Division I Board looking for more diversity on new Council

The Division I Board of Directors will ask each Division I conference to submit a more diverse list of candidates for the Council, board members decided Thursday after reviewing the initial slate of nominees submitted for the group.

The board intends for the Council to be led by athletics directors and conduct the day-to-day business of Division I. Members sent a strong message over the summer and early fall that high-level decision-makers should be nominated to the group, with an emphasis on athletics directors.

The board was expected to appoint members of the Council at its meeting Thursday, but members were dissatisfied with overall diversity of the conferences' recommendations for selections. Board members will talk with conferences about forwarding a more diverse set of nominees.

Board chair Nathan Hatch, president of Wake Forest University, also will appoint an ad hoc group of presidents to evaluate nominees and compile a recommended slate for the board to consider. Because the Council is expected to meet – and begin its work – in January, the board will hold a final vote on the Council's roster within the next month.

“We believe the highest decision-making body in Division I should be reflective of the different perspectives in the division,” Hatch said. “Requiring diversity on the Council will lead to better decisions for the NCAA as a whole. We started restructuring partly because we wanted a broader range of voices in the room for important conversations, and we hope that is the end result when we appoint the Council.”

At its first meeting in January 2015, the Council will elect an athletics director to chair the group. That person will also serve on the board. Any rules adopted by the Council will be subject to a review by the board.

The group's first order of business will be to design the subgroups that will assist in developing legislation, running championships and other necessary functions. The Council will cast votes on new rules for the first time in the 2015-16 legislative cycle.

Board members on Thursday did appoint  members of the new Committee on Academics, a group that will report to the board but send legislation through the Council. The 20-person academics body replaces both the Committee on Academic Performance  and the Academic Cabinet.

Roderick McDavis, president of Ohio University and former Committee on Academic Performance vice chair, will chair the group. McDavis also has experience on the board. Many of the new committee members served on either the CAP or the Academic Cabinet, which will allow for some continuity for a group that will consider weighty issues that are vital to student-athlete success.

For a full roster of Committee on Academics members, see below.

In other business, the board appointed new members to the Committee on Infractions. New members are Bill Curry, former Division I head football coach; Jack Ford, CBS legal analyst and co-founder of American Education Television Network; Larry Parkinson, director of investigations at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; and Jill Pilgrim, an attorney who once represented USA Track & Field and the Ladies Professional Golf Association .

COMMITTEE ON ACADEMICS ROSTER