Outside the walls of the Phoenix Convention Center & the NCAA Convention, the industry continues to move & change at lightning speed. In order to ensure D1.ticker is providing you with an efficient look at key developments from around college athletics, below is a supplement of news from the past few days here at the Convention. Never a dull moment.
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The DI Council introduced several proposals into the legislative cycle for potential votes in June, including one that would remove cannabinoids from the list of substances included in drug testing at NCAA championships. The proposal follows a recommendation from the Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports and Washington State AD/Strategic Vision and Planning Committee Chair Pat Chun says: “Cannabis is not a performance-enhancing drug, and we determined that the drug testing conducted at NCAA championships should focus on substances that impact competitive outcomes. To be clear, this does not mean that NCAA members condone or promote use of cannabinoids. However, rather than focus on testing and subsequently penalizing student-athletes who use cannabis, NCAA efforts should focus on a harm reduction strategy, similar to substances like alcohol." If adopted in June, the proposal would apply retroactively to any penalty associated with a previous positive test. Other proposals to be voted on in June include permitting non-coaching, sport-specific staff members in sports other than football and men's and women's basketball to assist in drills and other limited activities during practices and eliminating questionnaires sent to prospects prior to the first allowable date for recruiting communications. The council, by taking no action, effectively adopted the prohibition on recruiting photo shoots in FBS, which will take effect March 1, and the limit of 70 official visits will take effect April 1. (link)
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The NCAA Board of Governors approved an updated version of the Mental Health Best Practices document that all member schools will be required to follow, effective August 1. The new iteration includes “emerging information about the intersection of mental health and sports betting, social media, corruption in sport, suicide contagion, and name, image and likeness. The document also details specific considerations for student-athletes of color, LGBTQ student-athletes, international student-athletes and student-athletes with disabilities.” The board also received an overview of the 2022-23 Campus Sexual Violence attestation process and final reporting of member schools' completion. Schools that fail to meet the NCAA policy are prohibited from hosting any NCAA championship competitions for the next applicable academic year (2024-25). The schools that failed to attest will be publicly listed on the NCAA's Campus Sexual Violence Attestation Form webpage by Feb. 15. Additionally, the board approved a $25M supplemental distribution to DI members. The funds will be disbursed in February. (link)
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NCAA Managing Director of Enterprise Risk Management Clint Hangebrauck during the NCAA Convention moderated a session on sports gambling that featured Teresa Fiore, vice president of partnerships at EPIC Global Solutions, which the NCAA partnered with to provide member schools a free sports gambling harm prevention program; Dr. Timothy W. Fong, professor of psychiatry at UCLA and co-director of the UCLA Gambling Studies Program; Jonathan Hirshler, co-founder and chief executive officer of Signify Group; and Mark Hicks, managing director of enforcement at the NCAA. During the conversation, Hicks explained that over the past two years “our violation numbers have doubled. And I’ll caution you it’s not a huge number relevant to other bylaws like recruiting and things like that, but it has doubled. … One little stat here is that every undergraduate student has come to age during a time of legalized sports betting, which is completely different than any of us.” Hicks observes there’s “this great divide between people who have grown up coming to age at a time where sports betting is generally legal and the rest of us where it was sports betting was going through a bookie. In addition to regulatory bodies, integrity services and on-campus compliance observation, Hicks believes the “number one change Is the sports books or the operators themselves are policing the space. … We're actually getting – because they're obligated in their state law – reports to us about activities that involve student athletes and staff athletic staff members.” Full session. (link)
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NCAA CMO Brian Hainline led a panel discussion on student-athlete mental health that included JED Foundation CMO Laura Erickson-Schroth; Virginia State AVP for Intercollegiate Athletics Peggy Davis; and Arizona State Tran Ethnic and Minority Psychology and Experiences Lab Director Alisia (Giac-Thao) Tran. Panelists shared their thoughts on ways to create healthy environments that normalize seeking mental health care, address inclusion and belonging, and foster student-athlete experiences of personal growth, self-acceptance and positive relationships with others, and Tran pointed out that coaches tend to have particularly close relationships with their student-athletes and calls on them to leverage that to monitor for potential signs that players may need help. “I think the message for coaches is that you can be a great starting point but you don’t have to shoulder it all. … Know that you’re not supposed to be the one-stop shop for this. You’re not supposed to take on all of this burden because mental health is something that we can all help each other with and so helping them know they can be a starting point and feel confident to do some of the things that you're doing but then be attuned to some of those things…and then using the systems that are in place” to ensure the student-athlete receives the help they need. Full session. (link)
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The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved two experimental baseball rules for the 2024 season requested by the SEC. The first requires batters to be in the batter's box and alert to the pitcher with eight seconds remaining on the 20-second visible action clock for SEC games only. The other permits a pitcher or relief pitcher an unlimited number of warmup pitches during the time between innings (120 seconds) or during a pitching change (150 seconds). The rules would be in place for SEC games only, through PROP members indicated that if other conferences would like to use these two specific experimental rules in conference games, the requests would be met favorably. (link)
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