D3 Proposals at the 2019 NCAA Convention

[Ron Boerger]

More here:  https://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/media-center/news/2019-convention-legislation-division-iii

1.   NCAA Board of Governors (supported by D3 Presidents Council and D3 SAAC)
• Add five independent voting members to the Board of Governors, increasing its size from 20 to 25.
• Define an independent member.
• Limit independent members to no more than two three-year terms.
• The Board of Governors would solicit nominations to fill vacancies and would serve as the final authority for the selection of independent members.

2019-2: Establish new football start date (supported by D3 SAAC)
• Establish first permissible practice date 23 days before an institution's first contest.
• Prohibit physical athletically related activity one day each week of the preseason after five-day acclimatization period.

2019-2-1: Establish new football start date (amendment relevant to Thursday contests) (supported by D3 SAAC)
• Establish that the first permissible practice date for an institution that conducts its first contest on the Thursday of the opening weekend is 23 days before the following Friday.

2019-3: Establish three-day acclimatization period in field hockey and soccer (OPPOSED by D3 Presidents Council, Management Council, SAAC)
• Add three additional days to preseason practice period.
• Require first three days of the preseason practice period to be used for acclimatization.
• On every preseason practice day after acclimatization, limit teams to two practices (of no more than six combined hours, with at least three hours of rest between practices).

2019-4: Mandatory student-athlete graduation rate reporting (supported by D3 SAAC)
• Require institutions to submit annual student-athlete graduation rate data.

2019-5: Permit pre-enrollment educational expenses (supported by D3 SAAC)
• Permit prospective student-athletes to receive educational expenses before college from any individual or entity other than an agent, professional sports team or representative of an institution's athletics interests.
• Those funds must have been dispersed directly through the recipient's educational institution (e.g., high school or prep school).

2019-6: Expand exemption regarding experiential learning requirement (supported by D3 SAAC)
• Apply exception to the full-time enrollment requirement for student-athletes in their final term who are carrying all courses needed to complete their degree, but have a pending experiential learning requirement (e.g., internship for course credit).

2019-7: Deregulate social media restrictions (supported by D3 SAAC)
• Permit athletics department staff to connect with (e.g., friend, follow) prospective student-athletes via social media.
• Permit athletics department staff to take actions that indicate approval (e.g., "like," "favorite") regarding content prospective student-athletes produce on social media platforms.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

The NCAA votes on a new Board of Governors composition this evening. All three divisions have to approve plan. This gives Division III an opportunity (w/Division II) to leverage for something better.

I have a couple of ideas, if it's not too late: bit.ly/2Huo4tV

[fantastic50]

As an update...

#1 (NCAA BoG additional members) passed by a wide margin, but with 200+ "no" votes (some from within D3)
#2 (football practice start date) passed, with the amendment related to Thursday openers
#3 (soccer & field hockey start date) was sent back to committee
#4, #5, #6 passed with very little opposition
#7 (deregulation of social media) passed, as well

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

I was surprised the soccer/field hockey was sent back to committee and not just overwhelmingly voted down. That was destined to fail especially when the SAAC didn't support it.

[Ron Boerger]

The graduation rate reporting could be interesting on any number of levels.   D3 being what it is, it's surprising that it took this long to come to the fore.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

The graduation rate reporting could be interesting on any number of levels.   D3 being what it is, it's surprising that it took this long to come to the fore.

It is surprising it took this long to become mandatory, but at the same time I'm not surprised they didn't dictate something like this. That doesn't tend to be the DIII way - to force a school to basically spend money to put a report like this together. It isn't like that's just an option on a computer ... I don't think.

[Oline89]

The graduation rate reporting could be interesting on any number of levels.   D3 being what it is, it's surprising that it took this long to come to the fore.

It is surprising it took this long to become mandatory, but at the same time I'm not surprised they didn't dictate something like this. That doesn't tend to be the DIII way - to force a school to basically spend money to put a report like this together. It isn't like that's just an option on a computer ... I don't think.

If I read this correctly, the data will not be released to the public.  It is just going to be used by member institutions to compare "best practices" to improve graduation rates.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

The graduation rate reporting could be interesting on any number of levels.   D3 being what it is, it's surprising that it took this long to come to the fore.

It is surprising it took this long to become mandatory, but at the same time I'm not surprised they didn't dictate something like this. That doesn't tend to be the DIII way - to force a school to basically spend money to put a report like this together. It isn't like that's just an option on a computer ... I don't think.

If I read this correctly, the data will not be released to the public.  It is just going to be used by member institutions to compare "best practices" to improve graduation rates.

Yeah. I think public information would be interesting, but it also will help the division be sure schools are staying on the up-and-up - is my theory.

I am not sure I'm interested in knowing the grad numbers. I know that in D1 they are screwed up - only allowing it to count if they graduate within five years and ignoring those who end up graduating at a later date (there are very good reasons for delays).

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

The graduation rate reporting could be interesting on any number of levels.   D3 being what it is, it's surprising that it took this long to come to the fore.

It is surprising it took this long to become mandatory, but at the same time I'm not surprised they didn't dictate something like this. That doesn't tend to be the DIII way - to force a school to basically spend money to put a report like this together. It isn't like that's just an option on a computer ... I don't think.

If I read this correctly, the data will not be released to the public.  It is just going to be used by member institutions to compare "best practices" to improve graduation rates.

Yeah. I think public information would be interesting, but it also will help the division be sure schools are staying on the up-and-up - is my theory.

I am not sure I'm interested in knowing the grad numbers. I know that in D1 they are screwed up - only allowing it to count if they graduate within five years and ignoring those who end up graduating at a later date (there are very good reasons for delays).

They've made some changes to the initial D1 number to account for early draft entry guys.  I've always said it should just be a "graduation pace" number, rather than a graduation number.  Does a SA have the classes an average student with the same number of semesters would have in the process for graduation?

This was a bigger problem in D1, because some schools were basically putting SAs in 100 level courses across the board, so they'd have 100 credits after three years, but wouldn't be anywhere near graduation pace - or those who took the minimum for full-time status and then never made up the difference in the summer.

Not having scholarships creates A LOT for variables for d3, but it shouldn't be too hard to figure out "Did our SAs take and pace the courses they'd need for graduation given the number of semesters they've been in school?"