1. PAGES 1-35 - Texas Track & Field Coaches Association

NCAA REPORT Division l Track & Field and Cross Country
RON MANN
PRESIDENT, NCAA DIVISION I
TRACK AND FIELD COACHES
BARRY HARTWICK
PRESIDENT, NCAA DIVISION I
CROSS COUNTRY COACHES
Iwould like to take this opportunity to thank Beth
Alford-Sullivan for her leadership as President over the
last two years. In addition to faithfully discharging the
regular duties of our President, she also led us through a
challenging restructuring process of the Outdoor Track
and Field Championships. Having experienced the new
Championships format for the last two years, the competition
at our National finals is the finest I have seen during
my career in Division I Track and Field. Our Association
will continue to work with the NCAA and the NCAA
Division I Track and Field Sport Subcommittee to improve
the conduct and administration of the Preliminary
Championship Competition and Final Championship
Competition. As a part of those ongoing efforts, following
the work done by your Executive Committee and the
Division I coaching body at the last USTFCCCA
Convention, we recently submitted requests for funding
for participants and hosts of the Preliminary
Championship Competition. Now, as I begin my term as
President, I look forward to continuing our work with the
NCAA Sport Subcommittee, the Executive Committee of
USTFCCCA, and the Division I coaching body at large to
make the Division I Track and Field experience more exciting
for all athletes, coaches and fans.
Over the next two years of my term as President of
Division I Track and Field Coaches, I ask that we continue
to focus on the strategic plan that we adopted in 2009.
That plan includes making our sport more valuable and
valued on our campuses and throughout our society. The
USTFCCCA has some of the brightest and most dedicated
individuals on university campuses across this country. As
such, my challenge and request of each of you during my
tenure is that we unite to present to our public a sport that
is marketed, presented and administered using all of the
technology and creativity available to us at this time.
Athletic administrators want to see their university Track
and Field teams in competition on their campuses. Fans
want to see an exciting, timely, visually stimulating event -
one that they can follow and understand. Our student-athletes
want to be proud alumni of their universities and of
the oldest and best sport in the world - track and field.
Finally, we as coaches should continue to swell with pride
as we train our athletes to become the best they can be on
and off the track.
Ron Mann is the Head Men’s & Women’s Track & Field
Coach at the University of Louisville. Ron can be reached
at ron.mann@louisville.edu
As you read this letter, over 300 Division I cross country teams will
be preparing for the 2011 season. I am opening my report with
that thought because I don’t think that we can emphasize enough
how wide-sweeping our sport is throughout the NCAA. As president of
our coaches group, my goal is to have all of our plans and decisions be
made in the best interests of all of these programs.
My term as president started this summer and I would like to thank
outgoing president Bob Braman for all of his hard work during his term.
In addition to his leadership of the coach’s association he also guided
Florida State to the runner-up finish at the 2010 NCAA meet. Bob has
been a great example of a coach who not only takes care of his own program
but looks at the big picture of our sport as well.
Joining me in leadership roles for the next two years are Sean Cleary
and Dave Smith as vice-presidents. Sean and Dave are incredibly talented
coaches who annually produce tremendous teams at West Virginia
and Oklahoma State respectively. I am going to count on their experience
and enthusiasm to help us move forward.
Our association voted overwhelmingly to change the date of our
national championships from Monday to Saturday. We need to keep
pushing so that this can be enacted for the 2012 championships. We
need to nail down the date, and sites, for the 2012 regional meets. We
have had long discussions on how many days prior to the championship
to host the regionals. Now is the time to get a final decision approved. We
also need to select our regional sites at least two years in advance.
I think we have a reasonable chance of increasing the size of our
championship field. Providing greater access to the championship would
be a major plus for our association. We are working on this already for
indoor track and field; the time is ripe for cross-country as well. A second
and even easier change is to increase the number of schools ranked at
the end of the season. We can use the existing formula that we use for
the 13 at large spots to rank teams from 32 to 64. This is a win-win. It is
recognition for more schools and allows cross-country to be an even
more important part of the Director’s Cup rankings. I hope to work with
the national office on this project.
Finally, as you make a variety of travel plans this fall for your team or
for recruiting, please keep the national convention in mind. It is a little
disappointing to see how may schools do not send even a single representative
to the convention. You will have a chance to have your voice
heard. Believe me, I understand that it can be frustrating to vote on
something at the convention and then see the motion disappear into the
NCAA swamp. The more voices that are heard, the more coaches that follow
up with their AD and conference commissioner, the more likely we
are to control our own destiny.
I am looking forward to a great season with the Dartmouth crosscountry
team. Best of luck to you and your team as well!
Barry Hartwick is the Head Men’s Track & Field and Cross Country Coach at
Dartmouth College. Barry can be reached at Barry.Harwick@Dartmouth.EDU
4 techniques AUGUST 2011