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Female Athletic Directors Talk About Running BCS Programs
By David Jones, Florida Today

While much has been made in recent years about the number of minority hires in positions of authority in various sports, an issue that hasn't come to the forefront as much has been the fact that there are only three female athletic directors in all of college sports who oversee programs with Bowl Championship Series conference football programs.

Many of the BCS schools have females who oversee the women's programs. But only Debbie Yow of Maryland, Lisa Love of Arizona State and Sandy Barbour of Cal are the overall athletic directors at football schools in conferences with automatic BCS bids.

Why the lack of movement? There are many theories, but a primary one is that the presidents and chancellors at those schools simply tend to turn to men to lead football powerhouses.

Yow and Love recently discussed the topic with Florida Today in a question-and-answer format.

FLORIDA TODAY: Why is it that more schools haven't shown faith in a female athletic director's ability to lead a program where there is a BCS football team?

YOW: Hard to know, as I have no statistics on the number of females applying for BCS-type, AD positions — so, I don't know if they're, A, not applying or, B, being overlooked as applicants.

LOVE: Where football is so critical to the success of the overall vision, quite simply, there has to be faith that a particular athletics director can succeed in that culture. Sorry for the obvious, but since football is predominantly played by men, then the traditional approach is for a man to lead the department. Speaking in more contemporary terms, as the job complexities evolve, so may the view of "the best person for the job," regardless of gender or race.

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Arkansas to Merge Men's, Women's Athletic Programs
By Associated Press

Arkansas will merge its men's and women's athletics programs beginning next year, joining nearly all Division I colleges across the nation, school officials announced Thursday.

The university kept the departments separate for 35 years, following the passage of Title IX in 1972. Chancellor John A. White said the move would strengthen the university's athletic department as a new director takes over.

Under the new system, incoming athletic director Jeff Long will report to White and serve as vice chancellor of intercollegiate athletics. Bev Lewis, director of the women's athletics department since 1989, will become an associate vice chancellor and will report to Long.

Long will replace Frank Broyles as athletic director on Jan. 1, the same day the merger will take effect. Broyles, 82, is retiring after 50 years with the school, first as head football coach and later as athletic director.

White said he began exploring the idea of merging in the summer. Broyles announced his resignation plans in February.

"I frankly realized that I had become a victim of one of the things that I in my professional practice had chided my clients not to do -- I told them that you should not follow the adage 'if it's not broken, don't fix it,'" White told reporters Thursday morning. "That means that you're satisfied with good as opposed to pursuing greatness."

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Elbow Injuries on Rise Among Young Athletes
By Randy Dotinga, Healthday

One of the country's leading sports doctors reports that he's performing more surgeries on sprained elbows in young athletes, a fact that reflects higher numbers of children focusing on just one sport. The findings suggest that more young athletes are specializing only in baseball and putting their arms at risk, said co-author Dr. E. Lyle Cain, fellowship director for the American Sports Medicine Institute at the Andrews Sports Medicine & Orthopaedic Center, in Birmingham, Ala.

"Sports specialization at a young age encourages overuse," Cain said. "The bodies of athletes have no chance to rest and recover."

The good news: The surgeon who did the study, Dr. James Andrews, reported that 83 percent of his patients who underwent surgery recovered well enough to return to playing sports.

At issue are injuries to the ulnar collateral ligament, or UCL. It's a tiny ligament -- just a half-inch long -- that's crucial to keeping the elbow stable when a person throws something, Cain said.

In some cases, the ligament tears or becomes stretched out. "The patient generally has pain, and they lose the ability to throw, lose velocity," Cain explained.

The injury strikes baseball pitchers and other athletes who throw or swing their arms, such as tennis players, javelin throwers, quarterbacks and weightlifters.

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Mid-Level Schools Fall Short On Academic Rates
By Steve Wieberg, USA TODAY

The NCAA hit more than 200 teams at 123 Division I schools when it announced its latest round of academic-related penalties early this month, but the swath wasn't as wide as the numbers suggested.

