Athletics - July 16, 2003
President McPhee Appointed to NCAA Board of Directors
MT Media Relations


MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- Joining a prestigious group of campus chief executives that are responsible for overseeing legislation for the 318 member institutions, President Sidney A. McPhee was recently named to the NCAA Division I Board of Directors.

When the NCAA underwent a major restructuring in 1997, the one-school one-vote principle for approving legislation was replaced in Division I with a system based on conference representation. McPhee will now sit on the 18-member Board of Directors as the representative from the Sun Belt conference. This group votes on NCAA legislation, rather than a vote of all Division I members at an annual convention. Division-wide voting may be done only through an override vote process that requires a written request from at least 30 Division I institutions.

"It is both exciting and humbling to be selected to serve on this important NCAA committee," McPhee said after receiving the appointment from David Berst, NCAA chief of staff for Division I. "This committee establishes strategic plans for Division I athletics, and reviews and sets policy for the division.

"It will be an honor and a pleasure to represent MTSU and the Sun Belt Conference in this important duty."

McPhee's first meeting on the board will be in August and his term runs until January 2007. He is the first representative of the Sun Belt Conference selected to the NCAA board.

"We are ecstatic that he was selected for the committee," said Wright Waters, commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference. "The Sun Belt conference is one of eleven conferences with a permanent seat on the board. The other seven seats are shared and rotated among 20 other conferences. President McPhee is in pretty high cotton, because this committee decides all of the important issues involving Division I policies.

"He has a good working knowledge of the challenges, benefits and the overall importance of intercollegiate athletics on a college campus. The NCAA got a good man and he will represent us well."

Originally called the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (IAAUS), the National Collegiate Athletic Association took its present name in 1910. Some historians say the organization was formed to reform football, which featured violent plays like the 'flying wedge.' For several years, the NCAA was a discussion group and rules-making body, but in 1921, the first NCAA national championship was held, the National Collegiate Track and Field Championships. Gradually, more rules committees were formed and more championships were held.

Today the NCAA is a voluntary association of 1,200 colleges and universities and sponsors 24 championships. There are 318 member institutions and last year 13,680 athletes competed in Division I athletics. According to NCAA statistics over 37 million fans attended Division I football games last year.