This update is a tool to enhance communication between the NCAA national office and the Division III membership, with distribution to athletics directors, senior woman administrators, faculty athletics representatives, presidents, national SAAC, conference commissioners and the National Association of Division III Athletic Administrators listserv. We encourage athletics directors to share this communication with their athletics department members. Please contact Katie Mucci to include an item or share comments, and remember to check out the Division III governance homepage for the latest news and information.
Congratulations to this year’s award winners honored at the NCAA Convention in Phoenix. Anita DeFrantz, Connecticut College, received the Gerald R. Ford Award, honoring her leadership as an advocate for collegiate athletics, and John Cena, Springfield College, received the Silver Anniversary Award, recognizing the 25th anniversary of the completion of his college career. Sydney Packard, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and Anika Washburn, Case Western Reserve, were recognized with the Today’s Top 10 Award, given to outstanding senior student-athletes from the previous academic year.
During the NCAA Convention, Division III announced the Division III LGBTQ of the Year recipients. The honorees were Oberlin College (athletics department of the year), Danielle O’Leary, William Peace (administrator of the year), and Anna Slominski, Illinois Institute of Technology (student-athlete of the year). Click here for more information, including highlight videos. The 2024 LGBTQ of the Year Awards nomination application period is now open. For the award criteria, click here, and visit the NCAA Program Hub to submit nominations until June 1.
Inclusive Leaders Program
Division III held its inaugural Inclusive Leaders facilitator training. Division III conferences and institutions can request a two-hour workshop with a trained facilitator. For information about hosting an Inclusive Leaders Program, click here. The Division III Inclusive Leaders Program has the following objectives for program participants:
To identify strategies and best practices for institutions, and specifically head coaches and athletics department staff and administrators, to enhance their recruitment and retention of students of color.
To recognize the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion in college athletics; learn common terms, definitions and concepts; and hear the often-unheard voices of student-athletes of color.
To understand the involvement of the NCAA and Division III membership in advancing diversity, equity and inclusion and, more specifically, build racial equity knowledge.
The Division III Diversity and Inclusion Working Group, in collaboration with Return On Inclusion, a sport-specific diversity and inclusion consultancy and credentialing program, have developed the Division III Inclusive Leaders Program.
SAVE THE DATE: Division III Week
Mark your calendars! The annual Division III Week will be held April 1-7, 2024. Division III Week is a positive opportunity for all individuals associated with the division to observe and celebrate the impact of athletics and of student-athletes on the campus and surrounding community. During the week, every Division III school and conference office is encouraged to conduct a type of outreach activity that falls into one of three categories: academic accomplishment; athletic experience; or leadership/community service/campus involvement. For more information, click here.
Don’t Bet on It
With the Super Bowl occurring soon, the NCAA has a reminder for you and your student-athletes: Don’t Bet on It. Betting on a pro sporting event is a sports wagering violation that risks eligibility. For additional sports wagering resources, click here.
Division III Webinars
Webinars will be from 1:30 to 2 p.m. Eastern time the first Tuesday of the month on the following dates and topics:
Feb. 6 — 2024 NCAA Convention recap.
March 5 – NCAA Transgender Student-Athlete Participation policy.
April 2 – Division III diversity grants.
May 7 – Recap of SAAC, Management and Presidents Council meetings.
All past webinar PowerPoints are on the Division III webinar webpage.
NCAA Historical Map Dashboard
The NCAA has released a historical membership dashboard, a first-of-its-kind resource that includes high-level details and summary information on every NCAA member school and conference. This interactive dashboard, displayed as a map, provides a comprehensive visual catalog of member schools and conferences throughout the NCAA’s history. The map allows users to view historical membership data by year, division, school, region, conference and state. The resource, created by the NCAA research and library staffs, enables users to find information more efficiently on topics such as a school’s membership history, including its conference affiliation, or a conference’s composition in any given year, among others. It also showcases the NCAA’s growth over time. The resource includes data from 1906, when the NCAA was founded, to the current academic year for the NCAA’s 1,221 historic active and past members and 276 unique conferences.
The start of spring semester is finally upon us, and that means spring traditional and fall nontraditional seasons are here.
