WELCOME to the 2008 Foresight Committee Compliance Corner!

Welcome to Compliance Corner – the official WBCA publication for Division I legislation! In collaboration with the NCAA membership services staff, this publication will be distributed on a quarterly basis and will contain NCAA Division I legislative news and notes affecting women’s basketball, recruiting basics, questions from our coaches, Q & A, and other legislative information you need to know. The primary purpose of this publication is to help our coaches navigate the complexity of NCAA bylaws and legislation and serve as a quick and convenient reference. However, in this issue, we are covering the issues submitted from you, the WBCA DI members to the WBCA Foresight Committee. Previous issues of Compliance Corner can be found on our website wbca.org under DI Legislation.Feel free to offer any suggestions or feedback to make this tool more useful. We encourage you to contact your compliance officers on campus with any questions.

Thank you,
WBCA
From the News Front

Division I Business Meeting in Tampa

  •  The WBCA DI Business Meeting will be held on Monday, April 7, 2008 beginning at 8:30 a.m. Members of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Committee will present for the first hour.
  • Following the Russell Athletic/WBCA National Coach of the Year Luncheon the DI Business meeting will resume with presentation of newly adopted legislation and then issues voting.
  • Voting is one vote per institution and head coach must be present to vote or have transferred voting rights, in writing, to a staff member prior to March 19, 2008.
  • New issues submitted during the March 10-March 18 window will be added to the following list of issues and voted on if applicable.

2007-2008 NCAA Division I Legislation

  •  All women’s basketball related legislative proposals that were submitted in the 2007-08 NCAA legislative cycle have been updated based on actions at the January Division I Management Council and Board of Directors meetings. Those actions are located on the wbca website at wbca.org under Legislation.
  • Proposals that were adopted in January by the NCAA Division I Board of Directors are in a 60-day override period from January 15-March 14, 2008. This is the same comment/amendment period for those proposals that were initially approved by the Management Council and their January meeting and will be voted on by the NCAA Management Council then Board of Director’s in April.
  • The NCAA Division I legislation submission deadline for 2008-09 proposals is July 15.

NCAA Settlement
The court has granted preliminary approval to the settlement agreement in a federal antitrust lawsuit that would benefit current and former student-athletes through a restructuring of assistance funds. The White Case argued that limiting student-athlete grants-in-aid tuition, room and board and books amounted to a restriction of trade.

“The NCAA believes the full-ride scholarship currently offered is appropriate for the majority of student-athletes, but we recognize there may be some student-athletes whose needs are still not met, despite access to Pell Grants and other need-based aid. By adjusting the rules regarding access to the hundreds of millions of dollars in aid scheduled to be made available for student-athletes over the next several years, it is the NCAA’s intention to help meet any true additional needs of its student-athletes. [Full Release]

WBCA Foresight Committee
The WBCA sent a letter dated February 18, 2008 to all Division I athletic directors and Division I conference commissioners. The letter explained the purpose of the Foresight Committee and asked for their support of the process and their respective coaches’ attendance at the DI Business Meeting during the WBCA National Convention in Tampa, Florida April 4-9.

WBCA High School All-America Game
Coaches are permitted to attend a single basketball event selected at the discretion of the institution, certified by the NCAA and held in conjunction with and conducted within a 30-mile radius of the championship site and host city of the NCAA DI Women’s Basketball Championship. Limited to one per institution and available for ALL coaching staff members. Members are precluded from in-person face-to-face contacts with psa’s during such events. The WBCA High School All-America Game presented by Nike has been certified and held on Saturday, April 5 at University of South Florida.

Spring Non-Scholastic Events
Division I coaches are permitted to evaluate nonscholastic women’s basketball certified events Friday, April 18 through Sunday, April 20, 2008. Please confirm that the particular event you plan to attend has indeed been certified for 2008 by going to the ncaa website. There are some events that had been certified in the past that are NOT certified this year.


2007-2008 WBCA Division I Foresight Committee
Legislative Issues submitted by Conferences

The following is the list of issues compiled through the Division I Foresight Committee in the fall of 2007. During this process, every Division I women’s basketball coach is given the opportunity to submit issues they believe should be considered for legislative proposals to improve the experience of women’s basketball coaches, student-athletes and prospects.

