Watching the NCAA Convention

The 2008 NCAA Convention got underway today in Nashville. A few matters to keep your eye on in relation to golf:

On Saturday, during the Division I Legislative Forum, legislation adopted last year that allows schools to play a schedule consisting of nine three-day tournaments as an alternative to 24 dates of competition is up for a override vote. Proposal 2006-87 was adopted by the NCAA Management Council in April (by a 34¿ to 12¿). However, the two-month override period, 69 requests were received. A five-eighths majority of Division I delegates present and voting in Nashville are needed to overturn the legislation.

At the same forum, an override vote also will take place on legislation adopted last year that prohibited text messaging and other forms of electronic communications between coaches and recruits.

Come Sunday, the D-I Management Council will consider proposal 2007-93, which attempts to provide the College All-American Golf Classic an annual exemption from the maximum dates of competition limitation. The 33-year-old tournament based in El Paso, Texas, that includes All-Americans playing individually rather than for their school, previously had been exempt along roughly a dozen events in other sports under an event certification program that was eliminated a few years ago. While the tournament has overwhelming support within the college golf community, the Championship/Competition Cabinet has recommended that the proposal not be adopted, stating that there should be more time to assess the impact of eliminating the event certification program before adding annual exemptions through the legislative process.