2013 NCAA Convention

Division III: Rules Compliance Campus Integration

While campus resources devoted to NCAA compliance vary widely across the division, all institutions are obligated to adhere to NCAA regulations, from recruiting, eligibility, and playing and practice seasons, to financial aid. This cannot be done by athletics staff alone; it requires active involvement from numerous campus departments and the knowledge of available resources that can help in this endeavor. During this session, you will hear from Division III administrators who have incorporated compliance systems that reach beyond athletics. Additionally, we will look at some of the resources available at the conference and national levels to help institutions with compliance.

Moderator: Jeff Myers, Director of Academic and Membership Affairs for Division III, NCAA

Jeff Myers has been with the NCAA since September 2005.  He first worked with the enforcement division before transitioning to academic and membership affairs as a governance liaison in 2007.  During his tenure with the academic and membership affairs division, he has worked with numerous Division III committees, external constituencies and NCAA staff regarding matters impacting the Division III membership.

Before working at the NCAA, Myers practiced law in Dayton, Ohio.  He graduated from Earlham College, where he was a Division III student-athlete in football and baseball.  Myers later earned his J.D. from the University of Dayton School of Law.

Speakers:

Rebecca Begley, Senior Woman Administrator, Wheaton College (Massachusetts)

Now in her 13th season at the helm of Wheaton’s field hockey program, fifth as senior woman administrator and second as assistant director of athletics, Rebecca Begley has been an integral member of the athletics department since the fall of 2000.

Begley has coached the Lyons to 69 wins during the last six years, posting the first back-to-back-to-back 10-victory seasons in school history.  During the past six fall seasons, Wheaton advanced to the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) tournament semifinals four times and qualified for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) tournament on three occasions.

From 2001 to 2005, Begley also guided the Wheaton women’s lacrosse program to a pair of NCAA tournament appearances, two NEWMAC tournament crowns and three regular-season conference titles.  In 2004, the Lyons set a single-season school record for wins (15) and advanced to the NCAA tournament quarterfinals.  Begley owns a pair of NEWMAC Coach of the Year awards and a career mark of 59-26 (.694).  During that time, Begley also served as the department’s alumni relations liaison and negotiated an exclusive contract with Nike and PrimeTime Sports.

In addition to her coaching duties at Wheaton, Begley also serves as the department’s compliance officer, and in 2011, she was named the college’s Title IX coordinator.  As the SWA, Begley supervises facilities, co-created the Lyons Athletic Club with the director of the annual fund and helped pen the constitution of the Hall of Fame.

Begley now serves on the NEWMAC Constitution and Bylaws Committee and is the conference’s field hockey chair.  Begley is a member of several organizations and has served on a number of committees.  She has served on the NCAA Regional Advisory Committee, National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) All-America Committee and two NEWMAC committees.  She also chaired the NFHCA Coach of the Year Committee and served on the NCAA Virtual Focus Group, NFHCA Awards and Hall of Fame, NFHCA all-Region, and ECAC tournament committees.  Begley was also a member of the women’s lacrosse all-region selection committee and Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association Ethics Committee.

Before going to Wheaton, Begley spent two seasons as the assistant field hockey and women’s lacrosse coach at Denison University in Granville, Ohio.  While at Denison, the field hockey team captured consecutive North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) championships.  In 1999, the field hockey team earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament with a 16-4 record. The women’s lacrosse squad also won consecutive NCAC titles, with the 2000 team automatically qualifying for the NCAA tournament.

Begley also spent one year as head field hockey coach at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, where her 1997 squad tied a school record for the most wins in a season (14-6).  Additionally, she was responsible for assisting the head women’s lacrosse coach in the spring of 1998.

A native of Concord, New Hampshire, Begley is a 1996 graduate of Dickinson College, where she was a three-time all-region honoree and four-year letter winner in field hockey.  A former center midfielder, she is among the all-time assists leaders at Dickinson.  Begley earned a bachelor’s degree in American studies with a concentration in Alaskan native studies.

Amy Hackett, Director of Athletics, University of Puget Sound

Amy Hackett was named director of athletics at Puget Sound in 2003 after seven years as associate athletic director at the University of Utah.

While Hackett has served at Puget Sound, the athletics program has thrived as a Division III member, winning the Northwest Conference (NWC) All-Sports Trophy in 2006 and 2007, capturing more than 27 conference titles and advancing numerous teams to championships.  Hackett served as the chair of the NWC Board of Athletics Administrators in 2006-07 and 2007-08.  She currently serves on the Division III Committee on Infractions.

At Utah, Hackett oversaw 11 sports programs, business and finance, human resources, and events and facilities management.  She was a member of various university committees, including the Oversight Committee for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, and was the lead coordinator for the men’s basketball team appearance at the 1998 NCAA Final Four.

Before her time as Utah, she was associate athletics director at Santa Clara University for 10 years and also worked for two minor league professional baseball organizations in Nashville, Tennessee, and Eugene, Oregon.  She was a member of the NCAA Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee and chair of the American Indian Mascot Subcommittee.  She previously served on the Executive Committee of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and the NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Committee.

Hackett is a graduate of Oregon State University and holds a master of sports administration and facilities management from Ohio University.

John Jackson, Assistant Dean and Director of Undergraduate Advising, University of Texas at Dallas

John Jackson has worked at the University of Texas at Dallas since 1997 in several levels of academic advising, including his current role as assistant dean and director of undergraduate advising.  Since 2000, Jackson has been responsible for certifying all student-athletes’ eligibility and has been instrumental in bridging the gap between the athletics department and faculty.  He has worked closely with coaches, student-athletes and instructors to help encourage student-athletes’ academic progress and coaches’ ability to make roster decisions in a timely manner.

Jackson earned a bachelor’s degree at Louisiana State University and a master’s degree at McNeese State University.  He is currently working on a doctorate at the University of Texas at Dallas.

Beth Wilmeth, Assistant Director of Athletics for Compliance, Northwestern College (Minnesota)

Beth Wilmeth, head women’s volleyball coach and assistant director of athletics for compliance at Northwestern College (Minnesota), is in her ninth year with the Eagles’ athletics department.  Hired as Northwestern’s first compliance officer in 2004, Wilmeth has played a pivotal role in the Eagles’ transition from the NAIA to NCAA Division III.

While Wilmeth was responsible for creating the framework of Northwestern’s compliance systems, she was also challenged with the task of educating and monitoring a coaching staff that, at the time, included only four full-time members in 18 varsity sports.  During Wilmeth’s compliance oversight, Northwestern completed the NCAA provisional membership process a year early due to advanced systems that were put into place.

Wilmeth is also credited with beginning Northwestern’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, while taking the lead on the Northwestern Athletics Leadership Institute, a voluntary 12-step curriculum designed for student-athletes to grow in their leadership skills.  On the volleyball court, Wilmeth’s teams have reached championships in each of the last three years while four of her student-athletes have garnered All-America awards from the American Volleyball Coaches Association.

Wilmeth earned her undergraduate degree from Northwestern and master’s degree from Minnesota State University, Mankato.