This is your opportunity to review these issues, consider the pro’s and con’s and prepare for the vote on each issue during the DI Business Meeting in Tampa, Florida on Monday, April 7, 2008.
Please be aware of the following timeframes:

1. March 10-March 18 please submit any additional issues not captured below. (NEW) You can email those issues to shannonr@wbca.org.
2. Prior to March 19 at noon. Must receive transfer of voting privileges, IN WRITING, if head coach is NOT going to be present to vote and wish to transfer voting right to assistant coach. Fax to 770-279-8473 Attn. Shannon Reynolds.
3. Must be present to vote and transfer of voting rights will not be accepted AFTER March 19, 2008.
4. There will be an opportunity to discuss and debate each issue in person and an issue must receive a 70% majority vote to be considered.

Scholarships:

1.Current Rule: There shall be an annual limit of 15 on the total number of counters in women’s basketball at each institution.

Conference Recommendations:
A. Would it help WBB to reduce the number of scholarships?
B. Reduce to annual limit of 14.
C. Reduce to annual limit of 13.

Pro:  Reducing the number of scholarships in women’s basketball will increase parity in the women’s game at all levels. Reducing scholarship does not mean reducing participation. This could lead to more competition, better games, increased fan base and increased television coverage.
Con:  The number of injuries seems to be increasing and if we reduce we may find ourselves with limited players to practice and/or play. Limits scholarship opportunities for women. Decreases in women’s basketball could affect number of minority student-athletes receiving aid in intercollegiate sports. Fought so hard to get 15 scholarships. Many schools do not have funds for summer school and are permitted to use portion of funds to pay student-athletes attendance. If total number reduced then this would eliminate the funds for summer school at many institutions. 
Questions:  Where would the saved dollars go? To women’s programs?

Recruiting Calendar:  Also refer to MOOT issues and comments.

2. Current Rule: (See Attachment #1: 2007-2008 Recruiting Calendar for reference)

Conference Recommendations:
A. Eliminate the September non-scholastic evaluation weekend entirely. Pro: Prospects have not had sufficient time to practice and play since July and are not performing at the caliber of play they should be for accurate assessment of skills. Gives you more time with teams. Gives more time for official visits weekends during football season. Con: Did not get commitments from prospects you were recruiting in July and need to see others.

B. Move Contact period in September to Tuesday after Labor Day. Limit to 3 weeks. Pro: September would be coach’s choice to recruit or stay on campus but October is reserved for preparing for season and being with student-athletes on campus. Also allows earlier home visits before prospects commit.  Con: Impact on quarter schools? (Most likely better since they don’t have to worry about their student-athletes on campus yet.)

C. Add a second recruiting weekend in April respecting WFF and test dates. Pro: Recruiting process has moved up, need to know who you want before the summer. Weren’t able to see during scholastic year and need to see. Con: We now have 3 coaches out for 3 days. Enough time already and coaches need a break and to spend final days with current team. Why give non-scholastic operators MORE influence?

D. Add dates to the spring Recruiting period and cut back on July period. Pro: During the spring your teams are winding down and you have more time to recruit. Need time in July to run camps. Prospects are tired and play gets sloppy. Following July right now you have final list of recruits and not enough time to coordinate official visits due to recruit vacations and fall sports. Con: July finally works, leave it alone. No more power to non-scholastic coaches during the academic year. Event operators have July figured out and this will make them crazy again. If July is too long, don’t go out.

E. Go 20 straight days in July. Pro: Shortens July recruiting. Con: The quality of play deteriorates. Does not give coaches a period to regroup and re-evaluate priorities.

F. Be able to attend AAU state qualifiers. Days count against 100. Pro: Tournaments are governed by AAU Organization and better tournament conditions for prospects. Con: Climate has changed from when AAU was exempt. Could not single out certain events to be exempt so other event operators would start running events. Event operators would sue and win so then you have AAU competing against all other events. Extends time out.

G. Cut back on July dates but Exempt AAU Nationals. (Same as above.)

H. Should be able to attend any state or scholastic sponsored all-star games in which psa’s participate regardless of when they occur. Pro: These games are limited to graduated seniors, most have signed NLI. More of public relations than recruiting.Con: Public relations are “babysitting”. This adds 52 or more possible events to attend and there is no consistency to timing of state events. These are non-scholastic events, if able to attend then non-scholastic event operators will start running events. Can attend if all-star games are held during non-scholastic weekend.

I. Don’t have to touch home before going back in the gym to evaluate. Pro: Saves a lot of MONEY and a lot of time. Need to survey how many schools have Director of Operations who stays on campus. Con: Does not guarantee there is a coach on campus which is a NCAA priority. This would need to be all sport proposal.

Signing Periods:

3. Current Rule: Basketball (Early Period)  November 14, 2007 – November 21, 2007Basketball (Regular Period) April 16, 2008 – May 21, 2008
Conference Recomendations:
A. Eliminate signing date after the season starts.
B. Add a June signing period prior to the prospect’s senior year.

