Title IX
Most administrators know that there are three ways to comply with Title IX: by having a ratio of male to female student-athletes that's proportional to the entire student population, by showing evidence of working toward proportionality, or by proving that existing offerings satisfy the interests and abilities of the underrepresented sex. However, one aspect of the law has never been fully addressed: If you choose the third prong, how do you demonstrate that the interests and abilities of your female students are being met?
Leadership
Tim Amundsen, Head Boys' Basketball Coach at Clovis East (Calif.) High School, is getting a lot of e-mails these days. Many of the messages simply say, "It's nice to know there are still decent people in the world who care about more than winning."
Promotions
This past basketball season, San Diego State University ran into a little bit of a seating problem- for its growing number of Director's Cabinet members—there were too many members and not enough seats. In response, SDSU found an interesting way to create more seats while giving its big-time donors the opportunity to see the game from a whole new perspective: The school added 10 chairs at the scorer's table.
Progressive Programs
When coaches at Liberty (Mo.) High School say their athletic director wrote the book on running a successful program, they're not kidding. All the school's teams operate around a program-development manual called The Book, which serves as a blueprint for every sport offering from the middle school through varsity level. It's an idea that has helped make Liberty one of the most successful and respected athletic departments in the state.
Academic Reform
This winter, for NCAA Division I programs, March Madness referred to more than postseason basketball games. That's because early March brought the first release of Academic Performance Rates, also called APR scores.
Policies & Procedures
In Pinellas County (Fla.), high school coaches will now need to watch their words more closely than ever before. Following an incident involving one of the district's football coaches, Superintendent Clayton Wilcox is looking into a policy that will formally instruct coaches not to use curse words or racial epithets when addressing student-athletes.
High School News
How much do high school athletes learn through participation in sports? Not as much as they should, according to some lawmakers in Massachusetts. A bill sitting before that state's legislature would mandate that all middle and high school interscholastic athletic programs follow an educational curriculum based on the science of sports psychology.
Coaching
Coaching is stressful. That's obvious. But how stressful is it?
A pilot study conducted on 21 high school and college coaches last year found that their average heart rate when on the sidelines was 120 beats per minute. That's almost twice the average person's resting heart rate (which is 60 to 70 beats per minute), and not far below the 140 to 160 beats per minute firefighters typically register when they enter a burning building.
For the past six years, Athletic Director Jerry Wollmering has overseen a culture of athletic and academic success at Truman State University. Truman student-athletes' graduation rate has consistently been among the top 10 in the nation in NCAA Division II, and in 2003-04, the school earned a third place finish in the NACDA Directors' Cup.
Risk Management
This issue, our expert answers the top 10 questions asked in athletics risk management.
Leadership
Delegating work to your staff involves more than handing out tasks. It means teaching them how to come up with their own ideas to solving problems.
By Doug Silsbee
Doug Silsbee is the author ofThe Mindful Coach: Seven Roles for Helping People, which offers a systematic approach to managing employees. He has counseled leaders in 11 countries on four continents and can be reached through his Web site: http://septetcoaching.com.
Coaching
Today's sport coaches want their athletes to strength train, but few know how to design an effective lifting program. Hiring a strength and conditioning coach is a solution many schools are turning to.
By Abigail Funk
Abigail Funk is an Assistant Editor at Athletic Management. She can be reached at afunk@MomentumMedia.com.
Cover Story
Recruiting is changing at a rapid pace, and both high school and college athletic directors need to help their coaches adjust. In this article, we reveal the strategies of both sides, and how they can collaborate for better outcomes.
By Laura Smith
Laura Smith is an Assistant Editor at Athletic Management. She can be reached at lsmith@MomentumMedia.com.
Leadership
Most athletic departments have at least one rookie head coach on their staff every year. How you mentor them will often determine how long they stay.
By Dan Cardone
Dan Cardone is Athletic Director at North Hills High School in Pittsburgh, Pa. He can be reached at cardoned@nhsd.k12.pa.us.
Publicity & Promotion
What can athletic departments do to obtain more media coverage for their unheralded athletes? This author provides some tricks of the trade.
By Jeff Brewer
Jeff Brewer is Founder of SportsInk, LLC, a sports communication and consulting firm in Akron, Ohio. The former Director of Athletic Communications at the University of Akron, he also worked in the sports information office at Penn State University. He can be reached at jeff@sportsink.com.
Academic Reform
Boston College open its playbook on how it fosters academic success.
By Kenny Berkowitz
Kenny Berkowitz is an Assistant Editor at Athletic Management. He can be reached at KBerkowitz@MomentumMedia.com.