Two mid-level universities, San Jose State and Alabama-Birmingham, were docked more scholarships — a combined 23.62 in six sports — than all 65 schools in college athletics' six biggest-name, biggest-money conferences.

All told, the marquee Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pacific 10 and Southeastern conferences make up almost 20% of Division I's overall membership but accounted for less than 10% of the academic progress rate (APR) scholarship cuts. The gap raised eyebrows not only among affected schools but also within watchdog groups like the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics and the faculty-based Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics.

KNIGHT COMMISSION: Panel points to weak enforcement
COACHES: Should coaches be the only ones held responsible?

The Pac-10, for example, saw only three of 14 subpar teams sanctioned (21%) while the neighboring Western Athletic saw 23 of 34 (68%) and the Mountain West 10 of 15 (67%).

The SEC saw only five of 20 low-APR teams sanctioned (25%). The Sun Belt, with roughly the same geographic footprint, saw 16 of 46 (35%).
One explanation: The bigger-budget schools are more capable of beefing up academic support programs and taking other supportive measures such as covering summer school costs for incoming athletes and reducing missed class time by flying rather than busing to games.

David Schmidly, president of Mountain West-affiliated New Mexico, says he'll monitor the 4-year-old APR system and the application of penalties as a new member of the NCAA's Division I board of directors. "If I felt the data showed there was not even treatment, it would cause me concern and … I would say something about that," he says. "But I haven't been to a meeting. I haven't seen all the data. And I can't say that's the situation." Personally, he says, "I'm not worried so much about how the University of New Mexico is being treated vs. Ohio State or Oklahoma State or any (bigger-name) school. What I'm concerned about is we get our programs above these cut lines and we're meeting our responsibility to the athletes' needs."

When New Mexico's baseball and men's basketball programs posted low APRs, the head coaches — baseball's Rich Alday and basketball's Ritchie McKay — were replaced after their respective 2006-07 seasons. Academic scores were "not totally" the reason, Schmidly says, "but that was a big part of the decision."

At Boise State, President Robert Kustra also is joining the NCAA board as the WAC's representative and similarly views the league-to-league disparity as a challenge rather than an injustice.

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Patterns: The Sound of Victory?
By Eric Nagourney

Does it matter which runner is closest to the starter’s pistol at the beginning of a race? It just might, a new study says.

Researchers who looked at results from the 2004 Olympics say sprinters who were closest to the gun took off faster, probably because they perceived the shot as louder than their competitors did.

The study, which appears in the June issue of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, suggests that Olympic officials consider extending the use of “silent” guns, which set off a sound behind each runner. The lead author of the study is Alexander M. Brown, a student at the University of Alberta in Canada.

The researchers looked at runners’ reaction times in the 100-meter sprint and the 110-meter hurdles. Competitors in those races hear “on your marks,” “set” and a pistol shot from speakers behind them. The study found that runners in the first lane, next to the starter’s pistol, reacted more quickly. The differences were slight, but they occurred in races where a few hundredths of a second can make a difference.

When the researchers measured reaction times of volunteers in the lab, they found that the louder the sound of the shot, the faster the reaction time.

The study did not suggest the outcomes of the races had been affected. One explanation, said David F. Collins, a physical education professor at the university, is that in the final races, the runners who have done the best in heats tend to be placed in the center lanes.

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Safety Board Cites Signs, Safety Features in Bluffton Bus Crash
From USA Today

Investigators for the National Transportation Safety Board say confusing highway signs, driver error and a lack of passenger safety features contributed to the deaths of five college baseball players in an Atlanta bus crash last year.

The findings on the crash, which also killed the bus driver and his wife, were among several pending approval from the NTSB board at a Tuesday meeting.

