[JK37]

Amidst all of the talk about the five autonomy conferences in the NCAA voting to provide full cost-of-attendance to its student-athletes, what is sometimes lost is Title IX's interpretation as COA is implemented. I'm not one of them (yet), but many coaches of female sports are gearing up for a fight.

Today, the new Executive Director of the Women's Basketball Coaches' Association Danielle Donehew released a letter to all WBCA memebrs, prompted by talking points from volleyball's coaching association. It's almost as if the two sports are preparing to be at odds with one another about who should be the top-funded women's sport!

Not only do athletic departments have t consider Title IX when choosing whether to accept COA or not, but now they are seemingly going to have to worry about in-fighting among women's sport coaches? This could get ugly...

Danielle Donehew's letter:

Dear Division I Coaches:
This letter addresses an urgent matter that requires your immediate attention. I am pleased to inform you that the Division I Council has established a Women’s Basketball Oversight Committee as part of its new governing substructure. Our sport joins football and men’s basketball as the only three sports given its own oversight committee, which reflects the Council’s commitment to and investment in our sport. Despite this great news, however, we must remain diligent during this period of change.
The five autonomy conferences’ decision to approve full cost of attendance scholarships may require all DI athletic directors to make difficult financial decisions. Because women’s basketball is the No. 1 female sport on most DI campuses (and we have earned that honor), your program may be scrutinized. Other sports undoubtedly will. The American Volleyball Coaches Association has sent the attached talking points to its member coaches to share with administrators. It serves to remind us that we cannot take for granted our status.
When our sport was young, we were hungry, ready and willing to work together for the good of our game. It is time we “Get Hungry” again! We must tell the storied history of -- and act on our steadfast commitment to building a promising future for -- our sport. We must be assets to the administrations on our respective campuses. We must take advantage of every opportunity we have to promote the fact that women’s basketball produces a diverse group of amazing future female leaders.
But we must not stop there. As important as it is that we advance our own agenda, it is equally important that we support all women’s sports. Unite with all coaches of women’s sports on your campus to support and promote each other’s programs as well as to highlight the tremendous impact and opportunities women’s sports afford women and girls. Let us remember, as President John F. Kennedy once said, “A rising tide lifts all boats.”
We will hold sessions during the WBCA Convention in Tampa to help you understand the impact this matter may have on women’s basketball. If you have not made plans to join us in Tampa, we strongly encourage you to register and attend. In the meantime, please let us know how we can further assist you during this time of change. The next six months are critical for all NCAA athletic programs. Together, we can be part of a promising solution.
Respectfully,
Danielle M. Donehew
Executive Director, WBCA

And, here are volleyball's talking points:

DRAFT
MAKING A CASE FOR WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL AS A ‘FULL COST OF ATTENDANCE’ SPORT AT YOUR INSTITUTION
Talking Points
THEME: THINK ABOUT THE FUTURE OF WOMEN’S SPORTS, NOT THE PAST
1. GROWTH1: in the last 10 years, the number of women participating in DI volleyball has grown by 17%, compared to a 3% growth in basketball. Driven primarily by walk-on participation, volleyball squad sizes have increased by 10.6% compared to a (3.4%) decline in basketball squad sizes. It should be noted that these trends occurred despite the investment of millions of dollars by colleges, conferences, and the NCAA in marketing, supporting, and televising women’s basketball.
2. VALUE-ADDED BUDGET DECISIONS: Volleyball is the only broadly-sponsored NCAA sport that is primarily a women’s sport for the foreseeable future. The absence of a well-funded male counterpart allows administrators to make expenditure decisions based on departmental priorities rather than simply doubling expenditures for a single women’s sport to match those associated with a profit-producing men’s sport. The impact of tit-for-tat spending is most obvious in the NCAA DI Women’s Basketball Championship where loses have increased by 19.5%, from $8.866 million to $10.584 million in just the last two years. During this same time, the loss on the Women’s Volleyball Championship decreased by 3.4% from $1,364 million to $1,317 million. Quid pro quo expenditures on basketball are also hurting individual athletics departments: since 2004 expenditures for women’s basketball have increased by $1.5 million, $353,000 and $464,300 in FBS, FCS and non-FB schools respectively. Increases to volleyball budgets, while significant, have been less than one half that amount, and volleyball budgets were only 50% of women’s basketball budgets to begin with.2 While departments will still need to make expenditure decisions that pass Title IX muster, choosing a women’s sport without an omnipresent male profit producer will allow administrators to make department-wide decisions that benefit all women’s sports instead of concentrating resources in just one.
3. FEMALES HAVE CHOSEN VOLLEYBALL: 30% of women’s volleyball players in DI are walk-ons, a higher percentage than football (29%) or men’s basketball (21%). DI women’s basketball squads average fewer players (14.2) than the number of full scholarships available (15). In high school sports, more girls play volleyball than basketball in 33 states nationwide and participation has increased by 8.4% in the last 10 years compared to a (5.4%) decline in basketball.3 This significant shift in interest occurred organically during a time when the marketing emphasis was on basketball.

[ATrain]

Not going to lie, I would rather watch volleyball than women's bball and some schools do average higher attendance for VBall than women's BBall.

[alabama24]

Not going to lie, I would rather watch volleyball than women's bball and some schools do average higher attendance for VBall than women's BBall.

Not going to lie, I would rather watch either than our men's bball team.

[ATrain]

Not going to lie, I would rather watch volleyball than women's bball and some schools do average higher attendance for VBall than women's BBall.

Not going to lie, I would rather watch either than our men's bball team. :I chortle audibly.:

Not one but two-che'

[Sly Fox]

This is an aspect of CoA that I hadn't foreseen. Many of us were expecting the P5 schools to go CoA across the board to further the divide from the G5s & Non-Football DIs. It the CoA benefits for women are parceled out from football & men's hoops, it could get very interesting.

Thanks for passing these along, jk37.

[JK37]

No problem. I didn't quite foresee it this way myself.

[lynchburgwildcats]

Not going to lie, I would rather watch volleyball than women's bball and some schools do average higher attendance for VBall than women's BBall.

Women's basketball is an abomination in more places than it isn't.