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Proposal for a new NCAA “Division IV” doesn’t mention hoops

Harvard v Arizona

SALT LAKE CITY, UT - MARCH 23: A seat with the 75th March Madness logo is seen during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at EnergySolutions Arena on March 23, 2013 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

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The notion that big-time football should forge its own path has been in the wind for a while now. It makes us college hoops fans feel pretty squeamish, even if we happen to root for a big-time program, because we like our Big Dance and our Cinderellas, and that would change for good if the FBS schools break away.

I, for one, just stick my fingers in my ears and sing “I can’t heeeeeear youuuuu!” when someone brings it up, even in a theoretical context.

A group known as the Division 1-A Faculty Athletics Representatives (FAR) has taken the next step, however. The group, as presented in a letter to the NCAA on September 11 of this year, has drafted a proposal for a so-called “Division IV” that would be composed solely of the universities currently playing FBS football.

Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports gave us the lowdown on the proposal:

The FAR board supports a new division, “more closely aligned in resources dedicated to athletics programs and in types of issues faced,” according to FAR president Brian Shannon, a Texas Tech law professor.

“There is wide consensus that the current Division I governance model is not working,” said Jo Potuto, Nebraska constitutional law professor and past president of the I-A FAR. “A separate FBS division offers more streamlined governance among schools with comparable revenue streams.”


There was no mention at all in the FAR proposal about the effect this new division might have on college basketball, but it doesn’t sound good. The current NCAA tournament model would have to be pretty much scrapped, which shouldn’t sound particularly appealing to the governing body, The NCAA tourney is a huge money-maker, even if basketball’s overall money-making potential pales in comparison to the juggernaut that is big-time college football.

It’s worth noting that FAR has no official power to recommend anything at all to anybody, but they did take the initial step of doing the legwork on a governance model for a separate branch of the NCAA power structure. Chances are, this is just the first shot fired over the bow in this particular battle,


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