Phone Calls:

4. Current Rule:     One call during the month of April of psa’s junior year, Thursday after WFF.

One call during May of psa’s junior year.
One call on or after June 1 through June 20 of psa’s junior year.
One call on or after June 21 through June 30 of psa’s junior year.
Three calls in July following psa’s junior year, no more than one per week.
Communication prohibited during July evaluation periods

Conference Recomendations:
A.Allow one phone call during July evaluation period.
B. Allow one (1) phone call in July if you know prospect is NOT participating in an event.
C. Adopt phone call system similar to men’s basketball. One (1) call per month beginning June 15 of sophomore year through July 31 of junior year then two (2) calls per week beginning August prior to senior year.

Playing and Practice Season:

5.Teams that do not go on foreign tours are allowed an additional 10 days of practice.
Current Rule: Teams participating in foreign tours may practice no more than 10 days.

6. Prohibit non-scholastic teams (AAU teams) from practicing at Division I institutions.
Current Rule: There are no rules that prohibit use of facilities as long as they pay going rate.
Pro: This would eliminate a recruiting advantage. Eliminate the possibility of coaches instructing players to participate in scrimmages. Con: Legal challenges. Loss of income for institutions renting facilities. Non-scholastic versus high school teams? This is an opportunity for smaller schools to interact and get top prospects on campuses. Remote locations have limited space and this would hurt opportunities for kids to play.

7. Prohibit Division I institutions from scrimmaging non-scholastic teams. Like the men!Current Rule: In women’s basketball, the two basketball games exempted per Bylaws 17.5.5.3 (g) foreign team in US (h) USA Basketball Club and (i) Non-NCAA Division I Four Year College Team may be played on or after October 31. (j) Informal practice scrimmage. (See Attachment #2: Proposal 2003-92 Adopted for men.)


8.Allow team building activities to begin once classes begin versus waiting till official start of practice in October. Count activities against 8 hour rule.
Current Rule: An institution may not provide transportation expenses or the payment of any fees associated with participation in a ropes course (or other related team building activities) outside the playing season unless such a benefit is available to students in general. Pro: Allows bonding experience off campus. Con: On campus bonding experiences can occur, Champs Life Program also has many programs. This would give advantage to big budget schools.

Tournament:

9.Site over seed versus seed over site as it relates to the NCAA Women’s Final Four bracketing?

Film Exchange:

10.Support a national film exchange policy to include non-conference games.
(See Attachment #3: NABC Film Exchange Policy)

MOOT Issues:
The goal of the WBCA Foresight Committee is to give women’s basketball “one voice” as it relates to legislative issues that impact our great sport. The Committee and process were created in response to overwhelming feedback from NCAA legislative committees that there was “women’s basketball fatigue”. There were too many proposals each year, conflicting proposals, too much tweaking and we were reactive versus proactive.

The following issues submitted this year have been considered moot due to recent defeats or recent adoption of similar proposals. Allowing these issues to be voted on this year would support the exact practice that we are trying to eliminate. In order for issues to be reconsidered for possible submission in to the NCAA legislative cycle we must first and foremost “live” with recent changes that we supported by 70% majority, to evaluate the change and secondly collect data to support why a change needs to be made.

There will be time allotted during the WBCA National Convention Division I Business Meeting to further discuss this issue and bring up and item for possible reconsideration.

1. Allow 4 coaches out during fall and spring evaluation weekends. (Defeated 2007-20.)
2. Allow 4 coaches out during summer recruiting period. (No support in NCAA process, see #1.)
3. Monitor the amount AAU coaches can be paid for working institutional camps. (Restricting earnings.)
4. Allow 4 hours of skill instruction versus 2. (Reversed in 2005 Proposals. It was a one year deal.)
5. Allow exhibition games to be played at any time after official practice date. (Adopted 2007-89)
6. First practice begin no sooner than October 1 with maximum of 30 practice days before first official contest. (Defeated 2007-88.)
7. Change the dead period in July to a quiet period so psa’s can visit campuses while in route from event to event. (Defeated 2006-35)

Proposal 2006-28-B was ADOPTED. Increasing recruiting person days in WBB from 85 to 100.
Proposal 2006-30 was ADOPTED. Evaluations at non-scholastic weekends including Friday-Sunday.
The following issues would tweak these proposals:

  • Allow 100 recruiting person days September 15 through March 31.
  • Five (5) day Contact period in April.
  • Exempt April Evaluation and Contact days from 100 recruiting person days.
  • Add second weekend to fall and spring evaluations at non-scholastic events.
  • Add more days to spring and fall so coaches can see more kids earlier.