2001 AWHCA Meeting Minutes

Naples, Florida
 

(Please contact Jill Pohtilla at pohtilla@augsburg.edu if there are any errors or omissions in meeting minutes)

Schools represented at one, two or all meetings: Augsburg College, Bemidji State University, Boston College, Bowdoin College, Brown University, Buffalo State College, Colby College, Colgate University, University of Connecticut, Cornell University, Cortland (SUNY), Dartmouth College, Elmira College, University of Findlay, Hamilton College, Harvard University, Holy Cross, University of Maine, Mercyhurst College, Middlebury College, University of Minnesota-Duluth, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minnesota State University - Mankato, University of New Hampshire, Niagara University, Northeastern University, Ohio State University, Plattsburgh State, Princeton University, Providence College, Quinnipiac University, Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute, College of St. Benedict, St. Cloud State University, St. Lawrence University, St. Michael's College, Trinity College, Union College, Utica College, University of Vermont, Wayne State University, Wesleyan University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Wisconsin-Steven's Point, Yale University.
 

Wednesday, April 25, 2001

8:10am - meeting called to order by AWHCA Vice President, Jeff Kampersal (Princeton)

-Roll Call, passed around directory for updating, reviewed budget

Budget question: What was the clinic at Holy Cross?

-Digit Murphy (Brown) reviewed clinic sponsored by the AWHCA. It was on August 19, 2000 at Holy Cross College.
-approximately 50 attendees (45% response rate from invitees)
-"heads-up" presentation
-discussion of DI and DIII hockey
-X and O session
-difference between coaching men and women
-sports psychology -Membership discussion -Current benefits are: a) Directory (which is only as updated as the membership provides for) and b) Stops 'N Starts, which coaches already receive with AHCA membership. Currently, schools with a women's and men's program pay less for their AHCA women's membership than their men's team does, but pay an additional $100.00 for AWHCA membership. After discussion, thought it was best to keep AWHCA in-tact - possibly strive to have own convention someday - discussion on whether or not to assist AWHCA board members with cost of attending - more research to be done before voting - discussion on putting together a better (more professional) directory - describe membership better in solicitation letter - continue to put on clinics (like one at Holy Cross for the membership). -By Laws and Articles of Agreement -Anyone wanting copies should ask Secretary/Treasurer Jill Pohtilla (Augsburg College). Ryan Stone will post them on our AWHCA web site. This saves on printing and postage. http://www.brown.edu/whockey/AWHCA/ -Joe Burke Award -Discussion of criteria and selection process. Currently awarded to an individual who has been a great supporter/contributor to girls and women's hockey and is voted on by the AWHCA membership. Last year (2000) Russ McCurdy was awarded but we had no formal presentation, so was presented this year. Award was presented at the Coach of the Year banquet on Saturday, April 28th, 2001 (first time we've had that available!). Russ was flown down as a guest of the AWHCA. We have no good record of past recipients and need help compiling that list. Also needed is a biography on Joe Burke - John Marchetti (Yale) , Laura Halldorson (U of MN, Twin Cities), and Kristen Steele (Niagara) will work on that for the banquet on Saturday.

-For future selections: Voted to have the AWHCA board members act as the selection committee. The committee will consider all nominations. Trina Bourget (U of WI-Madison) and Tom Peart (St. Ben's) were added to the board to fill vacancies. Their term is for two years.

-New Procedure for Joe Burke Award: Nominations will be accepted. Reminder to get in nominations will go out this fall. The AWHCA Board members will serve as the Joe Burke Selection Committee. Recipients of the Joe Burke Award will be flown to the AHCA convention site and include room for two nights.

 -Awards process reviewed -Player of the year: Sponsored by the AHCA. For Division III. Coaches nominate any deserving player. There is a selection committee which evaluates nominations and selects the Player of the Year. This year's committee included Tom Peart (St. Ben's), Donna Wright (Wesleyan), Fred Quistgard (Union) and Deb Lien (Concordia-Moorhead). 2001 Player of the year is Michelle Labbe, Middlebury College.

