NCAA DIVISION III CHAMPIONSHIPS COMMITTEE

Summary of Recommendations

PRESIDENTS COUNCIL ACTION ITEMS

1.	ISSUE:	NCAA Convention Legislation Regarding Automatic Qualification (AQ) Principles for Team Sports.
Committee Recommendation:
	Sponsor legislation for the 2003 Convention to amend NCAA Bylaw 31.3.4 (automatic qualification) to adopt Model D as outlined in the April 15 membership survey regarding the automatic qualification (AQ) principles and other championships initiatives with a 1:6.5 access ratio. Implementation of the process should be effective as soon as fiscally and practically possible. [Attachment]
Management Council Recommendation:
	Sponsor legislation for the 2003 NCAA Convention to amend Bylaw 31.3.4 with an effective date of August 1, 2005, and fund the enhancement through the Division III reserves for 2005-06. The Council noted: (a) Commitment to established AQ principles, recognizing the importance of access. (b) Membership interest as expressed in recent championships survey. (c) Role of reserve. (d) August 1, 2005, effective date of similar membership-sponsored proposal (Proposal No. 4 Supplement No. 27). (e) Importance of funding existing programs as part of the work of the Division III Initiatives Task Force and desire to avoid potential conflict between championships and nonchampionships initiatives.
2.	ISSUE:	Establish Women’s Bowling Championship and Committee.
Committee Recommendation:
	Sponsor legislation for the 2003 Convention to establish an eight-team (nine members each) National Collegiate Women’s Bowling Championship (10-pin) to commence with the 2003-04 academic year. Additionally, to create a six-member National Collegiate Women’s Bowling Committee.
Management Council Recommendation:
	Sponsor legislation for 2003 Convention.

3.	ISSUE:	AQ Principles – Definition of a Region.
Committee Recommendation:
	Implement a change in the definition of what constitutes in-region play to include the current sport regions, plus a 200-mile radius for each institution, effective with 2003-04 academic year.
Management Council Recommendation:
	Approve the recommendation, noting the importance of a software program (e.g., MapQuest) to provide consistency in determining 200-mile radius for each institution.
4.	ISSUE:	AQ Principles – Minimum Pool C Berths.
Committee Recommendation:
	Increase the men’s lacrosse, women’s lacrosse and women’s ice hockey brackets by one each in order to accommodate minimum (two berths) access in Pool C, effective with the 2002-03 academic year. The addition of one berth equates to the following bracket sizes: Men’s Lacrosse (17), Women’s Lacrosse (19) and Women’s Ice Hockey (7).
Management Council Recommendation:
	Approve the recommendation, noting $40,000 budget impact. [Council previously adopted principle of two berths in Pool C.]

ACTION ITEMS – MANAGEMENT COUNCIL ONLY

1.	ISSUE:	Selected Individual-Team Sports (Cross Country, Golf, Tennis) – AQ Principles and Selection Process.
Committee Recommendation:
	Sponsor legislation for each sport (cross country, golf, tennis), noting that the AQ principles would be applied consistent with the principles established for the team sports. The committee does not recommend sponsorship prior to the 2004 Convention in order to gain additional feedback from the sport communities, inasmuch as the elimination of the individual championships is significant.

Management Council Action:
	Remand back to the committee for further study and possible legislation for 2004, noting that the application of AQ principles should be addressed separately for each sport (cross country, golf, tennis), as well as the possible elimination of each individual championship.
2.	ISSUE:	Sports Committee Appointments.
Committee Recommendation:
	Approve the following sports committee appointments. (a) Women’s Basketball – Amy Buxbaum, senior woman administrator/coach at Juniata College, Middle Atlantic region; (b) Field Hockey – Penny Kempf, senior woman administrator/coach at Rowan University, South Atlantic region; (c) Women’s Soccer – Jen Scanlon, coach at Kenyon College, Great Lakes region; (d) Women’s Volleyball – Jennifer McDowell, associate director of athletics/coach at Emory University, South region; and (e) Men’s and Women’s Ice Hockey Rules – John Harrington, coach at Saint John’s University, representing Division III men’s interest.
Management Council Action:
	Approved the appointments.
3.	ISSUE:	Secretary Rules Editor Term Limits (Bylaw 21.2.1.1.1).
Committee Recommendation:
	Sponsor noncontroverisal legislation to amend Bylaw 21.2.1.1.1 to establish a term limit of eight years for secretary-rules editors serving on sports rules committees. Further, to establish a waiver (Bylaw 21.2.1.1.1) that, under extenuating circumstances, would allow a secretary-rules editor’s eight-year term limit to be extended by a maximum of four additional years. The term limit of eight years would begin when the current secretary rules editor terms are completed.