For spring sports, the first permissible practice and competition date is 15 weeks prior to NCAA selections. If your teams saved any days from their fall nontraditional segments, those saved days (up to a maximum of 12) can be used up to two weeks prior to the 15-week start date (see Bylaw 17.1.2.3-(a)-(1)). That means between 17 weeks prior to selection and 15 weeks prior to selection, the team can use its saved days from the fall. If the team saved less than 12 days, those saved days do not need to be used consecutively, but the team must still provide one day off per defined week.
For fall sports, the 24 days of athletically related activity can be used any time between the first date of classes after Jan. 1 and five weekdays before the first date of spring final exams. Coaches must limit the use of days to no more than four days per defined week, and the team is permitted only one date of competition, which must be counted toward the 24 days. It could be helpful to remind your coaches the 24 days are team days. See Bylaw 17.1.2.1-(b).
Additionally, as your winter seasons wrap up this month and next, don’t forget that if a team has not already used its eight out-of-season days and still has days remaining within the 114-day limit, those extra days may be used during the spring term. See Bylaw 17.1.2.2-(b)-(2).
Removing Permission-to-Contact Requirements for NAIA Student-Athletes. Noncontroversial legislation was approved by the Management Council, effective immediately, that eliminates the requirement that an athletics staff member must obtain permission to contact from an NAIA institution prior to having recruiting contact with a student-athlete from an NAIA institution.
Please note that permission to contact is still required for any student-athletes at an NCAA Division I, II or III institution.
NEW Interpretation and Educational Column
Staff Interpretation: Conference Rain Date (III). The academic and membership affairs staff has confirmed an institution that has used its 114 days is permitted to extend its playing season to make up suspended or canceled contests that determine a conference champion or the automatic qualifier to the NCAA championships, provided such contests are concluded not later than 6 p.m. local time of the competition on the date on which participants are selected for the NCAA championship.
Educational Column: Participation in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Fall Championship (III). A new educational column has been issued to provide information regarding the application of the use of days and counting contests when a student-athlete participates in the ITA Fall Championship (an individual singles and doubles tournament that does not have team scoring).
You can also now find the question-and-answer guide for each 2024 Convention proposal as published educational columns:
Educational Column: Proposal No. 2024-1 Division Membership — Division III Membership Requirements — Amend the Division III Philosophy Statement.
Educational Column: NCAA Division III Proposal No. 2024-2 Amendment-to-Amendment Deadline.
Educational Column: NCAA Division III Proposal No. 2024-3 (2-2) Division Membership — Division III Membership Requirements — Sports Sponsorship — Reduce Minimum Participants in Tennis from Six to Four.
Educational Column: NCAA Division III Proposal No. 2024-4 Division Membership —Establishing Stunt as an Emerging Sport for Women.
In preparation for the event, join us virtually at 2 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, Feb. 7, for an informational webinar. The webinar will highlight general information about the seminar and provide the opportunity for participants to share ideas and feedback with NCAA regulatory affairs staff.
This 30-minute webinar is open to NCAA Divisions I, II and III athletics administrators and other institutional/conference staff members supporting athletics programs. To join the Feb. 7 session, click here and register. Once registered, you will be sent a separate link to use to log into the webinar.
If you have questions regarding the 2024 NCAA Regional Rules Seminars, please visit ncaa.org or contact NCAARegionalRulesSeminars@ncaa.org. At least once every three years, an active member school must be represented by at least one institutional staff member at a NCAA Regional Rules Seminar. Unsure if you need to attend? Please reference the Division III Institutions Required To Attend the 2024 NCAA Regional Rules Seminar List. This year’s in-person seminar is June 12-14, 2024, in Las Vegas. If you have attendance requirement questions, contact Eric Hartung at ehartung@ncaa.org.
NEW DEADLINE: Sports Sponsorship Participation and Demographics Form
The Sports Sponsorship Participation and Demographics data collection will open April 1 and close June 21.
ATHLETICS COMMUNICATION UPDATES
DEADLINE APPROACHING: NCAA and D3SIDA Recognition Award
The NCAA Division III and D3SIDA recognition award seeks to honor the best work — including news releases, feature articles, videos, blogs and other materials — produced by Division III campus and conference athletics communication offices. Each top honoree will receive a $1,500 credit to attend Division III Day at the annual College Sports Communicators convention. The next submission deadline is Feb. 15. For more information, click here.
