The Division III Presidents Council, during its virtual meeting Wednesday, approved the proposed council rotation recommended by the Nominating Committee and endorsed by the Management Council.
The membership adopted Proposal 2023-7 to ensure that each Division III multisport conference will have one representative on either the Presidents Council or the Management Council and that the conference's slot on either will alternate accordingly. The Nominating Committee will begin soliciting nominations in early May to fill the new council openings effective Aug. 1.
Athletic Training Working Group recommendations
The council received an update from the Athletic Training Working Group with an initial set of recommendations revolving around three areas — culture and communication, workload, and work-life balance. The working group selected these areas because of feedback heard through surveys and the Division III Issues Forum at the 2024 NCAA Convention.
Outside reviews
Consultants from Lewis Rice and Deloitte provided the council with updates on reviews of the Enrichment Fund and Division III's finances, respectively. Both reviews are ongoing, and full results will be shared with Division III governance upon completion.
"It was enlightening to hear Deloitte's initial findings from their review of Division III's finances," said Jim Troha, chair of the Presidents Council and president at Juniata. "Gaining an outside perspective on several opportunities for the division to refine and grow the brand and increase revenue will help cultivate future opportunities for student-athletes and institutions."
Former student-athlete representative on the Board of Governors
Per its policies, the Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee oversaw the nomination process to select the new Division III former student-athlete representative to the NCAA Board of Governors. From a divisionwide nomination process that included 16 nominees, SAAC recommended and the council approved former Central (Iowa) football student-athlete Greg Ricketts to serve a two-year term beginning in August on the Board of Governors as the Division III former student-athlete representative.
Other key discussion topics
- Division III's Board of Governors representative and Springfield President Mary-Beth Cooper solicited feedback from the council on several topics being discussed by the Board of Governors. This included discussions regarding the NCAA's transgender student-athlete participation policy, penalties for schools that do not submit sexual violence attestation forms, efforts with congressional engagement and more.
- NCAA President Charlie Baker joined the council to discuss the Association's current work in sports betting, building a database of fans and using the Association's purchasing collective.
