Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 10, 1992 TAG: 9201100066
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL BRILL SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: ANAHEIM, CALIF. LENGTH: Medium
DIVISION I-AAA PROPOSAL FAILS
Division I-AAA football, long a dream of Old Dominion University, was killed Thursday by a negative vote from Division II.That left 27 Division I schools that previously had played Division III football without an affiliation.
According to NCAA rules, the vote had to carry in all divisions. It sneaked by in Division I, 166-143, and overwhelmingly in Division III, 218-10, but was beaten in Division II, 107-68.
Even though Old Dominion does not play football, I-AAA had been the brainchild of athletic director Jim Jarrett, and supported on the floor by president James Koch.
"We make a commitment to Division I in 16 sports," Koch said. "Why can't we have a 17th sport with no scholarships?"
But Division II schools, who cut their grants from 40 to 38 at this convention, feared the far larger Division I teams would recruit their athletes.
Dan Wooldridge, commissioner of the Division III Old Dominion Athletic Conference, explained the fears of Division II and many I-AA schools.
"They could recruit their athletes," Wooldridge said of I-AAA. "Big schools with great facilities would be appealing to a lot of kids, and they'd get need-based aid anyway.
"A lot of Division I schools are opposed because I-AAA would take away their walk-ons."
There has been a vast difference in the level of competition in Division III. That was seen the past two seasons when Dayton twice trounced Ferrum, a dominant Division III program in Virginia.
"The big schools can afford the coaches and the recruiting budgets," Wooldridge said. "They aren't true Division III programs."
At last year's convention, schools were required to play all their competition in one division. This was the last year that basketball powers like Alabama-Birmingham, Dayton, Georgetown and St. John's can play Division III football.
Wooldridge said the fear of the Division III schools was that those larger universities would now seek a return to that level.
\ FROM THE FLOOR: For the first time, college athletes will be able to seek advice about their professional status without being declared ineligible. Aided by their schools' sports counseling panel, they can determine their worth, but can't hire agents.
Hockey and baseball players who have been drafted can negotiate with the teams, but return to school if they don't sign. The motion received overwhelming backing, with most of the opposition coming from large football schools.
Division I basketball schools will be permitted to play one foreign team and one USA Basketball squad in home exhibitions. The Great Alaska Shootout survived and will be granted a special exemption to continue play at Thanksgiving.
A Patriot League proposal that would have required all conferences to get automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament was defeated.
Private apartment dwellings and school dorms that house more than 50 percent athletes will be phased out along with athletic dormitories.
By a slim margin, 57-55, Division I delegates beat a football plan that would have permitted unlimited telephone calls to prospects during the 48-hour "dead period" when they are considering scholarship offers.
Unlike football, which was able to gain back an assistant coach, basketball lost its third assistant.