Media Coordination/Statistics Staff Contacts
To find information about whom to contact at the NCAA for media coordination and statistics, the 2023-24 assignments can be found here.
Save the date: The 2024 NCAA Inclusion Forum will be April 24-26 in Indianapolis. Hosted by the NCAA office of inclusion, the annual event brings together leaders within higher education and intercollegiate athletics, including student-athletes, to engage in powerful programming and provide key takeaways to enhance efforts on diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging initiatives.
Educational programming focuses on each of the office of inclusion’s five core areas of disabilities, international student matters, LGBTQ identities, race/ethnicity and women. Registration, which opens this month, includes admission to all programs, auxiliary offerings, a reception and select meals. Check the Inclusion Forum webpage for more information.
Diversity Spotlight Initiative
The Diversity Spotlight Initiative recognizes and promotes outstanding diversity development projects, programming and initiatives occurring on Division III campuses and in conference offices. Each month an institution or conference is identified by the selection committee to be featured on the DIII webpage and in the DIII Monthly Update. In addition, the featured institution or conference office receives $500 toward its next diversity initiative. Click here for more information.
The NCAA Division III Special Olympics Spotlight Poll is a storytelling initiative on ncaa.org/D3SpecialOlympics. It features new stories each month that highlight a Division III and Special Olympics joint activity or event. That school or conference receives $500 to use for its next Special Olympics event. Written and digital submissions both are accepted. Featured stories are selected based on inclusion of the student-athlete perspective and Division III messaging. To submit a story for consideration, email d3specialolympics@ncaa.org.
More than 23,000 student-athletes participated in the NCAA’s 10th student-athlete health and wellness study from October 2022 to June 2023. Use of narcotic pain medication by student-athletes has decreased in the past decade, with 6% of the respondents reporting use with a prescription within the previous year. This is down from a high of 18% in 2013. The study also found lower rates of spit tobacco use among NCAA student-athletes, particularly among men’s sports participants. Overall, 15% of all men’s sport student-athletes reported using spit tobacco within the last year, which is down from 22% in the 2017 study. The percentage of users has steadily decreased since 2009.
Concussion recordings
Recordings from the SSI Spotlight on Concussion Safety Protocol Checklist Update are now available through the NCAA Learning Portal. The two-session webinar series featured information and discussion on the updated Concussion Safety Protocol Checklist and corresponding resources ahead of its effective date on Jan. 15. All members of the student-athlete care team involved in return-to-learn or return-to-sport protocols on your campus are encouraged to review the recordings and associated resources. To access the recordings, log in to NCAA My Apps, select the Learning Portal icon, and search “SSI Spotlight on Concussion Safety Protocol Checklist Update” in the search bar to the right of the NCAA Learning Portal logo. Registering for the course allows you to view the entire series. For access to NCAA My Apps or to the NCAA Learning Portal, contact the NCAA Applications Administrator on your campus. For technical assistance with NCAA My Apps or the NCAA Learning Portal, please email webhelpdesk@ncaa.org.
Conference Coordinators of Officials Positions Added to NCAA Directory. Sport-specific coordinator of official’s positions have been added to the NCAA Directory for all sports and divisions. Conferences should add contact information for their coordinators of officials through the steps here. By adding this contact information to the NCAA Directory, the NCAA will be able to enhance communication efforts with all conferences, including copying conference coordinators on important communications involving ejections and suspensions of student-athletes/coaches within their conference, and championship, officiating and playing rules updates throughout the season.
Conference Administrators Positions Added to NCAA Directory. Sport-specific conference administrator positions have been added to the NCAA Directory for all sports and divisions. Conferences should add contact information for these positions through the steps here. By adding this contact information to the NCAA Directory, the NCAA will be able to enhance communication efforts with all conferences, including copying these administrators on important communications involving ejections and suspensions of student-athletes/coaches within their conference, and championship, officiating and playing rules updates throughout the season.