Management Council Action:
	Agreed to adopt noncontroversial legislation to amend Bylaw 21.2.1.1.1.
4.	ISSUE:	Executive Committee-Appointed Playing Rules Group.
Committee Recommendation:
	Approve the creation of an Association-wide playing rules oversight panel appointed by the Executive Committee to resolve proposals involving player safety, financial impact or image of the game that do not have unanimous Division I, II or III support and to provide counsel to the staff about playing-rules issues. The committee further recommends: (a) Term limits. (b) Composition requirements consistent with other Association-wide groups. (c) Expanded role to include discussion about rules implementation and process.
Management Council Action:
	Agreed to adopt noncontroversial legislation and report action to the Executive Committee.
5.	ISSUE:	Soccer Rules Committee.
Committee Recommendation:
	Approve the soccer overtime procedures, which provide that two 45-minutes halves will be played in regulation, followed by two 10-minute sudden victory overtimes during the regular season. In all postseason games, including play-ins, conference tournaments and NCAA championships, penalty kicks will follow the overtimes. The team that scores the most penalty kicks will be considered the winner for all purposes, including the team record.
Management Council Action:
	Approved the recommendation.

6.	ISSUE:	Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sport (CSMAS) – Medical Consultant Extension of Term.
Committee Recommendation:
	Approve that Bryan Smith be retained as the NCAA CSMAS medical consultant to the Football Study Oversight Committee and NCAA Football Rules Committee for one year following his committee term completion.
Management Council Action:
	Previously approved the recommendation. (See Supplement No. 3.)
7.	ISSUE:	Men’s Gymnastics Committee Composition.
Committee Recommendation:
	Approve the elimination of the divisional and subdivisional requirements for the composition of the men’s gymnastics committee.

Management Council Action:
	Approved the recommendation.
8.	ISSUE:	Proposed Change to Bylaw 31.3.4.1 (Automatic Qualification – General Requirements).
Committee Recommendation:
	Revise executive regulation Bylaw 31.3.4.1-(a) effective immediately as follows: “Conference competition must be conducted in the applicable sport, and the conference champion in that sport must be determined not later than 6 p.m., local time of the competition on the date on which participants are selected for the NCAA championship, either by regular in-season conference competition or a conference meet or tournament, as indicated at the time of application. If a conference’s competition to determine its automatic qualifier is unexpectedly terminated (e.g., due to inclement weather), the conference may designate its qualifier, provided it has established objective criteria for making that designation and has communicated that information to the appropriate sports committee by a specified deadline.”

Management Council Action:
	Approved the recommendation as amended to include: "The national committee has the authority to extend the deadline up to midnight local time on selection day for extenuating circumstances (e.g., weather, equipment)."
9.	ISSUE:	Allegheny Mountain Conference Waiver Request [Bylaw 31.3.4.2-(a)].
Committee Recommendation:
	Deny the Allegheny Mountain Conference’s waiver request of Bylaw 31.3.4.2-(a) specifying that a qualifying conference must have: “Been a member conference of the Association for two consecutive academic years.”
Management Council Action:
	Approved the recommendation to deny waiver request, noting that the Championships Committee has authority to handle such waiver requests.
10.	ISSUE:	The Apprentice School, Newport News Shipbuilding.
Committee Recommendation:
	Remand to the Membership Committee for research, analysis and a ruling on the status and privileges of the Apprentice School as a corresponding member. The committee requests specific direction as it relates to NCAA member institutions scheduling contests against the Apprentice School and counting those contests for the purposes of championship selection.
Management Council Action:
	Referred the recommendation to the Membership Committee.
11.	ISSUE:	Revised Process for Late Submission of Request-for-Reimbursement Forms.
Committee Recommendation:
	The committee recommends the following changes in the procedures for championships travel and per diem reimbursement: (a) Letters will be sent to “outstanding” schools within 30 days after the end of the championship. All forms are to be returned by the date on the letter or the minimum per diem will be paid to each institution. (b) After the minimum per diem is paid to the institution, the institution will have an additional 15 days (up to 45 from the end of the championship) to submit ground transportation expenses if not already submitted (no per diem will be provided beyond the minimum at this point). If the letter is not postmarked within 45 days of the last day of the championship, no additional reimbursement will be provided. (c) Teams that have received approval to travel by air would continue to be covered in full since it is directly billed to the NCAA and it has been paid in full by the time the aforementioned process has occurred.
Management Council Action:
	Approved the recommendation.
12.	ISSUE:	400 to 500 Mile and Hub Airport Travel Policies.
Committee Recommendation:
	Maintain the 400 to 500 mile and hub airport travel policies for a complete two-year cycle for all championship seasons and review the policies and feedback received at the committee’s January 2004 meeting in order to have more complete information.
Management Council Action:
	Approved the recommendation.

