Welcome to AVCA - the American Volleyball Coaches Association

Red Tabs = Members Only

Working with your Institution and Conference on Legislative Issues

You need to look at the legislative process from three different levels. You need to know how things work at the institutional, conference and national level in order to best use the system to your advantage. Once you understand how the process works at each of these levels, communication is the key to making this process work for you.

First, an athletic department's administrators have influence on the vote of the conference. Institutional administrators will have a vote within their conference. Each conference is different in how they vote and who votes. The first step in communicating your position on legislation is to communicate with your institutional administrators.

Talk with your administrator about the particular proposal(s) that affect your program. Use language they would use such as the proposal number (i.e., 2004-40 or 2004-52). Explain to your administrators why you are opposed to or support the proposal. It is also helpful to explain to your administrator(s) the position of the AVCA.

Communication with your administrator is quite possibly the most important not only to discuss your position on current proposals but also other legislative issues you might have. If you feel strongly about competitive inequities or recruiting advantages, communicate these with your administrator(s).

1. Talk with your institutional administrator(s) about your position on legislative proposals that directly affect your program or about other legislative issues you might have regarding NCAA legislation.

Second, learn what processes your conference has in place to propose legislation and how the conference vote it determined. Each conference has in place, a process by which they go through to determine which issues will be proposed. Not all conference issues will rise to the level of proposing legislation.

Also, each conference hosts administrators' meetings at which time they determine which issues will be proposed. Each conference is different in how many meetings are held each year and who attends those meetings. Some conferences hold two or three administrators' meetings a year, some conferences hold only one administrators' meeting each year. In some conferences, the Director of Athletics and the SWA attend these meetings. In other conferences, only the Director of Athletics attends. (The Faculty Athletics Representative is also considered in the process but this also varies by conference.) For those conferences who hold more than one or two meetings a year, many times they only discuss legislation during one designated meeting.

2. Find out when your conference administrators' meetings are held throughout the year to discuss legislative proposals and who attends those meetings.

At these administrators' meeting(s), institutional administrators discuss all sides of an issue and the merits of it. How an issue rises to the level of discussion at these meetings can happen in a variety of ways (and, of course, varies by conference). Some issues are brought forward for discussion through the reporting of your coaches' conference minutes (from the meeting you have with the other coaches in the conference and the conference administrator). Another way is for an administrator present to suggest the issue and discussion/debate to ensue. Regardless of how the issue is brought to the table for discussion at these meetings, communication with your administrator(s) about how you feel on a legislative issue, whether they're proposals or just concerns, is VERY important. Administrators, if they don't know how you feel, will try to guess and vote accordingly.

Each year, some conferences submit numerous proposals while others never propose legislation. It's important to understand the history of how your conference has been represented through legislation.

After an issue has been thoroughly discussed and debated, a vote is taken to determine if a proposal should be put forth into the Division I Legislative Cycle. The process by which votes are rendered varies between conferences as well. In some conferences, on the Director of Athletics votes while in other conferences, the Director of Athletics and the SWA have a vote. (The Faculty Athletics Representative is also considered in the process but this also varies by conference.) Finally, similar to the Division I Legislative Cycle (Board of Directors), the Presidents are given final approval to move forward. This may also vary by conference as some conferences don't require their Presidents to approve the submission of proposals.

3. Find out how votes are rendered and who gets to vote at your conference meetings.

Fourth, communicate with your conference office about how you feel on legislative issues. Even if you communicate with your institutional administrators, those at the conference office also need to understand how you feel about these legislative proposals (or concerns about legislative issues that affect competitive equity and recruiting advantages). Your contact at the conference office should be the compliance directors or your sport's liaison from the office.

4. Talk with your conference office personnel about your position on legislative proposals that directly affect your program or about other legislative issues you might have regarding NCAA legislation.

Fifth, get to know who represents your conference on the Board of Directors, Management Council, AEC Cabinet and the Championships Cabinet. These are the individuals who will be rendering votes on behalf of the conference on the national level. You should also contact them to communicate to them how you feel on legislative issues. They can also provide some insight into why proposals have been submitted from these committees. They sit through various meetings throughout the year listening to research and issues being debated. They have a lot of insight into what's being done on the national level.

5. Find out who represents your conference on the national committees (Board of Directors, Management Council, AEC Cabinet, and the Championships Cabinet).

Finally, if at all possible, organize the coaches within your conference to have one position. Sometimes, this isn't possible due to various issues going on on their own campuses but whenever a coaching group can come together unanimously, it holds more weight than when individual coaches are having various positions on the issues. Keep in mind, conferences only have so many votes (some only have one vote) therefore, collectively coming together makes a stronger position.

6. If at all possible, organize the coaches within your conference to have one position.

The key to success within this process is communication. Constant communication with your institutional administrators, conference administrators and those that represent the conference on the national committees will prove beneficial.