Investigators said the bus driver thought he was getting on an HOV lane when he drove onto an elevated exit ramp, plowing through a stop sign at highway speed and hurtling from an overpass onto the interstate below.
The March 2 crash killed five members of Ohio's Bluffton University baseball team and injured 28 others, including Tim Berta from Ida, Mich.
NTSB investigator Dave Rayburn said Georgia officials changed the layout of the signs after having trouble with their mounting. The change deviated from federal guidance about placement of certain exit signs to make them more clear, he said, but the change did not amount to a violation of federal regulations, which allow for some exceptions. Rayburn said nine accidents have occurred at the site between 1997 and 2007, including three fatal collisions. The drivers in all of the crashes were from outside the Atlanta area.

Investigators also said the 65-year-old bus driver was partly at fault.
He had a good driving record and had been driving for only an hour before the early-morning crash, they said. But his required medical certificate, which is required by law, was expired, and he had several risk factors for sleep apnea.

Still, they found no evidence that medical problems contributed to the crash.

Instead, "he missed what route guidance was available," said investigator Deborah Bruce, noting that 20 million drivers have successfully navigated the exit over 10 years. "He didn't decrease his speed as he came up the exit ramp," despite two signs notifying drivers of a stop ahead.

Parents of several of the crash victims appeared at the meeting to call for stronger regulations on bus safety, including for more driver training, stronger roofs, shatterproof window glazing and mandatory seat belts. The NTSB has made similar recommendations dating back to 1968, but the recommendations have never made it into law.

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Club Ed: This University Is at Your Service
By Thomas Bartlett, From The Chronicle of Higher Education

Lots of colleges treat students like customers. But how many have an ice-cream truck? And valet parking? And a concierge desk? And an enormous hot tub in the middle of the campus?

Not too many. Actually, only one: High Point University.

This once-sleepy institution in the hills of North Carolina has undergone a revival in the last couple of years, thanks in part to its jaw-dropping menu of student services. Behind it all is High Point's president, Nido R. Qubein, a motivational speaker and businessman who believes that the customer (that is, the student) should be not only satisfied, but wowed.

To that end, he hired a director of WOW! The holder of that illustrious title is Roger D. Clodfelter, and it's his job to come up with ways to please current and prospective students. The ice-cream truck that circles the campus doling out free frozen treats (more than 500 to choose from!) is but one example.

Another is live music in the cafeteria. One day might feature a folky guitar duo and the next a jazz quartet. When Mr. Qubein took over as president in 2005, he discovered that students spent an average of 12 minutes in the cafeteria per visit. It was not a "destination point," he says. After the addition of live music and a bevy of flat-screen TV's, the average visit is 34 minutes.

Near the entrance to the cafeteria is the concierge desk. The chief concierge, Leslie Smith, takes care of maintenance requests, gives restaurant recommendations, and sends out dry cleaning, among other services. Students can also sign up for automated wake-up calls. Right now the voice is generic, but there is talk of adding a recording of the president himself urging students to get out of bed.

Birthdays are big events at High Point. Each undergraduate — and there are 2,000 — receives a birthday card from the university, signed by the president, with a Starbucks gift card tucked inside. Plus balloons. What's more, when birthday boys and girls visit the cafeteria, their ID cards electronically alert the kitchen staff. The staff then fixes a slice of cake, and the featured musicians sing "Happy Birthday."

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Do You Know Where You're Going?
By Laura Stack, Content provided by Revolution Health Group

Discovering your true priorities
The main objective of a personal mission statement is to define what's important to you. Many people say "this is important" and "that is important," but how do you narrow it down to what's truly important in your life? I like to use the following visualization:

Determining your core values
1. Holding that visualization in your mind, read through the list of values below. They might be important to you; they might not be. Go though the list, and this first time, circle any and all of the values that you'd cross the bridge for. Add any to the bottom that aren't listed here that are important to you.
•Peace, Integrity, Power, Wealth, Joy, Influence, Happiness, Love, Justice, Success, Recognition, Spirituality, Friendship, Family, Career, Fame, Truth, Status, Authenticity, Wisdom, Acceptance, Health, ____________, ____________, ____________

2. Go back through the items you've circled and narrow it down to only six. Which items are more important to you than the others? Place a star next to your top six values.

