By Staff
Athletic Management, 17.5, August/September 2005, http://www.momentummedia.com/articles/am/am1705/wufarad.htm
With NCAA academic reform rules now firmly in place, athletic directors and faculty athletic representatives at the NCAA’s highest level have decided to formally align their organizations. The Division 1A Athletic Directors’ Association and the Division 1A Faculty Athletic Representatives will share an annual meeting in September and collaborate on issues that specifically affect institutions in the NCAA I-A classification.
“With the recent changes in the NCAA, it has become very apparent that athletic directors and faculty representatives need to work even more closely together on eligibility and academic issues,” says Dutch Baughman, Executive Director of the Division 1A Athletic Directors’ Association. “We felt it was necessary and appropriate for these two groups to develop a relationship on a national level, so that they would have the opportunity to meet as a group to discuss the issues they have in common.”
In 2002, Baughman invited a faculty athletic representative from each NCAA Division I-A conference to attend the athletic directors’ annual meeting. The following year, Baughman extended invitations to every faculty rep in Division I-A, and by 2004’s meeting, there were close to 50 FARs in attendance. At the same time, Division I-A members of the Faculty Athletic Representatives Association (FARA) started to feel the need for an organization of their own.
“A number of the I-A reps have felt for a long time that there were so many issues that related only to Division I-A, and we were struggling to find a way to address those issues in an organization where members came from so many different levels,” says Percy Bates, Faculty Athletic Representative at the University of Michigan. “We could see a parallel to the 1A Athletic Directors’ Association, because they had been in a similar situation with NACDA. So a group of us decided to form an organization that would allow us to meet our needs head on.”
Chaired by Bates, the 1A Faculty Athletics Representatives announced its formation earlier this year, as well as its formal alignment with the 1A Athletic Directors’ Association. According to Bates, the members will continue to be part of FARA, and will use this new organization to strengthen their voice on issues primarily affecting Division I-A.
“Having athletic directors and faculty representatives marching to the same tune is a much better way to address the issues that are important to Division I-A,” says Bates. “We may not always agree, but we need the strength of both groups working together in order to make things happen in our area of mutual concern: the welfare of our student-athletes.
“My hope is that the collaboration will lead to much better communication and a higher level of agreement on issues,” continues Bates. “Instead of FARs saying one thing and athletic directors saying another, I’m looking for us to speak with one voice. Our message is stronger when we’re speaking together.”
In their first major collaboration, the two groups will create an executive committee with one athletic director and one faculty rep from each of the 11 Division I-A conferences, which will consult with the NCAA’s newly formed Presidential Task Force on the Future of Intercollegiate Athletics. Charged with exploring the alignment of athletics with the institutional missions of its universities, the NCAA task force will concentrate on fiscal responsibility, commercialism, organizational structure, and the transparency of athletics operations. The task force is expected to meet regularly over the next two years and complete its report in 2007.
“The fact that our association will formally collaborate with the presidential task force of the NCAA is extremely significant, as is the fact that our association of athletic directors will be joined by the faculty athletic representatives,” says Baughman. “Something like this has never occurred before, and there’s an opportunity for our groups to be in a key position to identify issues and make recommendations as the work of this task force unfolds.”
All members of the Division 1A FAR and Division 1A ADA will have a chance to meet on Sept. 26 at the groups’ first combined annual meeting. “This will allow us a forum on issues that pertain to the faculty reps as well as the I-A athletic directors,” says Baughman. “It will also help recognize that faculty reps are colleagues of athletic directors.”
“The real significance,” continues Baughman, “is that our two organizations are moving forward together.”