Marist Hosts MAAC Compliance Summit
MAAC Sports
Marist College served as the host of the 2015 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Compliance Summit on December 9th. The summit had representation from compliance administrators at each of the eleven MAAC member institutions. It was assembled to enhance collaboration between conference schools as well as provide dialogue on current NCAA legislative proposals and updates. In addition, the summit signified the MAAC‘s commitment to educate and serve the compliance staffs at its’ member institutions.
The summit took place on the campus of Marist College, in the Historic Cornell Boathouse that sits at the edge of the scenic Hudson River in Poughkeepsie, NY. The meeting commenced with a warm welcome from Senior Associate Commissioner at the MAAC, Jessica Hegmann. Hegmann commented, “The summit provided a great opportunity for our membership to discuss some of the pertinent legislation that will be impacting collegiate athletics in the future. It was exciting that each member institution was represented at the meeting.”
The next portion of the summit included a national office update from Assistant Director of AMA at the NCAA, Jerry Vaughn. Vaughn informed the group on changes in the governance structure, the council forum, the presidential form, and key issues at the Division I level. “Given the ever changing landscape of intercollegiate athletics, it's imperative that we come together and engage in meaningful dialogue about the relevant issues/challenges facing our industry and the 2015 MAAC Compliance Summit accomplished that goal. There was really good discussion about the changes to the Division I governance structure, technical resources available to the membership and potential legislative changes coming for the 2016-17 academic year. I was extremely impressed by the thought diversity of the compliance administrators at each institution. As a National Office staff, it is important for us to get out a meet the membership where they live and I was delighted to have the opportunity to serve as an ambassador for Academic and Membership Affairs and the association as a whole.”
The remainder of the morning was spearheaded by Vaughn and BJ Merriam, Director of Compliance at the MAAC, who were responsible for detailing the membership on the 2015 NCAA legislative proposals. Moreover, the compliance administrators had a great opportunity to discuss the shared governance legislation as well as take a formal conference stance on the proposals that will be voted on in April. The MAAC is one of the 32 Division I conferences that has a vote in the NCAA governance process.
During the afternoon, each administrator had the opportunity to present a best practice from their institution. The compliance related topics included recruiting, eligibility, booster education, interpretation philosophy, and SAF distribution. The attendees discussed and shared various methods of practice in which they were able to learn from each other. Tracey Flynn, Senior Women’s Administrator at Quinnipiac, stated “The MAAC Compliance Summit was a superb professional opportunity for the membership. The afternoon roundtable activity was invaluable as each school shared their best practices on critical elements of the NCAA rules.” In addition, the conference created a new process for submitting NLI’s and will be launching a new “MAAC Mentorship” program for the spring of 2016.
The 2015 MAAC Compliance Summit concluded with a trivia session that recapped important facts from the meeting. Merriam mentioned, “The MAAC is very thankful for Marist hosting such a wonderful event. Although the MAAC membership is focused on fiercely competing for championships on the field; Compliance presents a spectrum in which collaboration amongst the membership can lead to the best outcomes. I am glad we were able to provide this opportunity for our compliance administrators.” As the summit concluded, the participants were excited about what they had learned and the relationships forged during the event.