3. Picture this: You've got those six items lined up with you on the side of the chasm. I have the ability to make you choose between them. You've got to throw three away. What things would go? If all you had left in your life were three values, what would they be? Cross out three of the six, so that your top three values are remaining.

4. Lastly, rank order your top three values. Which one would go first? Label that #3. Which one would go second? Label that #2. So if all you had in your life were one single thing, that would be remaining until the end. Label that #1.
Defining your core values

You have just listed the top three most important things in your life. Rewrite your top three values in order on the blanks below. Then for each principle, write a definition, a statement of what it means to you to be successful in that area. At the end of your life, how will you know if you've succeeded? If you put "family," what does a good family man or woman look like to you? If you put "spirituality," how will you know you've succeeded at being a spiritual person?

1. Value: ________________________________
"Success to me means ... " ________________________________________
2. Value: _________________________________________
"Success to me means ... " ________________________________________
3. Value: ________________________________________
"Success to me means ... " ________________________________________

Sit in front of a computer with a blank word processing page and type the three paragraphs together, merging them into one statement. It could be several sentences or several paragraphs. You've just created a personal mission statement for your life. Think of it as your constitution. It will become your benchmark, your standard of excellence. Then you can get your behavior in line with your mission. You will measure yourself against it.

Continuously ask yourself if an activity is moving toward your mission in life. This statement will whack you upside the head if not. For example, if you say taking care of your health is important to you, then you eat eight slices of pizza and watch 15 hours of television, it is very apparent you're not supporting yourself with your actions.

When you're making changes in your life and setting goals, refer to this statement of purpose. I promise this activity will have an impact on your productivity. It's been said that "true character is the ability to carry out a goal long after the mood in which it was created has passed." That's when the real challenge begins.

Make it a productive day! ™

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Knight Commission Calls on NCAA to Shorten Basketball Season
By Brian Wachur from Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics

The Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics held discussions on Tuesday on academic reform, potential changes in the basketball playing season, and changes to penalties for violating National Collegiate Athletic Association rules. The Commission called on the NCAA to shorten the season to reduce the number of missed classes and stress on players. It also commended the association’s academic performance program, but noted that a complex waiver process is threatening to weaken standards designed to hold programs responsible for the academic progress of their players.

“The basketball season is too long, there are too many games and too many road trips, and the grades of these athletes show the consequences,” said William E. “Brit” Kirwan, Knight Commission Co-Chairman and Chancellor of the University System of Maryland. “Let’s adopt a schedule that is in the best interest of the athletes, not the TV programmers.”

Also at its meeting here Tuesday, the Commission:

•        Urged the NCAA to reject efforts to dilute academic reform and to raise minimum
         academic standards to ensure that at least 50 percent of athletes earn degrees.
•        Expressed concern that waivers of penalties for poor academic performance may be too
         easy to receive under the current system, and called for more transparency in the waiver
         process.
•       Discussed proposals to strengthen the penalties for NCAA rules violations, but did not
         take a position on the issue.

NCAA officials told the Commission that 91 percent of the teams at member institutions surpassed minimum requirements for academic success, while 218 teams at 123 institutions have been sanctioned for failing to meet the minimum academic benchmarks during the 2006-7 academic year.   The majority of teams penalized lost scholarships, and 26 teams will be subject to postseason sanctions in the 2009-10 academic year unless scores improve.   In its 2001 report, the Commission recommended penalizing teams failing to graduate at least 50 percent of their players. Since then, the Commission has supported the NCAA’s Academic Performance Program, despite pressure to weaken it from coaches and other groups.

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In Talk of Tougher Penalties for Breaking NCAA Rules, No Easy Answers
By Libby Sander from The Chronicle of Higher Education

Fourteen years have passed since the National Collegiate Athletic Association last revised the punishments it doles out to institutions that run afoul of its intricate rules. Now, with big-time college sports growing ever more complex, calls to strengthen the sanctions—which range from probation to reductions in scholarships—are becoming louder from those who want to see wrongdoers set straight. But at a meeting Tuesday of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, the discussion revealed that a key question in criminal law is also dogging those who police college sports: What, exactly, deters someone from breaking the rules?

