Old Dominion Athletic Conference

Spring Meeting Action Items

May 21-23 – Virginia Beach, Va./Wyndham Resort

 

Attendance

All schools were represented at the start of the meeting.

 

Presentations

The Board accepted two presentations prior to beginning its work on the agenda. Randolph College’s Heather Somers presented a short PowerPoint on Facebook and MySpace (attached). NCAA Membership Services representative Shana Levine discussed eligibility and transfers with the membership including a short update on the DIII Governance discussions and out-of-season contact following the 2007 Convention.

 

The recent conversations concerning DIII membership and possible sub-division were included in Shana’s presentation. Val Cushman (Randolph) elaborated on the DIII Management Council focus and continued dialogue in the Executive Working Group.

 

Membership Proposals

      1.   Write a letter from the conference that would go to the NCAA executive working group and the presidents explaining that we had the opportunity to discuss these issues. The letter will also support the Haverford group’s letter about the speed/haste of the decisions being made. APPROVED (11y, 0n, 2abstin)

           

      2.   Send a letter to the ODAC presidents outlining each of the steps the Board reviewed in this discussion and encourage discourse with the presidents in a conference-wide forum (perhaps September presidents meeting) to explain where we are and the decisions that need to be made for the future. APPROVED (11y, 0n, 2abstin)

 

Awards Committee

The awards committee will review the conference sportsmanship awards and the methods sport committees use to determine their annual winner. In addition the committee will review the method used to hand out the conference commissioner’s cups. The Board can expect a report at its scheduled December 2007 meeting.

 

Calendar and Site

The fall Board of Directors meeting will be held at Emory & Henry College on Dec. 3-4, 2007. The spring meeting will move to Smith Mountain Lake. Details on the meeting location and prices will be available in the fall. The meeting dates will be May 20-22.

 

Officiating Committee

The officiating committee should work with the commissioner and review procedures for evaluation of conference supervisors. The committee will file a report at the December meeting after studying additional conference procedures regionally and nationally.

 

Shenandoah Membership Information

      1.   PROPOSAL: Support from the ODAC to approve a site visit of Shenandoah University with a

            phone conversation to Dr. Davis at Shenandoah that this is an exploration, not admission into the

            ODAC. APPROVED (7y, 4n, 1abstin)

 

Championship and Games Committee

      1.   Schools should have the ability to adjust football start times on special dates – moving away from

            the traditional 1pm start in the event they host a special event on campus calling for a 1:30 or

2pm start depending on the time of the year (provided they are in mutual agreement and daylight savings time still in place). APPROVED

 

      2.   The committee recommends the Board consider an adjustment to the rule allowing flexibility with

Fall sport start times (with home football) provided the two schools can agree. If not, the default times available will continue to be 11am or 3pm. APPROVED

 

      3.   The committee also suggests that a conference call take place with all participating teams and

            officials prior to the semifinal round of each championship to assure full compliance with

            tournament procedures. APPROVED

 

Tie-Breaker Lots – 2007-08

 

                 Base.      MBB        WBB        FHOC       MLAX      WLAX      MSOC      WSOC      Soft.       MTen.      WTen.       VB

BC            8              4              7               6               x                6                9                10              3             8               6                4

EMU         10            1              6               2               x                x                2                1                6             x                x                 7

E&H         5              3              2               x                x                x                8                5                1             3               3                8

GC            3              5              9               x                3               7                5                4                7             10             7                5

HSC         1              9              x               x                6               x                1                x                 x              2               x                 x

HU            x               x               3               x                x                2                x                11              x              x                8                x

LC            2              6              1               8               2               1                3                9                10           6               10              11

Rand.       x               x               11            5               x                x                x                7                2             4               2                6

RMC         4              2              10            3               1               3                7                12              4             7               11              1

RC            6              10            8               1               7               9                6                8                5             5               1                10

SBC         x               x               x               4               x                8                x                2                8             x                4                2

VWC        9              8              5               7               5               5                4                3                9             1               5                3

WLU        7              7              4               9               4               4                10             6                x              9               9                9

 

Scheduling Committee

      1.   Consider the proposal to change the men’s basketball schedule to 16 league games instead of

            the current format requiring double round-robin play. FAILED (4y, 6n, 3abstin)

