{"id":51224,"date":"2014-03-12T07:12:47","date_gmt":"2014-03-12T14:12:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/?p=51224"},"modified":"2015-08-23T11:35:17","modified_gmt":"2015-08-23T18:35:17","slug":"march-sw-magazine-ncaa-championship-preview-issue-ncaas-future-is-in-our-hands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/march-sw-magazine-ncaa-championship-preview-issue-ncaas-future-is-in-our-hands\/","title":{"rendered":"March SW Magazine<\/font> NCAA Championship Preview Issue. NCAA’s Future Is In Our Hands"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHOENIX, Arizona, March 12, The March issue of Swimming World Magazine<\/i> is now available for download to Total Access Subscribers!<\/a><\/p>\n

On page 6 of Swimming World Magazine<\/i>, A Voice For The Sport <\/a>. The Future Is In Our Hands by CSCAA Executive Director Joel Shinofield.<\/p>\n

As I travel around the country\u2014or even across town\u2014I invariably enter into conversations about the greatness of our sport.<\/em><\/p>\n

Many of those conversations are with athletic directors and college administrators. They say glowing things about how swimmers and divers represent the very best of college athletics\u2014great grades, good leaders, high graduation rates and incredibly hard workers who get the most out of their student-athlete experience.<\/em><\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t any different when I attended the NCAA annual convention in San Diego in mid-January, where I continued to hear praise about our sport.<\/em><\/p>\n

The NCAA convention brings together all three divisions to discuss matters of importance for the entire association, but also to discuss the operations of each of the three divisions separately.<\/em><\/p>\n

In DII and DIII, each institution gets a vote for proposed legislative changes: one institution, one vote. In DI, the board of directors votes on proposed legislation. The board consists of 18 members comprised of 11 Football Bowl Subdivision members and seven members who come from either Football Championship Subdivision or DI non-football conferences.<\/em><\/p>\n

Because of this structure, you often find a greater presence by DII and DIII members than DI, but this year, the turnout of DI constituents was close to 1,000-strong as the primary focus in San Diego was the redesign of the DI Governance Structure.<\/em><\/p>\n

At the crux of this discussion is the desire by the higher resourced Big-5 conferences to have autonomy over certain legislation and not to be held back by the other 27 lower resourced DI conferences. That autonomy may allow conferences to provide full-cost of attendance for full scholarship athletes in the head-count sports and possibly others. Some estimate that this could lead to an increase in scholarships for those athletes of $6-10,000 annually with a cost increase to institutions implementing such a change of $1.2-1.8 million (minimally 98 male head-count athletes in football and basketball plus an equivalent number of female full-scholarship athletes).<\/em><\/p>\n

This is just one example, and there are several others.<\/em><\/p>\n

During the course of the discussion, attendees were allowed to ask questions of the steering committee. I asked the committee if \u201cit felt that providing autonomy to the Big-5 conferences would preserve broad-based athletic opportunities across the division?\u201d The moderator answered with a broad smile and a cheerful, \u201cThat\u2019s a great question\u201d…and then moved on without time for an answer.<\/em><\/p>\n

At the conclusion of the session, I spoke with several athletic directors who all said plainly that the answer to my question was a simple, \u201cNo.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

So while we have great student-athletes who excel in the classroom and the pool and outpace many other athletes in graduation rates, NCAA postgraduate scholarships, Fulbrights and other incredible accomplishments, that is not going to be enough when financial push comes to shove.<\/em><\/p>\n

If we want to preserve our future, it will be up to the swimming community:<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2022 Alumni supporting their teams financially and being involved on university boards;<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2022 Young swimmers and divers writing to their state schools, thanking them for sponsoring teams at their institutions; and<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2022 All of us as swimming fans showing up in March in Oklahoma City, Indianapolis, Geneva (Ohio), Minneapolis and Austin for our NAIA and NCAA Championships…and filling those venues to capacity.<\/em><\/p>\n

We are responsible for our own future, and we cannot underestimate the power we each possess.<\/em><\/p>\n

Not a Total Access Subscriber? A Swimming World Magazine <\/i> Subscription <\/a> gives you unlimited access to all online content on SwimmingWorld.com and access to all of the back issues of Swimming World Magazine <\/i> dating back to 1960! Purchase your Total Access Subscription TODAY! <\/a><\/p>\n

Curious about what you\u2019ll find inside the March issue of Swimming World Magazine<\/i>? Watch this month\u2019s Inside Swimming World<\/i> video to find out!<\/p>\n