-All America: Sponsored by the AHCA. For Div III and I. Names are put on a ballot from conference lists. Schools who play independent (have no league) are allowed to submit names of players they feel are All America caliber. Ballots are sent to AHCA paid members for voting.

Question: Why are so many names on the list from the MIAC. Answer: from the MIAC and Wisconsin Div III schools, there is only one list of All Conference - it is not delineated as first team, second team, etc - there is just one list. In the ECAC, Div III schools, there is a first team, second team, etc - and the first team is submitted. Joe Bertagna (AHCA) will not allow (the MIAC) coaches to pare down their list for submission to the All America Ballot.

-FOR BOTH PLAYER OF THE YEAR AND ALL AMERICA SELECTION, COACHES NEED TO DO A BETTER JOB OF FOLLOWING DEADLINES. JOE BERTAGNA EXTENDED THE PLAYER OF THE YEAR DEADLINE TO BE SURE WE WERE DOING RIGHT BY THE PLAYERS. JOE ALSO SAID MANY ALL AMERICA BALLOTS WERE INVALID BECAUSE COACHES DIDN'T FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS. ALSO, ACCORDING TO AHCA BY-LAWS, ONLY PAID AHCA MEMBERS ARE ALLOWED TO HAVE PLAYERS ON THE BALLOT - BUT JOE DOESN'T WANT TO PENALIZE PLAYERS FOR A COACH'S LACK OF ORGANIZATION.

-Coach of the Year: Sponsored by the AHCA. For DIV I and III. Top two vote recipients from each conference and coaches of "Frozen Four" participants are put on the ballot. Vote of the membership. Congratulations to this year's winners: Division III - Bill Mandigo, Middlebury and Division I - Paul Flanagan, St. Lawrence.

-Patty Kazmaier Award: For Div I player of the year. Laura Halldorson (U of MN-Twin Cities) followed up on her "assignment" to clarify the procedure for selecting the Kazmaier Award winner. Coaches nominate players and there is a vote taken to get the three finalists. There is an appointed committee who does the final selection. If anyone is interested in serving, contact Dana Ausec at USA Hockey. Her number is 719/576-8724 or email at danaa@usahockey.org

 
Question: With regards to criteria - community service is listed as criteria, but doesn't seem to be included on ballots. Can that be put on the ballots? Answer: Don't know. Will make suggestion to include that information.

Question: Is Kazmaier an award for DI only or is it an open award? Answer: Thought to be DI, but it has never been specified. The award is to go to the best player in women's college hockey for the season.

Question: Can USA Hockey give the award winner's institution a permanent trophy for display? Answer: Don't know - will have to ask USA Hockey.

 -Clarification on this year's finalists - they are Tammy Shewchuk of Harvard, Courtney Kennedy of U of MN-Twin Cities, and Jennifer Botterill of Harvard. Congratulations to this year's winner, Jennifer Botterill. -Recruiting -Every year this item is put on the agenda. Coaches need to KNOW the rules, not just follow the ones you are aware of. Make an effort to review the rules every year.

-Negative recruiting - Coaches should be selling their own schools not discouraging recruits from looking at other schools.

-Question: If a student verbally commits to "College X", should "College Z" still try to encourage her to attend "College Z?" Answer: There was lots of discussion, some heated, regarding the ethics of the situation. The consensus was that the student-athlete is the responsible party to tell schools who she has verbally committed to. Furthermore, once a prospective student-athlete tells a coach she is going elsewhere, a coach needs to respect that and no longer initiate contact with that prospect.

VP Jeff Kampersal stepped in to end the discussion and reiterated that it is important for coaches to respect the process and trust that we will all do the same and to "do right by each other."

 -Meeting adjourned at 10:10am.
 