 

Training

      1.   Allow Trainers to meet via conference call again next year (2007-08). APPROVED - unanimous

 

Baseball

      1.   Teams have the option to begin their weekend DH to start at 1:00 after daylight savings time

            starts.  If a consensus cannot be reached, the default time is 12:00. (I.C.). APPROVED

     

      2.   (I.D) Batting Practice Times

 

      Weekday:

            105 minutes before game time -              Visiting Team BP

            75 minutes before game time -                Home Team BP

            45 minutes before game time -                Clear Field

            40 minutes before game time -                Visiting Team Infield

            30 minutes before game time -                Home Team Infield

            20 minutes before game time -                Field Prep

 

      Weekend:

            105 minutes before game time -              Home Team BP

            75 minutes before game time -                Visiting Team BP

            45 minutes before game time -                Clear Field

            40 minutes before game time -                Home Team Infield

            30 minutes before game time -                Visiting Team Infield

            20 minutes before game time -                Field Prep

 

* A motion was made to refer the increase in batting practice times to the championships and games committee for review of pregame formats in all ODAC sports. APPROVED

     

3.       The 2008 tournament will be held April 24-27 in Lynchburg at City Stadium. (II.A) APPROVED

 

4.       Adjust the tournament home team formula to award the higher seed as the home team throughout the tournament. APPROVED

 

Golf

 

      1.   Recommendation Two – Commissioner Bankston should contact the NCAA and ask their opinion

            of holding our Conference Tournament in two parts, one in the fall and one in the spring.  Would

            both parts be exempt from the 20 round maximum?

*Commissioner Bankston will discuss this option with the NCAA and report to the committee prior to next year’s meeting.

 

      2.   That the Endorsed List be updated by deleting the Tom Keller Memorial and the Pine Needles

            Invitational, and adding Camp LeJeune. APPROVED

 

      3.   Decision to approve use of VSGA Rules Officials (2) at the ODAC Conference Championship

            (Budget impact will affect final implementation). APPROVED

 

Men’s Lacrosse

      1.   The ODAC men’s lacrosse coaches unanimously agreed to request a letter written by Brad

Bankston to the appropriate NCAA committees and administrators expressing league concerns about the NCAA selection process and the lack of representation in the southern conferences

            and ODAC.  (It was noted that the Centennial Conference is already drafting a letter to the NCAA

with similar concerns. Commissioner Bankston will review the Centennial’s correspondence and work with the executive committee to determine the proper direction for the ODAC’s possible response.

 

      2.   Explore expanded ODAC tournament in 2009 (five-team format) with more serious discussion next year at the coaches and AD level. APPROVED

 

It was agreed by the coaches and supported by Chuck O’Connell that the championship game should be played on Sunday every year (1 PM).) APPROVED

 

Women’s Lacrosse

      1.   Change goalie voting to 3, 1 in all-conference voting procedures. APPROVED

      2.   Change all-conference voting procedures to vote for 10 nominees per position. APPROVED

 

Softball

      1.   The committee recommends that the 2008 ODAC tournament be pushed back one week and

begin on Friday, April 25th. APPROVEDNoted that this might cause a problem with 2008 provided the coaches have completed scheduling. The intent of the softball coaches was to implement the change in 2008.

 

      2.   The committee recommends expanding the ODAC tournament to include the top eight teams

            instead of the top six.

 

* A motion was made to refer this to the championships and games committee in an effort to review the percentage of conference teams that advance to championshsip for all 22 league-sponsored sports. APPROVED

 

Swimming

      1.   Regular Season Competition

            E.  The home team is responsible for providing adequate officials to conduct the meet

            (dual or otherwise), and to conduct an official meet in accordance with NCAA rules. 

            Failure to do so may result in forfeiture of the meet.  A backup timer is required for each heat

and each lane at ODAC meets.  A manual stop watch must be used as the primary backup

to electronic timing systems. APPROVED WITH AMENDMENT TO ELIMINATE THE LANGUAGE OF FORFEITURE.

