water Polo Committee. West region:
Michael Sutton, director of athletics, Claremont McKenna-Harvey
Mudd-Scripps Colleges.
(22) Division III
Wrestling Committee. Jonathan Laudenslager, head wrestling coach,
Committee
Chair: John Cochrane,
Staff
Liaisons: Kerri
Fagan, Championships
Tina
Krah, Championships
John Williams,