SUMMARY OF ACTIONS
CACC FACULTY ATHLETIC REP MEETING
Friday, October 12, 2012 – 10:00AM
Felician College – Ablin Obal Hall Board Room
Present:
CACC Staff: Commissioner, Dan Mara; Associate Commissioner, Ellen O’Brien
Bloomfield: Dr. Debra Curtis
Caldwell: Dr.Patrick Sime
Chestnut Hill: Lynn Brandsma
Concordia: John Bahr
Dominican: Jim Crawley
Felician: Dr. Alfredo Castro
Georgian Court: Dr. Timothy Briles
Goldey-Beacom: Not in attendance
Holy Family: Dr. Art Grugan
Nyack: Jonathon Gates
Philadelphia: Dr. John Pierce
Post: Deron Grabel
Sciences: Vincent Willey
Wilmington: Dr. Clint Robertson (Chair)
I. Introductions
- Dr. Clint Robertson – Clint was voted to be this year’s FAR Chair at the spring meeting.
- Commissioner Dan Mara introduced the newest CACC FAR, Deron Grabel (Post University), who has replaced Charles Kelly.
- Commissioner Dan Mara updated the group on the passing of Post student-athlete, Rob Roman. A moment of silence was observed by the group to honor Rob.
II. Review of minutes from March 30, 2012 FAR Meeting (Attachment #1)
- Dr. Clint Robertson motioned to approve the minutes from March 30th; Vince Willey seconded; Approved: 12-0-1.
III. Review Directors Council and Presidents Council meetings (Attachment #2A-D)
- Dr. Clint Robertson reported that the Presidents enjoyed hearing about what the FARs do at different schools and various activities. Clint that if any FARs have issues or ideas to please share them so they can be passed on to the President’s Council.
- Commissioner Mara reported that the Presidents are getting more involved as a group and are utilizing each other to gather data to present to the Board and to support athletics.
- The President’s Council has put together a committee, which Associate Commissioner, Ellen O’Brien is chairing, to explore the White Paper and potential changes in academic requirements. They want to look at the White Paper from a CACC perspective and see what impact a change would have on our schools.
- The President’s Council is also in the process of establishing an assessment. Every 5 years, institutions must submit an ISSG (Institutional Self-Study Guide) – We will be using the ISSG schedule in conjunction with established CACC visitation teams to come in and look at individual athletic programs. It will be a one day visit for the group to serve an outside evaluator, exploring how other institutions operate. This is a non-punitive assessment. The teams will be made up of conference staff members and member institution staff (not just athletics), as nominated by the Presidents. Concordia was the only school that submitted an ISSG last year, therefore they will be the first host of the assessment team in Spring 2013.
- The President’s have overseen the establishment of a Communication’s Task Force, as well, in efforts to use the conference as a marketing tool.
IV. Commissioners Update – Dan Mara
- Commissioner Mara explained that last year we ran a Title IX workshop for all staff members to attend. We are looking to run a similar program or workshop this year that would also be open to other department staff on campus. We may be looking to the EADA (Equity in Athletics Data Analysis) report as a potential topic to explore. The EADA is a federal report due by each coed school each year, regarding athletics funding.
- Every sport but Cross-Country has a banquet at their respective CACC Championship. Now, the ADs have agreed to have pre-tournament banquets rather than having losing teams wait around after the games are over. The only exceptions are Volleyball, who has a luncheon because they play on a Friday night. Cross-Country, because of the vast differences in food preferences for runners, instead, they receive shoe bags, long sleeve t-shirts, and a bag lunch post-race.
- Ellen O’Brien is our new Associate Commissioner. David Smith has filled the new role of Internal Operations. David takes care of everything from bookkeeping to cutting checks and helping out with the NLI program. This brings the CACC staff to 4 people, demonstrating continued growth in line with Conference expansion.
V. Division II Update (Handout at Meeting)
- 2011-12 is the latest facts and figures document prepared by the NCAA regarding membership, etc.