 

Wednesday, April 25, 2001

5:10pm - meeting called to order by AWHCA Vice President, Jeff Kampersal (Princeton)

-Transfer Rule

-Athletic Director's don't seem to support the rule. Rumored that the NCAA may eliminate the transfer rule altogether (football, basketball, etc - ). Currently ECAC Div I and the WCHA don't allow inter-league transfers. -Dead Period
-No one had any reports on where this stands as far as legislation.
-Laura Halldorson (U of MN, Twin Cities) handed out an exercise related to recruiting rules as part of the Ethics Committee outreach. Hand out described a scenario with a recruit and "other goings on" once matriculated. Laura asked coaches to look it over and be prepared to discuss the legality of the situations described. Laura will have the "answers" for us at tomorrow's meeting.

-Rules Committee update: Katey Stone (Harvard) serves on the committee and said there is a meeting in May. The NCAA is looking for representatives for the women's committee.

-Proposed and accepted to have an AWHCA Advisory Board made up of nine representatives (from each league). Nominations and voting occurred. Voted to change bylaws to reflect nine positions on the Association Committee. Current positions are:

Jackie Barto, President
Jeff Kampersal, Vice President
Jill Pohtilla, Secretary/Treasurer -Current Association Committee with one year remaining: Donna Wright, DIII, NESCAC
Jane Ford, DIII East, ECAC
Paul Flanagan, DI East, ECAC 9
Mike Sisti, DI Independent New Association Committee positions two year term:
Dave Clausen, DIII West, ECAC
NCHA - Open (Elected coach no longer at NCHA school)
Tom Peart, MIAC
Trina Bourget, DI West, WCHA
Heather Linstad, DI, ECAC 8


-Officiating

-Asked what system people are currently using. Discussed two person vs three person systems.
Consensus is that one referee and two assistant referees are best. Mentioned that some schools (some DIII's) can't afford to pay three officials and mandating three officials will make it tougher to get qualified officials as most will be doing men's DI and DIII and women's DI games. Said that those DIII's need to "get with the program" and support the game - problem isn't that the money can't be found - just that it most likely will be taken away from another budget line item, i.e., stick budgets. Vote was taken (not sure why we voted) 24 for - 2 against - 10 abstain for a one referee and two assistant referee system. GUESTS:

-Paul Duffey, Secretary of Rules Committee and Frank Cole, Supervisor of Officials

-Explained that the Rules Committee discusses proposed rule changes and any issues that come up during the season that need to be immediately addressed. At the AHCA convention, rules changes are discussed and the committee asks for a straw vote from the membership only to see where the members stand on issues - the NCAA makes the final decision on any new rules and rule changes.

-Discussed officiating. NCAA would like to see the same officiating system used across all leagues. Concerns regarding any system: Who calls penalties behind the play? AR's are to call offenses not seen by the referee, but some referees discourage AR's from making any penalty calls. Tough to have referee skate goal line to goal line. With which system is it best to get younger officials involved? Agreed that calling goals and lines are major areas to manage. Also discussed how to evaluate officials to be sure the best are doing championships. Discussed having officials do just men or just women for consistency - answer seems to be yes. However, there may not be enough good officials around to do that.

Question: Any thought to having the NCAA cover cost of having WCHA refs flown out East? Answer: regular season cost is managed by conferences.

Question: Protocol - When is it called and when isn't it called - is it up to the officials? Answer: Protocol is to be called - teams must come out on time at the designated time.

 -Ty Halpin from the NCAA joined the meeting and said the NCAA is looking to expand the Rules Committee. They are looking for the following representatives:

-Three women from DI, Three men from DI and One DII (men or women)

-Two women from DIII, Two men from DIII plus One (opposite gender from DII rep)

Nomination forms are available on the NCAA web site.

 AWHCA meeting tomorrow will be 8:30-10am.

Meeting adjourned
 
 

Thursday, April 26, 2001

8:30am - meeting called to order by AWHCA Vice President, Jeff Kampersal (Princeton)

-Membership voted to donate $1,000 to Eddie Arrington memorial Fund. Jill will take care of.

-Katey Stone will find out if the AHCA can cover any expenses for AWHCA board members. We'll discuss at another time once we know what kind of cost is involved.