Two members of the NCAA's Division I Committee on Infractions are stumped.

"I've always had a healthy respect for how much of a deterrent effect we have," Gene Marsh, a law professor at the University of Alabama and a past chair and current member of the committee, told the commission. But sometimes, he added, "I also wonder how much effect we have at all." Josephine Potuto, a law professor at the University of Nebraska and the committee's chair, said the committee is discussing "upping the ante on violations" and will look at new types of penalties. Committee members may also dust off old ones that have not been used in years, she said. The conversation is continuing, and the NCAA's Division I Board of Directors will have the final say. Ms. Potuto, who has been Nebraska's faculty-athletics representative since 1997, said her view was that the penalties must be strengthened. "Lighter penalties may encourage others right now who are following the rules to say, 'The cost-benefit analysis looks better. I migh t give it a whirl.'"

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Stacy Johnson-Klein and Fresno State Agree to Settle for $9 Million
From FresnoBee.com

Fresno State and Stacy Johnson-Klein have reached a settlement in the former women's basketball coach's landmark sex discrimination lawsuit against the university, her lead attorney said Tuesday. The deal apparently ends a bitter and high-profile struggle that prompted criticism of Fresno State President John Welty and the university's handling of women's athletics.

Johnson-Klein lawyer Warren Paboojian said the agreement calls for Fresno State to pay $9 million -- far less than the $19.1 million awarded by a jury last year but nearly as much as a reduced award later handed down by a judge. The $9 million -- $5.4 million now and $3.6 million in payments over 20 years -- includes attorneys' fees, Paboojian said. He declined to reveal how the money would be divided between Johnson-Klein and her lawyers.

Paboojian said the settlement probably saved Fresno State and the California State University system about $900,000, based on the growing total of Johnson-Klein's judgment, plaintiff's costs, attorneys' fees and interest. The settlement came after 11 hours of mediation in San Jose on Tuesday, Paboojian said. The Bee was unable to contact California State University representatives to independently confirm his account. A Fresno State official did not comment. "We're happy Fresno State did the right thing," Paboojian said. Johnson-Klein was not available for comment, he said. "She's happy to have the case settled and to be able to put this behind her," Paboojian said.

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Big Gap in Pay for Men’s and Women’s Lacrosse Coaches
By Erik Brady, USA Today

The median salary for head coaches of men's lacrosse at the big football schools in 2006 was $165,400 — and for women's it was $80,200, an NCAA report says.

"Most coaches suspected our male counterparts were making more, but not this much," says Danie Caro, president of the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association. "It stinks, obviously."

The gap will be a topic of conversation at the women's lacrosse Final Four in Towson, Md., where semifinal games are Friday.
The NCAA report examines revenues and expenses of Division I athletics programs for fiscal years 2004, '05 and '06. The pay gap between coaches of men's and women's lacrosse teams in Division I-AA was $69,400 to $55,900 in 2006; at Division I schools without football, the gap was $64,000 to $53,000. The figures include base salary, bonuses and benefits.

"If schools pay coaches of men's and women's teams different salaries for doing substantially the same work, that is potentially a Title VII violation," says Jocelyn Samuels of the National Women's Law Center. "If the salaries indicate a difference in the caliber of coaches, that could be a Title IX violation."

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College Sports Need More Women Coaches
By Charles L. Kennedy, TheMorningCall.com

In 2008 it is guaranteed by U.S. law that this is no country for sex discrimination. However, it also appears to be by practice no country for women coaches.

Pat Summit and her Tennessee Lady Volunteers recently defeated Tara VanDerveer and the Stanford Cardinals to win the 2008 women's NCAAA national basketball championship. This was the eighth championship for Summit; VanDerveer has won two national titles. Both have coached the U.S. Olympic team. They are the exception, however, and not the rule in major college sports.