- The first important number to pay attention to is 310 – The total number of Division II members, which demonstrates a 70 member increase since 2004. DII has finally become a destination rather than a holding tank. We used to lose a lot of schools to Division I, and still do, but we are much more solid and stable now. Our region is different from others in DII because out of the 40 schools in our region, 37 are private. Application to DI costs over $1 million because they do not want any additional members. Getting too big and adding too many members has also become a DII concern. The new goal that the Membership Committee is aiming for is keeping new membership numbers down. The strategic growth plan projects us having 360 members in 2024 (50 schools added in 12 years). The plan also projects us having 26 conferences in 2024—We are at 23 now and will be at 24 once the provisional conference completes the process. The PSAC just added two schools (Spring Hill and Pitt Johnstown, bringing them to 18 schools); NE10 has 16. The West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference will no longer exist after this year.
- Growth is a blessing and a curse for Division II. Division II gets 4.37% of every penny that comes into the NCAA. Each school here gets a check from the NCAA for $6-7,000 on an annual basis. We get about $134,000 from the NCAA as a conference and use that money to distribute to member schools for certain grant initiatives.
- 98% of NCAA revenues come from March Madness, which certainly exceeded expectations. March Madness essentially funds the 88 other NCAA championships (Per diem for each student-athlete participating in each championship is $80). Since the NCAA makes no profit from DI Football, DI basketball is vital. The NCAA has tightened its belt, cutting back on committee travel, etc.
- Sports sponsorships: We fit in the 2499 and below enrollment category, but DII does have outliers with institutions that have over 15,000 students. Some conferences have 24-26 sports, while we range from 10-17 sports. Georgian Court will be over 10 once they begin admitting male students and become coeducational. They are adding 4 men’s sports, which is great for the conference scheduling.
- 2014 is the 40 anniversary of Division II. The basic premise of DII has not changed—There is still a great emphasis on the “balance.”
- There is a concern that marijuana use has increased in DII student-athletes. A project team has been created that will develop strategy to deter marijuana use. DII had more cases of marijuana use as exposed by testing than DI and DIII had combined. The penalty for a positive test is a one year suspension from athletics.
- The 2013 Winter Championship sports festival has been moved from Cleveland to Birmingham.
- Path to graduation: 2006 cohort was explored: If you had a 2.2GPA in HS, you have a significantly higher chance of graduating from college. If you had a 2.5GPA you have a very strong chance of graduating from college. This data was shown to the Presidents and they felt that a 2.2gpa in 14 core courses would be a good standard. Emphasis and attention is being placed on Junior College graduates who seek enrollment at our institutions. DI is increasing the GPA standard for Junior College graduates. DII Presidents discussed this idea and it was not highly favored. May also implement standards regarding which courses are accepted (limited Physical Education credits). Two years ago the Division II emphasis was on the Balance; then Ease of Burden; and, now, Path to Graduation.
- Championship selection criteria needs to be consistent from sport to sport. Some regional advisory committees look at material differently than others, depending on the sport. The NCAA is trying to clean this up.
- SAAC members can attend a workshop in April (NCAA will pay for 3-4 people from our conference – SAAC advisors and student-athletes).
- Assessment of the student-athlete experience is being reviewed at a National level. Exit interviews suggest that 95% of graduated DII student-athletes would recommend the DII experience.
VI. 2013 NCAA Legislation – Ellen O’Brien (Attachment #3)
- 2-1: An institution located in Mexico may join division II—Meaning the Canadian pilot program will now be expanded to include institutions in Mexico – This program was adopted in 2008 and will expire in 2018. Institutions must be accepted into the 3 year membership process and successfully complete the process before becoming active members. But, if any of the participating schools do become members during the pilot program, they will remain active members even after the program expires in 2018.
- Dan Mara: This legislation is permissive – Institutions would not have to travel to exico, but Mexican institutions could travel to compete against U.S. institutions. One Mexican school (Monteray Tech) is very strong and already has U.S. accreditation. Simon Fraser has recently joined DII. The membership process is only 3 years long, while accreditation can take 10-15 years. Simon Fraser has provisional accreditation now and will be fully accredited at some point, but they have been told they cannot host any post season tournament because of travel issues. DII is currently the only division that allows non-U.S. institutions to be members. The University of British Colombia looked at the process and decided against it because Division II does not sponsor Ice Hockey. The Mexican government is backing the process and is already involved—They have a strong interest in having NCAA schools.
