Jewell to pursue NCAA Affiliation

Building on a rich, 125-year tradition in intercollegiate athletics, William Jewell College has announced plans to pursue a change in affiliation from the Heart of America Athletic Conference of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) to the Great Lakes Valley Conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II.

“William Jewell College has enjoyed an exceptionally strong tradition of student-athletes who are both engaged in the classroom and competitive on the playing field,” said Dr. David Sallee, president of William Jewell. “Although our association with the NAIA has been productive and satisfying, we believe that the move to the NCAA will build on Jewell’s history of academic excellence within a student-centered environment and will provide an association for our athletes that mirrors the high level of experience they enjoy in the classroom.”

William Jewell plans to make application by June 1 for membership in NCAA Division II and the Great Lakes Valley Conference. Other institutions in the Great Lakes Valley Conference include Bellarmine University, Quincy University, Rockhurst University, Drury University in Springfield, Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and Maryville University in St. Louis.

Advantages of NCAA Affiliation
The transition to NCAA will align William Jewell with a stronger and more widely recognized athletic brand. The NCAA has enjoyed significant growth and national exposure in the last three decades, and currently has 1,288 colleges and universities as member institutions at its various levels. 

Jewell’s transition to the NCAA will also bring increased external support to student-athletes, the athletic program, and the College. Support in place for student-athletes at NCAA member institutions includes academic requirements that result in student-athletes graduating at a 15 percent higher rate than the rest of the student body; internships for student-athletes at NCAA member institutions and at NCAA headquarters; 174 postgraduate scholarships awarded annually (87 for men and 87 for women); and financial assistance forstudent-athletes who have exhausted their collegiate eligibility through the Degree-Completion Scholarship Program. 

In supporting athletic programs, the NCAA reimburses all post-season competition expenses for each of its member institutions (currently, the NAIA reimburses for football and baseball post-season expenses). In addition, approximately 95 percent of revenue the NCAA receives from television, marketing rights fees, and championships is returned to member institutions in the form of direct payments and event services.

Pursuing a Change in Affiliation: Trustee and Campus Involvement
Following an extensive study, the Board of Trustees decided in May 2006 to pursue the change to NCAA athletic affiliation without a prescribed timetable or a pre-defined notion of whether to join Division II or Division III. The Board cited several advantages for the change in athletic affiliation, including alignment with colleges and universities that have a more similar focus on academics, institutional mission and philosophy and associating with a stronger and more widely recognized athletic brand.

Subsequent to the Board of Trustees decision, a Jewell faculty/staff Task Force was convened in 2007 to study details of NCAA Division II and Division III membership. The task force concluded its research by recommending that the College pursue membership in NCAA Division II and attempt to create a new conference. Reasons cited as advantages of NCAA Division II membership included alignment to similar academic institutions, sensible geographic distribution of potential athletic competitors, higher visibility of this level of athletic affiliation, and strong alumni interest in this level of athletic competition.

In the intervening time, the College pursued the option of creating a new conference. Ultimately, those efforts were unsuccessful. The College also thoroughly examined Division III membership. Recent changes in the Great Lakes Valley, including greater potential to move to east and west divisions of eight institutions each and to add football as a conference sport, and the knowledge gained by examining Division III membership, fueled a recommendation to change the College’s athletic affiliation to Division II as soon as possible. Thus, the Board of Trustees voted at its January 2009 meeting to change the College’s athletic affiliation to NCAA Division II and to seek membership in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. 

The NCAA Division II “Philosophy Statement” communicates the following expectations for participating members: “Higher education has lasting importance on an individual’s future success. The emphasis for the student-athlete experience in Division II is a comprehensive program of learning and development in a personal setting.  The approach provides growth opportunities through academic achievement, learning in high-level athletics competition, and development of societal attitudes in service to community.  The balance and integration of these different areas of learning provide Division II student-athletes with a variety of skills and knowledge for life ahead.”

Dr. Sallee noted that the NCAA Division II philosophy blends seamlessly with the institutional mission of William Jewell College. “William Jewell has always emphasized academic achievement, service to the community and personal development,” said Dr. Sallee. “These values are deeply ingrained in the College’s approach to higher education, just as they are in the NCAA’s model of athletic competition as a means to the end of developing individuals who are equipped to deal with the challenges presented beyond the classroom and the playing field. We feel this new association will provide an ideal match for the personal development needs of our student-athletes.”

Potential Timeline for Transition
If William Jewell’s application for membership in NCAA Division II and the GLVC is successful, the College would begin a two-year candidacy period and would likely begin playing NCAA Division II opponents as early as the fall of 2010, while it continues to play a full Heart of America Athletic Conference schedule in all sports in both 2009-10 and 2010-11.  The College would then move to a one-year provisional period (2011-12) during which it would administer its athletic program according to the rules and regulations of Division II, including playing a Division II schedule. Ideally, active membership would begin in 2012-13. Currently, the GLVC does not sponsor a championship for football, but plans to do so, possibly by 2011.

The Indianapolis, Ind.-based Great Lakes Valley Conference was established in 1978 and is one of the largest NCAA Division II conferences in the country. With the October 2008 addition of Maryville University in St. Louis and the University of Illinois at Springfield, the GLVC will include 15 teams from five Midwestern states. Other members of the GLVC are: Bellarmine University (Louisville, Ky.), Drury University (Springfield, Mo.), Kentucky Wesleyan College (Owensboro, Ky.), Lewis University (Romeoville, Ill.), Missouri University of Science & Technology (Rolla, Mo.), Northern Kentucky University (Highland Heights, Ky.), Quincy University (Quincy, Ill.), Rockhurst University (Kansas City, Mo.), Saint Joseph’s College (Rensselaer, Ind.), University of Indianapolis (Indianapolis, Ind.), University of Missouri-St. Louis (St. Louis, Mo.), University of Southern Indiana (Evansville, Ind.) and University of Wisconsin-Parkside (Kenosha, Wis.).

The GLVC last expanded in 2005 with the addition of Drury, Rockhurst and Missouri S&T. The league began in 1978 with six members and had previously expanded to 14 members in 2005, prior to SIU Edwardsville’s departure in 2008. The addition of Maryville and Illinois-Springfield will mark the first time in its history that the GLVC has had 15 members.