NCAA Officiating Background Check Program. The NCAA conducts background checks on officials for NCAA championships in several different sports for the dual purpose of promoting the student-athlete experience and protecting the integrity of the championships. Officials must consent to and pass the background check to be eligible to officiate an NCAA championship in the following sports: baseball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, bowling, field hockey, football, men’s ice hockey, women’s ice hockey, men’s lacrosse, women’s lacrosse, soccer, softball, women’s volleyball, men’s water polo, women’s water polo and wrestling. Background check reports are made available to conference offices through Sterling Volunteers. More information about the background check program can be found here under Officiating Links.
Learning Portal Module Available. The NCAA has partnered with Officially Human to develop the Elevate Respect learning module for NCAA member conferences and schools. The learning module, available on the NCAA Learning Portal app, is curriculum intended to improve student-athlete, coach and fan behavior directed at officials. The Elevate Respect course was created as an opportunity to engage coaches and student-athletes prior to the start of the season to emphasize positive sportsmanship and engagement with officials during competition. For more information about the Elevate Respect module, contact Ben Brownlee at bbrownlee@ncaa.org.
Soccer
The Men’s and Women’s Soccer Rules Committee met Jan. 29-31 in Indianapolis for its annual meeting. It is a rules-change year. Information on rules changes approved by the rules committee will be sent to the membership in mid to late February.
Softball
The 2024 and 2025 approved playing rules changes and interpretations/clarifications are available here under “Updates.” The 2024 and 2025 case book will be published soon.
As of Jan. 1, all softballs used in competition must meet the new ball specifications, which includes a maximum compression of 275-375 pounds. This rules change was approved in Summer 2021 to standardize ball specifications with NFHS and USA Softball.
Wrestling
The 2023-24/2024-25 Wrestling Case Book has been updated and should be used in conjunction with the 2023-24/2024-25 Wrestling Rules Book. The case book and SRE Articles 1-5 are available here under Rules of the Game.
Leadership development has opened the spring applications for various programs and workshops via the Program Hub. Application deadlines are 5 p.m. Eastern time March 1.
Career in Sports Forum, May 30-June 2, in Indianapolis is an annual educational program that brings together 200 selected NCAA student-athletes to learn about and explore potential careers in sports, particularly college athletics. This unique three-day forum helps student-athletes chart their career paths.
The Dr. Charles Whitcomb Leadership Institute, July 13-20, provides tailored programming to assist ethnic minorities in strategically mapping and planning their careers in athletics administration by providing professional development programming over the course of a calendar year, which includes one-week programs at the beginning and conclusion of that year.
The NCAA Basketball Coaches Academy, May 8-10, provides current, full-time intercollegiate men’s and women’s basketball coaches at NCAA member schools an opportunity to expand their knowledge and insight into the world of intercollegiate basketball coaching. During the academy, selected participants will be trained in a variety of areas that encourage effective coaching at the intercollegiate level, with a focus on the holistic well-being and development of the student-athlete.
The Pathway Program, June 23-28, is designed to elevate senior-level athletics administrators to the next step as directors of athletics or conference commissioners. This yearlong program is an intensive, experiential learning opportunity for selected participants who work at an NCAA school or conference in any division.
The NFL/NCAA Administrators Academy assists graduate assistants and interns by expanding their capacity to perform in leadership roles within college and professional athletic administration. The academy provides young professionals seeking opportunities in football administration at the collegiate and pro level with professional development resources and the necessary skills to adapt to an evolving sports business landscape.
The Effective Facilitation Workshop, June 5-8, is an interactive professional development experience where energetic administrators and coaches receive personalized feedback on their leadership styles and gain skills in active learning and engaging facilitation.
As you look to work with new recruits, please remember that NCAA Division III Bylaw 12.1.1.4.1 permits a temporary 45-day practice opportunity for students without final amateurism decisions. Additionally, the Eligibility Center’s COVID document submission policy is set to expire April 30, 2024. Be sure to review the update on this policy and additional COVID updates in this month’s Division III newsletter.
This email was sent to NCAA Division III presidents and chancellors, athletics direct reports, directors of athletics, faculty athletics representatives, senior woman administrators, sports information directors, directors of compliance, commissioners, assistant/associate commissioners, national Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, provisional, reclassifying and exploratory members based on contact information in the NCAA Directory.
