THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - The buzz around the NCAA convention over the weekend was all about autonomy for the Power 5 conferences in Division I.
The group used its newly granted status to pass legislation that increases the value of an athletic scholarship by several thousand dollars and guarantees four-year scholarships cannot be revoked because of athletic performance.
Although Cal Lutheran athletic director Dan Kuntz didn't have to worry about scholarships since Division III doesn't offer them, he still followed the proceedings closely while in attendance.
"It's a different philosophy, but you have to have your eyes on it because these are major changes," Kuntz said after leaving the convention in the Washington D.C., area Saturday night. "It is obviously a factor in the budget because the bulk of the money is coming from bowl games and championships. They are going to ask for more money and that will affect other divisions."
In terms of the Division III legislation at hand, three recruiting proposals were approved by the membership:
Coaches can now contact recruits after their sophomore year of high school. Previously, coaches could not contact recruits until the completion of their junior year.
Coaches will be permitted to contact recruits on each day of competition and multi-day events such as camps and tournaments. Previously, coaches had to wait until the final day of an event or tournament.
Recruits will be permitted to sign an athletics non-binding standardized celebratory form. This will allow recruits to take part in signing day events with an actual document to sign.
Division III also approved women's sand volleyball as a championship sport, allowing it to advance from the emerging sports list to become a full-fledged NCAA championship in the spring of 2016.
Sand volleyball has already become extremely popular at the Division I level and is the fastest-growing NCAA sport with 50 schools sponsoring the sport.
Cal Lutheran just added a men's volleyball program as its 21st varsity sport and Kuntz said the university must discuss whether sand volleyball is an option.
"The university plans to do a campuswide survey and possibly even to outside groups that feed the school to see what would be the next female sport," Kuntz said. "Based on that information, the university will make that decision. Right now, the university has not made a decision on sand volleyball. We are kind of in the research phase and doing our homework."
Other proposals at the convention that passed enables basketball teams to play their first games on Nov. 15 or the preceding Friday if Nov. 15 falls on a Saturday, Sunday or Monday.
Football teams can also play their first game on the Thursday preceding the weekend that is 11 weeks prior to the first round of the Division III national championships.
The lengthiest debate during the Division III business session on Saturday involved a proposal that was narrowly defeated. It would have permitted contact during spring football.
Another topic of discussion involved reducing the maximum number of contests and dates of competition in select sports by as much as 10 percent.
"That was referred off to a committee for further review and they will bring it back in 2017," Kuntz said. "The rising cost of travel and transportation and just running a championship really had a lot to do with that. They feel they need to pinch costs somewhere."
Throughout the historic convention, finances remained an overriding theme.
"It really does come down to money and Division III really just wants to make sure the experience of our student is what it needs to be," Kuntz said. "We want to make sure the kids have access and funding available to them. We don't want to see that watered down in any way."
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