It's shocking that there aren't more Summits and VanDerveers coaching women's teams on the intercollegiate level. In my most recent study, ''The Glass Ceiling Report Card II,'' of the 1,082 women's athletic teams at 115 colleges in the major Division I conferences, only 47.9 percent of the head coaches are female. Additionally, only 53.5 percent of the 2,372 assistant coaches for these teams are women.

In only two conferences, the Big Ten and the Mid-American Conference (MAC), women held over 50 percent of the head coaching positions for women's sports. For assistant coaches, there were only two conferences, the Big Ten and Conference USA, in which women held over 60 percent of the assistant coaching positions for women's sports. The number of female head coaches for women's teams actually dropped 0.9 percent from the 2004-05 season to the 2005-06 season.

I find it almost incomprehensible that 36 years after the passage of Title IX, the landmark legislation that prohibits discrimination against women by all schools receiving federal funds, that there aren't more female coaches in college sports. I can't believe that there aren't more women who are both interested in coaching and qualified to coach women's teams. I mentioned this to a colleague, and a fellow sports fan, and his comment was startling. ''Qualified women probably aren't interested and interested women aren't qualified.'' I suspect this was the same argument that was used prior to Title IX to deny women seats in law school and medical school. With nearly 200,000 women now participating in intercollegiate athletics, I think it is fairly obvious, ''If you build it, they will come.''

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Sports World Begins to Sputter Under Weight of Fuel Prices
By Erik Brady and Jeff Zillgitt, USA Today

Utah is budgeting $3 million on athletics travel in 2008-09, up from about $2.6 million this school year. That includes hotels and other expenses, but "air travel is a big part," athletics director Chris Hill says. The Mountain West Conference stretches from Wyoming to Texas (Texas Christian) and Southern California (San Diego State). For Utah, that means air travel except for bus trips to Brigham Young and, in some cases, to UNLV and Wyoming. "Our schedule is the schedule," Hill says, "so little of it is optional."

Boston College sometimes puts teams on flights out of Providence instead of Boston to save money. Iowa State buses teams three hours south to Kansas City, Mo., when it costs more to fly from Des Moines. "We're frugal," BC athletics director Gene DeFilippo says. "We look for ways to be smarter." BC moved in 2005 from the Big East to the Atlantic Coast Conference. It is the northernmost school of 12 members, and its closest conference rival is Maryland. BC's football team charters a Boeing 737 jet for its trips, transporting 60 to 65 players among an overall traveling party of 150 to 160 (also including coaches, trainers, managers, administrators and sometimes cheerleaders and the band).

Eric Ziady, BC's associate AD for business operations, estimates the cost will be 10% higher for the coming football season than in 2006, when BC made the same set of conference trips. Chartering a flight to Florida State, for example, is expected to cost about $80,000, up from $70,000. Virginia fan Don Perry drives 280 miles roundtrip from Virginia Beach to Charlottesville for football games. He thinks even if prices go higher by fall that college football fans will still drive long distances. "Many fans contribute a good deal of money to get good seats," Perry says. "An increase in driving costs won't stop them. Most people make a weekend of it."

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Work/Life Detox Helps to Cultivate Resilience
By Judy Martin, The Work/Life Monitor

After a whirlwind of travel for nearly two weeks, designed to help me build my "inner warehouse of stillness," on my elusive quest for worklife balance - I have landed at a colleague's home in Boston. At AM this morning in a deep silent contemplative state, I thought about the last two weeks of quiet time and the "detoxification program" that I had undergone. That was until my friends radio alarm went off screeching the following missive: "A bomb went off in Islamabad, Pakistan this morning." Being my nosy self, I suggested she awake to some soft music or ocean sounds instead of the news. She just laughed. It might be jarring and in contrast to any anti-stress methods - but it gets her out of bed. Shocked back into the reality of our times, I realized how important the last two weeks have been for my worklife constitution or profile. I had allowed myself a huge block of silent time. I chose to abstain from the longing need to answer every call, return every e-mail and read every headline. It was a purposeful, carefully planned time to turn off from the world - and cultivate resilience. I also went on a doctor supervised detoxification program to prepare my body and mind for the load of work in the pipeline.
We participate in spring cleaning, and we often kick-start diets to prepare for the summer bathing suit weather, but how many of us detoxify our worklife constitution? How often do we evaluate the conditions under which we work? Here are five steps toward detoxifying your worklife constitution:

