D3Playbook: What Will The Return Look Like?

D3Playbook
MAY 4, 2020 | written by STEVE ULRICH
your must-read briefing on what's driving the day in NCAA Division III

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1. What Will The Return to Sports Look Like?

"As the world continues to face the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States is beginning to open in certain areas. Some areas are seeing increases in cases, while others are remaining steady, leading to this central question: How and when do NCAA sports return?

For each member institution, that return will come at a different time and will certainly take a different form. The NCAA’s COVID-19 Advisory Panel of leading medical, public health and epidemiology experts led by NCAA Chief Medical Officer Brian Hainline has put together nine core principles to help guide institutions as they answer these challenging questions. The document, “Resocialization in Sport,” takes into consideration federal recommendations, relying on experts, data and science, and puts the health, safety and well-being of student-athletes and the needs of the membership first.

“It is also important to take into consideration that there will not be a quick, single day of re-emergence into society,” Hainline said. “We will re-emerge in a manner that recognizes COVID-19 will be around until there is an effective vaccine, treatment or both. That is why resocialization should be rolled out in a phased way that helps assure sustained low infection spread, as well as aids in the ability to quickly diagnose and isolate new cases.”

For more information on the NCAA’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, visit ncaa.org/covid-19."

2. Student Salute!

3. SAAC Mental Health Campaign

The Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee is excited to announce its inaugural 2020 Mental Health Social Media Campaign on May 4-7. This campaign is a platform for student-athletes, administrators, coaches, staff, and support networks across the country to start the discussion, speak out on, and break the stigma surrounding mental health. The goal of this campaign is to use social media to create a dialogue on mental health and to communicate the benefits of normalizing mental health awareness. Check out the campaign’s webpage and participate during May 4-7.

4. Regional Rules Update

Due to the COVID-19 virus and concerns about the health and safety of administrators, coaches and vendors, the decision was made to conduct the 2020 NCAA Regional Rules Seminars in a remote format. Over the next few weeks, the NCAA membership should expect to receive information regarding an updated seminar schedule of sessions, methods of delivery and how to stay connected with NCAA staff. Please note that some educational information and resources may be posted in mid/late-May with interactive sessions scheduled to be conducted in early June. All updated information will be shared on the Regional Rules Seminars webpage and LSDBi.

Please note that regional rules seminar registration and any hotel reservations booked through the registration system were cancelled on the registrants behalf by the Shorts Travel Management staff and you should have received a cancellation confirmation in March. Any vendors and nonmembers who paid registration fees are scheduled to be fully refunded. If you have any immediate questions regarding this announcement, please reach out to regionalrules@ncaa.org.

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5. Calendar

May 13-14 - Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement
May 26-29 - Men's Lacrosse Rules Committee
May 28-31 - Career in Sports Forum
June 2-5 - Men's and Women's Ice Hockey Rules Committee
June 10-11 - Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports Committee
June 22-23 - Championships Committee
June 24-25 - Membership Committee

6. Comings and Goings

Tracy Espy named president at Mitchell.
Karen Scolforo announced her resignation as president at Castleton.
Kiana Verdugo named assistant athletic director at Alma.
Barry Craddock named head baseball coach at Wooster.
Larry Hennig announced his retirement as head softball coach at Mary Hardin-Baylor. Melissa Mojica named head coach.
Terrence Gray named head men's basketball coach at Illinois Tech.
Jordan Ott named head women's ice hockey coach at King's.
Alex Hanna named assistant football coach at Oberlin.

7. 1 Unforgettable Thing

It was 50 years ago today that the Ohio National Guard opened fire on Kent State University students protesting the U.S. expansion of the Vietnam War into Cambodia. The students assumed the Guard was firing blanks. Thirteen fateful seconds later, four students were dead. Nine were wounded.

>> The Photo: John Filo, a student and part-time news photographer, distilled the feeling that the war had come home into a single image when he captured Mary Ann Vecchio crying out and kneeling over a fatally wounded Jeffrey Miller. Filo’s photograph was put out on the AP wire and printed on the front page of the New York Times. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize and has since become the visual symbol of a hopeful nation’s lost youth.

>> The Song: “Tin soldiers and Nixon coming / We’re finally on our own / This summer I hear the drumming / Four dead in Ohio.” - Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

>> The Aftermath: Read more from Richard Zitrin, an eyewitness.

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