The Division II Management Council this week opposed two membership-sponsored proposals for the 2024 NCAA Convention. One proposal would impact the first permissible contest date in football, while the other would impact softball's championship and nonchampionship segments.
The Presidents Council will review and take positions on the membership-sponsored proposals at its Oct. 24-25 meeting in Indianapolis.
At the Division II business session of the 2024 Convention, there will be five proposals — two membership-sponsored proposals and three sponsored by the Division II Presidents Council — voted on via the division's one-school, one-vote legislative process. For a proposal from the Division II membership to be voted on at an NCAA Convention, it must have at least 15 active Division II schools or two Division II conferences on behalf of 15 or more of their member schools as sponsors.
Membership-sponsored proposals for 2024 Convention
The council opposed a membership-sponsored proposal that would permit schools to participate in their first football contest one week before the Thursday preceding Sept. 6.
The proposal, which will be voted on only by football-sponsoring schools and conferences and the Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee at the 2024 Convention, is sponsored by the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association, Gulf South Conference, Lone Star Conference and Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. (See the sponsors' rationale statement here.)
In its opposition, the council noted the following rationale points:
- Being contrary to the "Life in the Balance" philosophy.
- Concerns related to the student-athlete experience, including student-athletes feeling compelled to forgo participating in nonathletically related activities such as summer jobs and internships.
- The potential impact this proposal would have on administrators.
- The budget impact this proposal would have on schools, including having to potentially cut institutional programming (e.g., camps) short due to football teams returning early.
- Other possible solutions exist and may be preferrable to accomplish what the proposal is seeking to accomplish (e.g., playing 10 contests, adding a 12th week at the end of the football season and adjusting the postseason schedule to be played one week later).
(Note: Members of the council who are part of a conference or school that sponsored a proposal are permitted to take part in the discussion on the council's position but are required to recuse themselves from the vote on the position taken by the council for that proposal, per the council's policies.)
The council also opposed a membership-sponsored proposal that would limit softball's playing season to 56 contests (games and scrimmages) during the segment in which the NCAA championship is conducted and eight contests (games and scrimmages) during the nonchampionship segment.
This proposal is sponsored by Montana State Billings, the East Coast Conference, the Gulf South Conference, Albany State (Georgia), Metropolitan State University of Denver, Minnesota State Mankato, Union (Tennessee), Alabama Huntsville and West Alabama. (See the sponsors' rationale statement here.)
In its opposition, the Management Council noted the following rationale points:
- The impact it would have on the division's "Life in the Balance" philosophy.
- Softball's playing and practice seasons are legislated by the number of contests, whereas other sports (e.g., soccer during the nonchampionship segment and volleyball) are legislated by the dates of competition and, therefore, are not the same.
- All sports, except football, may currently participate in three discretionary exemptions during their playing season.
- Softball currently can participate in all 56 contests during both the nonchampionship and championship segments and, therefore, is not at a disadvantage.
- There is a potential disadvantage among schools that would be able to participate in the eight contests during the nonchampionship segment and those institutions that would be unable to participate in the eight contests during the nonchampionship segment due to weather challenges.
- The impact on athletic trainers and facilities staff.
(Note: Members of the council who are part of a conference or school that sponsored a proposal are permitted to take part in the discussion on the council's position but are required to recuse themselves from the vote on the position taken by the council for that proposal, per the council's policies.)
2025 NCAA Convention proposals
The Management Council recommended the Presidents Council sponsor a pair of proposals for the 2025 NCAA Convention.
One concept would eliminate legislation around progress-toward-degree requirements to simplify the certification process. Specifically, the concept would eliminate the requirement that a student-athlete must earn at least 18 semester or 27 quarter hours of academic credit during the regular academic year.Eliminating the legislation would simplify the certification process without jeopardizing the overall academic success of a student-athlete since the student-athlete would still be required to meet the term-by-term, annual credit-hour and grade-point average requirements. Based on a review of the 2022 Academic Performance Census data, 96% of student-athletes from semester schools who satisfied the term-by-term requirement in their spring semester also satisfied the 18-semester-hour requirement. Further, 98% of student-athletes from quarter schools who satisfied the term-by-term requirement in their spring quarter also satisfied the 27-quarter-hour requirement.
Another concept the Management Council recommended the Presidents Council sponsor for the 2025 Convention would eliminate the requirement that a qualifier who is a two-year college transfer must earn transferrable credit hours in English, math and science. The Division II Academic Requirements Committee, which recommended the concept, thinks that two-year college transfer students who are qualifiers have already displayed their academic readiness through completion of core courses while enrolled in high school, and eliminating the requirement would simplify transfer certification for qualifiers. Qualifiers still would need to satisfy the remaining two-year college transfer requirements (e.g., an average of at least 12 semester or 12 quarter hours of transferable credit each full-time term, 2.20 transferable GPA).