- 2-8: Allow an institution to subscribe to recruiting or scouting services that provide nonscholastic video. Current legislation prohibits recruiting and scouting services from providing nonscholastic competition video unless it is free and available to the public. But, since some sports exist primarily or exclusively in a nonscholastic environment (gymnastics, golf), there is little nonscholastic video available. This would particularly benefit the coaches who have limited recruiting budgets as they would have greater opportunity to view film on prospective student-athletes.
- 2-9 and 2-11: Both of these proposals have to do with nontraditional courses, which the NCAA defines as distance learning, correspondence, extension, internet/virtual courses, independent study or any other course or credit that is not earned in a face-to-face classroom environment with regular interaction between the instructor and student.
- 2-9: Specifies that enrollment in a nontraditional course offered by the certifying institution may be used to satisfy the full time enrollment requirement for competition as long as certain conditions are met.
- 2-11: Specifies that nontraditional courses completed at an institution other than the certifying institution may be used to meet progress toward degree requirements, as long as certain conditions are met.
- 2-10: Specifies that during a student athlete’s initial year of collegiate enrollment, participation in preseason exhibition contest or dates of competition and preseason scrimmages shall not result in the use of a season of competition. This legislation would align with DI and DIII legislation on the matter.
- Example: If a student-athlete enrolls at an institution to play soccer, participates in a scrimmage and then gets cut from the team, they would have used a season of competition. This proposal takes exception to these scenarios and would save that season of competition as long as the participation occurred in the S-A’s first year of collegiate enrollment and occurs before the first countable contest.
- 2-12: Specifies that a student-athlete shall not participate in any countable athletically related activities for a 14 consecutive calendar day period following an institutions FINAL contest or date of competition in the segment that concludes with the NCAA championship. The 2011 proposal created a legislated break that was defined as the time a team or individual concludes the regular season through the end of the DII or national collegiate championship. The length of that break would depend on when an institution concluded their regular season. This new proposal offers consistency among institutions and ensures that student- athletes will be provided a sufficient break for recovery, regardless of how far they make it in the post season.
VII. CACC Strategic Plan 2012-15 (Attachment #4)
- The CACC developed a plan for 2009-2012 that is structured in the same manner as the NCAA strategic plan. The updated plan was approved at the June President’s meeting.
- Funding is available for CPR and first aid certifications. Not all coaches need to be certified, but, at least one certified coach must be present at practices, etc.
VIII. CACC Communications Plan (Attachment #5)
a. The President’s Council composed a committee and charged them with making a communications plan to help use the conference as a marketing tool.
b. The CACC has a broad range of coverage, geographically. We have had success with “The Patch,” which is a web-based company who posts any release that we send them—This has been great because it directs hits back to Conference and member Institutions’ websites.
c. Some of the items in the communications plan are institutional-based (ie. Community outreach/ rec centers).
d. The CACC is working on producing a video to use on our website, featuring student-athletes who have chosen the CACC, etc.
e. Georgian Court chose a student-athlete to be featured in, “A Day in the Life,” video—Received very well! This type of thing shows that our student-athletes are indeed STUDENT-athletes.
f. The CACC website has recently been redesigned (Presto redesigns every 3 years). Our costs were cut in half because we get $250 subtracted from expenses for each member school that uses Presto sports.
IX. NCAA Membership Grant Report (Attachment #6)
a. The grant program is broken down in the same way the Strategic Plan is structured. The CACC is given money based on the number of schools we have, as well as the number of championships we sponsor. At least 10% of these funds must be dedicated to each of the 5 SPOs (Strategic Positioning Initiatives).
i. SPO-1 (Academic and Lifeskills):
1. As a conference, we dedicate more than any other conference to Needy-student funds, degree completion, and summer schools grants ($26,000). The Needy-student grant is administered by Ellen and several other representatives to determine which requests are granted. We fund attendance and travel to SAAC meetings ($2, 000); We fund tutoring on campus ($10,000); We fund computers and software for student athletes ($14,000).