 

      2.  Conference Championship Tournament

            A.  Determination of Date and Site

            The conference meet shall be named             “The ODAC Swimming Championship” APPROVED

 

            B.  The date and site of the conference meet shall be determined by a vote of the                                        coaches at the annual spring meeting. APPROVED

 

            C.  Determination of Tournament Champion

            The winner of the conference championship meet shall be the team scoring the greatest     

            number of points according to the scoring procedure described below:

                        1. scoring will be carried to 16 places, in accordance with the NCAA                                                       rule book. APPROVED

 

            D.  Tournament Administrative Personnel and Their Duties

                        4.  The conference meet director shall hire an outside professional to act as                                           “Meet         Manager”.   APPROVED

 

            E.  Officials

                        3.  Payment of Officials

All participating teams shall be billed to cover the cost of officials and other expenses  pertaining to the running of the championship meet. APPROVED

           

      3.   Procedures for the Selection of Awards Recipients

            A.  All-Conference Team

                        1.  Swimmers on the All-Conference Team shall be selected by means of

                        consideration times arrived at using a formula based on the current NCAA

                        Division III Championship qualifying standards. APPROVED

 

The all-conference consideration times are calculated by taking the invited national qualifying time (NQT) for each NCAA event (announced two weeks prior to NCAA’s) and multiplying that time in seconds by a consistent percentage (i.e. NQT + 7%).  A swimmer may qualify for the All-Conference team in one or more events, and more than one swimmer may qualify in an event. APPROVED

 

            B. Coach of the Year

                        Selected by a vote of the coaches at the conference championship, following the                                              prescribed guidelines in the ODAC Manual. APPROVED

            C.  Bonnie Kestner Sportsmanship Award

                        Selected by a vote of the coaches at the conference championship. APPROVED

 

      4.   Coaches Meetings

            Two to be held annually:  one at the conference championships to select the Swimmer,

            Rookie, and Coach of the Year, as well as the Bonnie Kestner Sportsmanship award,

            and one at the Spring meeting (set for the last Friday in April) to conduct all other sport

            committee business. APPROVED

 

Men’s Tennis

      1.   Request a third-place game on Sunday Saturday of the conference tournament prior to the championship following both semifinals earlier in the day. MOTION TO AMEND THE RECOMMENDATION AS NOTED ABOVE. APPROVED

 

      2.   Recommend that USTA umpires be present for conference semifinals and championship – also

            suggested for quarterfinal matches. APPROVED

 

3.       Approve the new format for all-conference selections.
*Motion to refer the procedure to the awards committee requesting that the members review the recommendation from men’s tennis and review the process implemented by women’s tennis following the championship format adjustment in 2007. APPROVED

 

Track and Field/Cross Country

      1.   Change outdoor championships to two-day meet with trials the day before. APPROVED

 

2.       Add the 3,000-meter steeplechase as a championship event. APPROVED

 

      3.   Pole vault starting heights will be determined by the games committee.  The starting height will be

            12 inches below the sixth seed on the final performance list. APPROVED

 

VISOA/Soccer Officiating

Jay Hall, Commissioner of VISOA, was asked to visit the meeting and review the recent letter indicating a fee increase for 2007. The Board concluded that VISOA should work with the commissioner to negotiate a new contract in 2007 and beyond keeping in mind the necessity to recognize a tiered fee increase due to budget limitations at many schools in the conference. Mr. Hall agreed to meet with Commissioner Bankston in early June to complete a contract for 2007-2009 soccer seasons. A new agreement letter will be distributed to the schools once this process is complete.

 

Commissioner’s Cup Presentations

Washington and Lee captured all three cups in the 2006-07 academic year. Plaques were awarded to W&L interim athletics director Chuck O’Connell. Farm Bureau plans to send a representative to Lexington to award the cups to members of the W&L staff.

 

Scholar-Athlete Award

The winner of the Majorie Berkley and Doc Jopson awards were selected. Hampden-Sydney’s Greg Smith was selected the winner of the Jopson award while Washington and Lee’s Ginny Wortham was selected as the Berkley winner.

 

Nominating Committee Report

The nominating committee presented the slate of officers for 2007-08, 2008-09. Kelly Morrison (SBC) – President; Denis Kanach (RMC) – President-Elect; Curt Kendall (BC) – Past-President. APPROVED