-Discussion as to whether coaches can be involved as evaluators at regional national camp tryouts. Some thought coaches are not allowed to participate in non-coaching activities (evaluating) and that it is OK to be on the ice running drills. Some conferences (Big 10) don't allow their coaches to evaluate. Judy Oberting (Dartmouth) will check with the NCAA and report back to the membership with an answer. Answer: On ice running drills - D I can do this, D III can do this. Evaluating - D I can NOT do this, D III CAN do this.

-Ethics Education Committee

-Laura Halldorson reviewed the handout from yesterday (an exercise related to recruiting rules as part of the Ethics Committee outreach. Hand out described a scenario with a recruit and "other goings on" once matriculated.) It was very educational. We found a) it is O.K. for DI and DIII coaches to talk with parents in the stands at the competition site. b) DI may not contact a prospect prior to July 1st after her junior year. DIII's may not contact a prospect until the completion of her Jr. year. c) Illegal for DI and DIII to interview or announce a high school broadcast. d) Illegal, during an interview, to praise a recruit (by name) before she signs a NLI (DI) or financial aid/admission acceptance (DIII). e) Illegal for DI to send more than one schedule card in the mail, mail a game program (can only be provided during a visit), mail a highlight video. In DIII, can only mail materials that are official academic, admissions, athletic and student services publications or videotapes published or produced by the institution. f) In DI, email is considered printed material. In DIII emails and faxes are considered phone calls (electronic transmissions) and are only permitted after a prospect has completed her Jr. year in high school. There are no limit restrictions for legal contacts in DIII. DI is allowed one phone call per week. There is some confusion as to what the definition of a week is, so Laura is going to follow-up with that after the convention. g) It is illegal for DIII's to have a recruit sign a national letter of intent. Prospects or her parents may only sign financial aid acceptance and/or admission acceptance. h) It is legal in DI and DIII to have "Occasional Meals" at the coaches house (see NCAA regulations 16.12.1.6 for DI and 16.12.1.5 for DIII). i) Legal in DI and DIII to transport an athlete to coaches house for occasional meal. NOTE: In DI, on the day of competition at home, athletes may not receive both a pre-game and post-game meal/snack unless the pre-game meal is a substitution for one of their regular meals. j) It is illegal for DI and DIII coaches to send a card, i.e., Christmas, Sympathy, Get Well, post card, graduation, etc - to a current player or recruit. Only cards allowable to send are those printed by the college and used for general purposes. k) DI and DIII have a $150.00 limit per gift at season ending awards banquet (NCAA bylaw 16.1.4.3). Thanks Halldo!

-In the spirit of the ethics discussion, Ryan Stone (Brown) will put a "Tip of the Month" on our web site.

 -Expansion of League Committee Report - John Marchetti (Yale) Encouraged teams to schedule games with independent programs.
Large group split into DI and DIII issues

-DIII Report

-Questions about NCAA DIII national tournament will be answered at tonight's meeting.

-The MIAC (Minnesota) has 10 teams, NCHA (Wisconsin and Lake Forest) has five teams. The ECAC has an East and West division and NESCAC has a division.

-Should we name the DIII Coach of the Year after an individual? No Consensus.

-Discussion about All America selection. (Repeated discussion - see notes above). Coaches either don't know players from other regions and/or don't do their homework and deserving players are left out of the awards process. Motion passed to ask the AHCA to sponsor 1st and 2nd Team West and 1st and 2nd Team East.

-DI Report
 
-Bob Deraney (Providence) made a proposal to the group to push the season ahead earlier so we can finish earlier. Bob said it would allow for more "official visit" recruiting weekends so recruits can see teams play. It was general discussion with no conclusion. Some coaches were concerned with staffing in regards to media relations, athletic trainers, and maintenance because of all the fall sports especially football. Other coaches raised some concerns about the early schedule hurting an athlete's opportunity o play two sports.

-There was discussion about naming the coach of the year award after Bernie McKinnon. Everyone agreed to table this issue until they could think about it and investigate all options.


Meeting adjourned