1. Choose to Detox your WorkLife Constitution: Start with dead silence, no expectations, and no attachments. During my detox it occurred to me that some of my working methods needed to change. So I went into a dead silent phase during the detox. What emerged was fascinating. It wasn't that I needed to organize more, but instead, to spend more time in silence - just listening to my inner wisdom. It's a more difficult approach than pushing our will. It's certainly not for the "Ye of little faith," nor is it for those who fear they'll miss the boat if a colleague gets to the finish line before they do. What is your gut trying to tell you that needs to be changed about your worklife experience?
2. Detoxing the intersection of your working and living experience: From the moment that alarm goes off, to the moment you walk out the door or head to your home office what is the typical routine? Get out paper and pen and write down the general scenario. (ie. I wake up, brush my teeth, meditate, get the kids up, make breakfast, turn on the tv..etc) How you prepare for your day will impact your mood for the rest of the day. Be circumspect of your language and behavior prior to work. What tone are you setting out of the gate? What behaviors no longer serve your quest for better worklife integration?

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Who Chooses Division III?
Posted by Josh, NCAA.org

At yesterday's Division III Town Hall in San Antonio, more than 200 administrators came together to address membership growth and other issues affecting the NCAA's largest division. As a Division III lifer, I couldn't have been more fascinated by the discussions and felt truly fortunate to be a part of the experience. For me, the most interesting part of the town hall was when the attendees discussed whether Division III should be doing a better job branding itself. Because I love Division III so much, and feel confident in what its mission is, I never really gave much thought to what DIII might mean to the outside world, including prospective student-athletes.
During the discussion yesterday, a number of folks addressed Division II's branding campaign, which has truly changed perceptions of the division in the last couple of years. "I Chose Division II" is a tag line that all associated with DII can be proud of - and they are. It's created a special feeling among student-athletes and administrators in the division, and when members of the public here "I Chose," they're beginning to think "Division II."

But what about Division III? What do we think of when someone says "Division III athletics" or "Division III championship?" Are people focused on the fact that Division III doesn't offer athletics-based scholarships? Do they know that there are nearly 450 institutions that call the division home? How about the absolute knowledge that Division III stresses academics first and believes that participation in sports is integral in the academic experience? I could go on and on about what Division III means to me, but is it time for a tag line? I think some may not be enamored with the name "Division III" because perception suggests that three is worse than two is worse than one. People may question the name of the division, but there wasn't a day I didn't feel fortunate to be a Division III student-athlete. We played Division II teams during the regular season each spring - and we beat them each spring. I never felt inferior - we were as good as we could be and I don't think any of my teammates thought about Division III as worse than DII or DI.
But this isn't about one student-athlete who loved his athletics experience; it's about making sure that the perception about Division III is reality. Judging by yesterday's responses, I'm not sure all stakeholders agree that everyone thinks of Division III the same way, or in a positive light. If that's true, it's unfortunate, because Division III is truly special.

What say you? Does Division III need a branding campaign? What do you think about when someone says "Division III?"

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Legislative Credentials
By Peter Onear, The Chronicle of Higher Education

I attended a recent higher-education conference in my state capital and happened to sit at dinner with a group of university presidents and provosts. When the conversation inevitably turned to politics, the group began commenting on the number of state legislators who have college educations. "I think it's less than 30 percent," one provost speculated. A president shook her head as if pitying the poor uneducated legislators. "Have you noticed how they list themselves as 'attended' when they haven't graduated?" she added. A provost across the table from me rolled his eyes and exclaimed, "God help us all!"
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We laughed and sipped our wine.