ITEMS OF INFORMATION

1.	ISSUE:	Skiing Committee Composition.
Committee Recommendation:
	Deferred action, pending committee feedback on composition exception (Bylaw 21.3.1.2) on the recommendation to sponsor legislation to amend Bylaw 21.3.5 to specify that the composition of the Men’s and Women’s Skiing Committee shall include two coaches who represent alpine skiing and two coaches who represent Nordic skiing; further, to specify that the secretary-rules editor may be counted toward meeting this requirement.
Management Council Action:
	Accepted the information.

2.	ISSUE:	Sports Committee Recommendation (Field Hockey Committee).
Committee Action:
	Approved that the NCAA Division III Field Hockey Championship continue to be held at a predetermined site and asked the committee to provide a report after the second year of implementation.
Management Council Action:
	Accepted the information.
3.	ISSUE:	Sports Committee Recommendation (Football Committee).
Committee Action:
	(1) Pairing Policies. Clarified that while some exceptions to pairing policies were provided when the automatic qualification principles were originally adopted, that all sports committees in the future will be required to follow established pairing policies outlined by the committee. The specific clarification provides that teams may be given byes, or may be paired according to seed as long as geographic proximity is maintained. (2) Ground Transportation. Tabled a recommendation that the NCAA provide ground transportation reimbursement to institutions that travel by air to championship sites and will request that the NCAA’s accounting staff provide information about the cost of such a proposal for all sports.
Management Council Action:
	Accepted the information.
4.	ISSUE:	Sports Committee Recommendation (Men’s and Women’s Soccer Committees).
Committee Action:
	Approved on a two-year trial basis, guidelines for institutions advancing both a men’s and women’s team into the championship beginning with the 2002 championship to eliminate potential conflicts created by hosting both championship events at the same time. As a point of information, the 2002 championship is the first time both championships will be conducted over the same dates per the approved format and date change approved in 2001. The guidelines provide an odd-even year rotation. After the two-year trial, the soccer committees will report back to the Championships Committee about the policy’s success and feedback received from the membership.
Management Council Action:
	Accepted the information.
5.	ISSUE:	Sports Committee Recommendation (Women’s Volleyball Committee).
Committee Action:
	Reaffirmed the current prioritized site selection criteria and clarified that while quality and availability of the facility and necessary accommodations are listed first, that it does not mean that the sites with the best facilities are those that would necessarily be selected, but rather, that minimum hosting requirements outlined by the sports committee and approved by the Championships Committee are appropriate when evaluating the first criteria.
Management Council Action:
	Accepted the information.
6.	ISSUE:	Sports Committee Recommendation (Wrestling Committee).
Committee Action:
	(1) Random Draw. Approved the elimination of a random draw to determine which weight class wrestles first during the championships. In 2001, the Wrestling Committee recommended that the random draw be conducted, but subsequent to its approval learned from coaches that this mechanism was not in the best interest of the sport. Additionally, the Wrestling Committee informed the Championships Committee that the Committee on Competitive Safeguards supports the new recommendation. (2) Regular Season Penalty Structure. Denied the recommendation that a list of penalties, outlined in the committee’s recommendation, be imposed for any regular-season rules violation that does not already have a specific penalty imposed in the penalty table of the NCAA Wrestling Rules and Interpretations book. The Championships Committee recommended that the Wrestling Committee consider stating that competition not conducted in accordance with the rules may not be used for the purposes of selection to the championships. The committee further expressed concern with the implications of such a structure for sports committee and championships staff, in that those bodies were not designed to be an enforcement arm; and, the implications for staff if other rules bodies were to adopt a similar process. Finally, the committee recommended that legal counsel and the Committee on Competitive Safeguards be consulted about such a recommendation in that they are two bodies integrally involved in the oversight of matters of litigation and health and safety issues.
Management Council Action:
	Accepted the information.