INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETIC

COMMITTEE MEETING

September 16, 2009

ATTENDING: Judy DeMers, Jeff Dodson, Brian Faison, Greg Gagnon, Sherryl Houdek, Daniella Irle, Jon Jackson, Sue Jeno, Susan Nelson, Bradley Rundquist, Paul Toddhunter,

Guests: Scott Herring, Amanda Neubauer, Lisa Persuitti-Huber

Recorder: Bev Hopman

Susan Nelson called the meeting to order at 4:33 p.m. in the Memorial Room of the Student Union. Two new IAC members were welcomed, Sherryl Houdek and Bradley Rundquist. Committee members and guests then introduced themselves.

Election of Committee Chair: The floor was opened for nominations for a committee chair. Greg Gagnon nominated Susan Nelson. Sue Jeno seconded. A unanimous ballot was cast in favor of re-electing Susan Nelson.

Meeting Dates for Fall Semester: After some discussion it was decided that the IAC would meet at 4:30 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month for the balance of the fall semester. Future meeting dates will be October 20, November 17 and December 15.

Minutes: Greg Gagnon moved that the minutes from the May 19, 2009, meeting be approved as submitted. Judy DeMers seconded. Motion carried.

Athletics Director Updates:

Division I Transition: Brian Faison reported that UND met all of the requirements for year one of the transition including submitting an updated strategic plan. UND is now in the second year and will be required to be in full compliance with all DI legislation and play a full DI schedule. The AD distributed four handouts. The first outlined the major requirements for each year of the transition. The second contained information on DI scheduling requirements. Handout three stressed the rule differences between DI and DII. The last was an updated organizational chart.

Recap of previous year: Brian Faison reported on some milestones that Athletics reached last year.

• Eight new administrative positions were added, including upgrading intern and temporary positions. Two part time head coaches in golf and tennis were transitioned to full time benefitted coaches. With the additional staffing, reporting lines were restructured for increased efficiency.
• Scholarships were increased from 140 to 189.
• Annual giving through the Fighting Sioux Club reached a record high of $2,019,92; membership increased from 2,201 to 2,358.
• Conference membership was secured for volleyball, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s golf, women’s tennis, baseball, softball, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s indoor track and field, men’s and women’s outdoor track and field and women’s soccer as they joined football in an expanded Great West Conference. Men’s and women’s swimming and diving were allowed to compete in Conference USA’s invitational meet. Men’s and women’s hockey are currently the only teams eligible for NCAA post season competition. However, in only the second year of the DI transition, almost all of the student athletes will have the opportunity to compete for conference championships.
• Fans came out in record numbers to support the teams last year. Volleyball set a single match record in attendance. Football set a school record for average attendance of 10,167 and had the largest ever home opener in school history with 11,434 fans. Men’s hockey set a school record for average attendance of 11,719 and finished second in the nation in average attendance. Women’s hockey set a school record for average attendance and finished seventh in the nation in average attendance.
• UND sports received extensive media exposure with live radio coverage of football, women’s basketball, men’s basketball, men’s ice hockey and all home women’s hockey games. There was live TV coverage of all home men’s hockey games and two football games. 33 of 43 men’s hockey games were on television. Sioux Sports Extra, a half hour weekly television show was put on the air and gave exposure to all sports.
• Student-athletes were very active in the community. 5,595 hours of community service were documented. Brian Faison commended the entire student body on their leadership in fighting the spring flood.
• The student-athletes had a stellar year in the classroom. For fall semester 2008, 13 teams had a GPA of 3.0 or better and 47 student-athletes had a 4.0. For spring 2009, 14 teams had a GPA of 3.0 or better and 46 student athletes had a 4.0. UND had 6 Academic All Americans. 94 student-athletes received all conference academic honors. Two student-athletes received NCAA post-graduate scholarships. The women’s basketball team finished with the second highest GPA in the nation on the 2008-09 NCAA DI Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll. All of this occurred during the first year of DI with the increased demands and additional travel.

Conference Affiliation: Brian Faison stressed that conference affiliation is critical to a successful transition. Becoming a member of an established conference with a guaranteed seed in NCAA post season tournaments would give UND a “safe harbor” and greatly ease scheduling difficulties. The Great West is a new conference and does not currently receive an automatic berth in post season play. The Summit League is still an option, but has indicated that until the logo issue is resolved, they will not take action on UND’s application.

Logo: The logo controversy continues to impact Athletics. As an example, the UND swimming and diving team was scheduled to travel to Iowa City. The Iowa school was hosting a meet and the University of Illinois was attending. Due to the name/logo, Iowa would not compete against UND but Illinois was on our schedule. UND was recently contacted by Iowa and told they could not participate in an event at their school because of the logo. Until the logo issue is resolved, scheduling will continue to be a major problem.

Budget: Scott Herring, Associate AD/CFO, presented a budget report. He went through the revenues and expenses, relating the items to the pro forma and to actual revenues and expenses. Athletics finished FY09 in the black. Scott Herring indicated that it will take hard work to meet all of the revenue projections for FY10. Brian Faison stated that annual giving rates should remain steady, but major donors and gifts are being impacted by the current economy. He also stated that the pro forma calls for a 100% increase in impact scholarship donations for next year. Athletics currently receives 22.2% of their budget from university allocations and 19% from student fees. The rest of the funding is self generated. Susan Nelson asked how this compared with other schools. Neither Scott Herring or Brian Faison had exact figures, but stated it would be on the low end nationally.

H1N1: Daniella Irle, Associate AD for Internal Affairs, stated that Athletics is working with UND to aggressively fight the H1N1 virus. Athletics has placed hand sanitizers and wipes in the locker rooms, the training rooms, the strength and conditioning areas and the academic study center. They are also educating student-athletes and coaches on ways to prevent infection and stay healthy. UND is working with the Great West and the WCHA to develop contingency plans for rescheduling or cancelling games if necessary.

Academics: Daniella Irle discussed academic issues.

• Amanda Neubauer was introduced as the new Director of Athletics Academic Services. Ms. Neubauer brings an excellent background in both athletics and academics to the position. Besides overseeing the study center, she will be working with academic eligibility and reporting.
• Daniella Irle reported that more life skills activities will take place this year, including bringing speakers on campus to address student-athletes. An NCAA survey will be conducted to determine what student-athletes want from the Athletics Department.
• A newsletter is being planned addressing academics and life skills.
• At risk student athletes have been identified and divided into four categories; academically ineligible, borderline ineligible, progress reports with one F or two or more D’s, and provisional admits. Different levels of monitoring have been implemented to meet their needs.
• The academic study center has had very heavy use this fall. It has been so crowded that some student-athletes have been sitting on the floor to study.

Marketing: Lisa Persuitti-Huber, Marketing Director, distributed calendars, schedule cards, autograph cards, printouts with the approved UND/Athletics logos, a copy of the football marketing plan and a copy of the UND marketing campaign. Her department coordinates and tracks student-athlete appearances. The first major student-athlete community service event this fall was the Adopt a Residence Hall program. Teams were assigned various residence halls and were available to assist on move in day. Brian Faison stated that UND athletics has taken more marketing and sales responsibilities in house, including radio broadcasts. Capturing and selling all of the inventory will give Athletics an opportunity to increase revenue.

Two items on the agenda were tabled until a later meeting date, the role and responsibilities of the IAC and the student hockey season ticket distribution.

The meeting adjourned at 6:51 p.m.