by Peggy Carl
What a week! I was excited to be able to spend the week with my colleagues again in person. I was full of hope that the 2022 NCAA Convention would signal a “return to normal”, which in many ways, it did. I arrived in Indianapolis just ahead of a snow storm that blanketed my hometown with 9” of snow and got about the business of plotting out which meetings and educational sessions I would attend. I took a quick walk over to the Indianapolis Convention Center to scope out registration, etc.
Wednesday brought registration, some compulsory shopping at the NCAA store and a wonderful opportunity to connect with my female friends and colleagues at an informal and smaller version of the Women Leaders in College Sports reception. In terms of NCAA actions today, the big news came in the form of updates to the NCAA Transgender Participation Policy by the NCAA Board of Governors. Sadly, many hailed this as nothing more than “passing the buck” to each sport’s national governing body. Stay tuned on this one...!
Thursday found me at a plethora of meetings, including listening to Dr. Mark Emmert’s State of College Sports, where he identified our current state as one of “big shifts” but also a time to look at and affirm our core values as an association. Dr. Emmert then presented Herb Magee with the Summit Award (https://www.ncaa.org/news/2022/1/14/media-center-2022-pat-summitt-award-winner-herb-magee.aspx) and ended the session with what has been hailed as an historic vote on a new constitution by a vote of 801-195. This new constitution will provide each division with a level of autonomy never before experienced. It was pointed out that the constitution was being substantially changed for only the fourth time since the association’s creation in 1906. President Emmert also provided the membership with two important reminders; 1) that there is more right than wrong with collegiate athletics, and 2) that if we thought our work was finished, that it was not – that we were only just beginning. J
Friday was filled with conference meetings and a review of the legislative slate that we would be voting on later the next day. This was followed by some time to spend with conference colleagues in informal meetings.
Saturday morning found us at our separate divisional meetings. In Division II, we honored Award of Excellence recipients, The University of Minnesota, Duluth on their Green Bandana initiative around mental health awareness. The voting results in Division II were as follows (all effective immediately except where noted):
2022-1 287/2/0
2022-2 290/3/0
2022-3 202/87/1 8/1/22
2022-4 232/56/3
2022-5 – not moved –
2022-6 275/4/8
2022-7 144/137/6 8/1/22
2022-8 139/18/2
2022-9 – moot –
After lunch (a mere 3 hours after voting concluded), as I walked back through the Indianapolis Convention Center, there wasn’t a shred of evidence that a convention was ever there. Until next January, friends... see you in San Antonio!!
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