FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, November 25, 2002
Contact: Mindy Urick
Bushnell Intern
CAPE COD, Mass.--The ECAC will sponsor a coach’s informational forum at the USRowing Convention in Washington, DC on Saturday, December 7, 2002. The meeting will be held at 10:00 AM in Room #6 at the Renaissance Hotel. This meeting is designed for discussion and update purposes of the following items, along with any others you may suggest prior to December 7, 2002. If you have any other agenda items you wish to discuss please notify Dave Reischman (dreischm@syr.edu) or Clayton Chapman (cchapman1@hargray.com). If you are planning to attend this meeting could you please notify Mindy Urick, ECAC Rowing Intern, at murick@ecac.org. It will help us gauge the size of the meeting and make the necessary arrangements.
Current Agenda Items:
(1) IRA National Championship Regatta Issues
(2) Formation of a Men's Rowing Coaches Committee on National Men's Rowing Issues
(3) NCAA Sponsorship of Men's Rowing
(4) Proposed Changes to NCAA Playing and Practice Season Regulations and possible effects on Men's Rowing Programs.
Background Information:
(3) NCAA sponsoring men's crew: Our information is that the initiative to have the NCAA sponsor men's rowing is driven by a few members whose institutions sponsor women's rowing and who are also members of the NCAA Championships Cabinet for all sports. That Cabinet met in Sept. '02. According to the minutes of their meeting, they agreed to investigate the establishment of a men's rowing championship, and directed staff to research sponsorship numbers, equity (?), statistics (?), and interest in the rowing community. Staff is to report back to the Cabinet in Feb. '03. We are not aware that any staff member had yet followed up.
(4) Playing and Practice Regs: The review underway has been prompted initially by directive from the Division I Board of Directors Task Force. Our sources claim however, that the staff is still trying to "wrap its arms around" what the Task Force really thinks it wants. Their goals were not well defined. The exercise in which you have recently been involved in that develops statements/position papers, is a sub-committee's effort to develop options for the Task Force to consider at some future date. There are some questions to whether any changes are imminent. No doubt the issue will get aired at the CRCA meeting, and hopefully the NCAA Representative will shed more light on it. The question remains however, what effect any possible changes in NCAA policies will have on Men's Rowing.