Well, I laughed less. Over the years, I too have participated in making fun of legislators' lack of formal education. How ironic that those uneducated buffoons are making laws and appropriating money for higher education. However, my attitude has changed over the years as I've worked more closely with lawmakers and have become more involved with the legislative process. According to various "legislative profiles" on the Web, a more accurate figure for the proportion of America's approximately 7,400 legislators who have finished a college degree is 50 percent, not 30 percent. Almost 20 percent of state lawmakers are lawyers. In the House and Senate districts that include and surround my university, six of the eight state legislators have college degrees. Three are lawyers, two are teachers, and one has a finance degree. Three of the six degree holders are alumni of my university. Perhaps it's unusual, and perhaps I am fortunate to have so many "ed ucated" legislators involved in my university. However, I'm not certain that I'm any more fortunate than my government-relations colleagues who may have only one or two legislators with college degrees.

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Leadership - Blend Of All Positive Qualities
By Amol Chavan, Ezine Articles.com

The person is the real leader who understands others and helps them honestly in his own limitations. Leadership attributes may be different by individual, but understanding others is the first and foremost attribute of leadership of any kind. No any person can be a good leader without people support.

It is your leading attitude which determines your leadership duration. All your leading traits reflect that how you will direct your followers. Your leadership should bring together your followers to fulfill the same goals. It should have the capacity to inspire others for working towards the same goals. It needs to communicate with your followers to overcome difficulties coming in the goals. Any venture's success depends upon communication, cooperation between its leading man and the followers.

Nature of bringing others together is the base of your leadership which assist you in building trust among your followers. This trust should not command others. Your followers never want your autocracy. They want relationship with you based on mutual trust. It helps you in achieving excellence as well as in building your character as a good leader. Your leadership should consider others opinions before taking important decision or in setting goals.

Your leadership needs to be flexible towards changes. It means you have to consider changes in the organization with care and accept it without neglecting the main goals. Your leadership needs to motivate your followers. As a leader, you should have attitude of inspiring others. Your motivation and inspiration give a new direction to your followers about the changes in organization. It is your leadership which rebuilds the followers' confidence.

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Women Want to Wrestle; Small Colleges Oblige
By Katie Thomas, The New York Times

Women’s wrestling teams are sprouting in the most unlikely places.

Missouri Baptist University, a small Christian liberal arts institution, is starting a team this fall. Oklahoma City University, the alma mater of three Miss Americas, began a program in 2007. And Menlo College near San Francisco, which specializes in business management and where nearly two-thirds of the students are men, has had a women’s wrestling team since 2001.

The growth of such an unconventional women’s sport at these small, private institutions has little to do with the federal gender-equity law known as Title IX and everything to do with their bottom line. Officials at tuition-hungry colleges say women’s wrestling is an untapped market of prospective students, one that has curiously been all but ignored by bigger universities.

The inclusion of women’s wrestling in the Olympics beginning in 2004 provided a huge boost to the sport’s popularity and credibility. Five thousand girls nationwide wrestled in high school in the 2006-7 academic year, yet only eight colleges offer it as a varsity sport. Three of those eight programs are starting this fall.

Rosters fill up nearly as quickly as colleges create teams. “When we can get so many girls to come here for a first-year program, that’s 20 to 25 extra students who normally wouldn’t have looked at Jamestown College,” said Cisco Cole, the women’s wrestling coach there.

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Ticketmaster, NCAA Face Lawsuit Over Ticket Lottery
By Alfred Branch Jr., Ticketnews.com

A class action lawsuit filed in a U.S. District Court in California last week is challenging the practices of Ticketmaster and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) that together use a lottery system to distribute tickets for some of the NCAA's hottest events, such as the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament.

The lawsuit alleges that the two organizations are violating racketeering laws because fans trying to purchase tickets to some events are forced to pay a nonrefundable fee just for the right to enter a lottery for tickets.

“Defendants’ scheme requires Plantiff and putative class members to purchase one or more entries for the chance to win the right to purchase tickets to a particular tournament game(s). This scheme satisfies all three elements of a lottery: (1) a prize, (2) an element of chance, and (3) consideration for the chance to win the prize. The consideration is the entry fee and the free use of applicants&rs