Risk Management

Athletics departments are committed to providing a healthy environment in which student-athletes can grow academically and athletically.  The misuse of alcohol and use of recreational drugs among the employees and student athletes undermines this commitment.  Toward the end of advancing a more healthy athletics and educational environment, we should be committed to education about and prevention of alcohol, tobacco and recreational drug misuse among student-athletes, the rehabilitation of student-athletes who suffer alcohol, tobacco or drug dependence, and policies and programs th

A:  YES.  The student-athlete is the primary “customer” of the athletics program and the athletics director and coach should have such “customer satisfaction” input.  Player evaluation instruments should be constructed collaboratively by the coaching staff and the athletics administrators and administered annually.   Following is a sample Student-Athlete Evaluation form.   Player evaluations of coaches should be administered without coaches being present and player confidentiality must be assured in order for such evaluation efforts to be effective.

A:  The Athletic Director should  be responsible for establishing a fair process for handling student-athlete or parent complaints related to the instructional ability or behavior of a coach that is consistent with standard procedures for handling employee conflicts or performance issues but also includes:

A:  The real challenge is to ask what can each of us do to clearly integrate for our coaches and student-athletes the notions of aggression, competition and respect for our opponents.  Can we explain the difference between making a clean block or crisp tackle and initiating body contact with the intent to maim?  Can we remove hate language and the denigration of any group from the locker room (and classroom, and hallways) and make it clear that both are unacceptable?  Change occurs one person at a time with one small act at a time.  Which of the following can you do

Any institutional Title IX compliance officer or Athletics Director (AD) has the ability to execute a Title IX assessment.  Simply go online, print out the Office of Civil Rights Title IX Investigator’s Manual and follow 130 pages of instructions specifying the data to collect and how to analyze it.   Interview every head coach, three to four top athletics administrators, and other selected staff members.   Visit every office, practice and competitive facility, locker room, training room and equipment storage area.  These are some of the reasons why most school

By Donna Lopiano, President, Sports Management Resources

As academic progress rate (APR) and graduation success rate (GSR) pressures increase on NCAA Division I institutions required to adhere to these rules, we may very well see an increase in unintended consequences on student-athletes and academic support staffs.  History shows that it is impossible to legislate moral integrity.  Make a rule and there are always unanticipated impacts, those who will figure a way around it or live by walking on its gray and hazy edges. 

Both the Department of Education and the United States Supreme Court have found that sexual harassment is a form of sexual discrimination prohibited by Title IX. In January 2001, the Department published "Revised Sexual Harassment Guidance: Harassment of Students by School Employees, Other Students or Third Parties." That Title IX guidance updates and revises the original 1997 guidelines to incorporate and discuss important Supreme Court cases that were decided on the subject in the interim: Gebser v.