The Division II Presidents Council approved a recommendation on how to allocate a total of $4.4 million that includes a surplus from the 2022-23 budget plus unallocated revenue from 2023-24. Of note, the approval will allocate roughly $3.9 million of the total for a supplemental distribution to Division II schools, approximately $13,500 per school, which will be sent to Division II members in February.
The Presidents Council also approved the triennial budget recommendations for Division II championships, which included $1.3 million annually for various championships enhancements and initiatives beginning with the 2024-25 academic year. The recommendations include additional participation opportunities for student-athletes through bracket expansions in field hockey and men's and women's lacrosse and increased field sizes in women's golf and men's and women's indoor and outdoor track and field.
The Presidents Council met Thursday at the NCAA Convention in Phoenix. It marked the council's last meeting in its current structure. The Division II Executive Board, the group's 14-member modified version, will take over Feb. 1.
Removing cannabinoids from banned drug list
The Management Council, which met at the Convention on Wednesday, approved a recommendation to remove cannabinoids from the list of substances included in drug testing at NCAA championships. The proposal was a recommendation from the Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports, which hosted a 2022 summit — including doctors, substance misuse experts and representatives from NCAA schools — that focused on cannabinoids in college athletics.
In its recommendation, CSMAS noted that the removal acknowledges the ineffectiveness of existing policy, affirms the NCAA drug-testing program's role is to address only performance-enhancing substances and emphasizes a harm-reduction strategy that includes education and support over penalties.
Sports betting reinstatement guidelines
The Management Council approved amendments to its sports betting reinstatement guidelines, which include the following:
- Student-athletes who engage in activities to influence the outcomes of their own games or knowingly provide information to individuals involved in sports betting activities will potentially face permanent loss of collegiate eligibility in all sports. This would also apply to student-athletes who bet on their own games or on other sports at their own schools.
- If student-athletes bet on their own sport at another school, education on sports betting rules and prevention will be required as a condition of reinstatement, and the loss of one season of eligibility will be considered.
- For all other betting-related violations (e.g., betting on professional sports), the cumulative dollar value of the bets will be taken into consideration, with the following terms for reinstatement:
- $200 or less: sports betting rules and prevention education.
- $201-$500: loss of 10% of a season of eligibility, plus rules and prevention education.
- $501-$800: loss of 20% of a season of eligibility, plus rules and prevention education.
- Greater than $800: loss of 30% of a season of eligibility, plus rules and prevention education.
2025 Convention proposal
The Presidents Council sponsored a proposal for the 2025 Convention to eliminate the
requirement that a qualifier who is a two-year college transfer must earn transferrable credit hours in English, math and science. The Division II Academic Requirements Committee determined that a two-year college transfer student-athlete who is a qualifier has already displayed their academic readiness through completion of core courses while enrolled in high school, so eliminating the requirement would simplify transfer certification for qualifiers. Qualifiers would still need to satisfy the remaining two-year college transfer requirements (e.g., an average of at least 12 transferable credit hours for each full-time term, 2.20 transferable GPA).
Student-athlete representation
The Management Council approved a recommendation from the Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee to add a second student-athlete representative to the division's Championships Committee and Legislation Committee. The additional student-athletes will be voting members of those committees and selected by Division II SAAC.
Other action
- The Management Council approved a pilot program for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 academic years establishing a hardship waiver based on mental health assertions.
- The Management Council referred a review of the visible pitch clock rule, set to go into effect Jan. 1, 2025, to the Baseball Rules Committee. The council's recommendation is that the implementation of the rule be delayed until Jan. 1, 2026. Due to the federated playing rules process, only the Division II representatives on the Baseball Rules Committee will review the referral. The Playing Rules Oversight Panel will review any recommendation made by the rules committee in July 2024.
- The council elected Sandra Woodley, president of Texas Permian Basin, as the vice chair of the Executive Board, effective Feb. 1.