The Division II Presidents Council in November had what has become a typical meeting for the group. While members carried out the obligatory legislative review for the 2008 Convention, the presidents just as importantly spent half their time on strategic initiatives that advance the division.

This time it was a financial study to determine the value of Division II’s partial-scholarship model and whether it influences college choice for prospective student-athletes. But in recent meetings, the strategic subjects have included community engagement, game environment, marketing and promotions, television-rights agreements, and championships festivals.

It’s all part of what outgoing Chair Charles Ambrose calls an evolution – not only of the governance structure but of the entire division – from a regulatory environment to a strategic positioning and incentives approach. In this model, member institutions enthusiastically participate in information sharing, best practices and tool development to collectively elevate the division.

The strategic-positioning platform the Presidents Council developed after a division-wide presidential summit in 2005 has been the launching pad for the paradigm shift, Ambrose said.

“The platform gives us the best of both worlds,” said the Pfeiffer University president. “The Presidents Council maintains the ability to provide a healthy and protective student-athlete experience – we will never abdicate our responsibility for the primacy of student-athlete well-being through the legislative process – but at the same time we don’t have to focus entirely on a prescriptive/regulatory environment.”

Ambrose said the platform, which identifies Division II attributes and aligns behaviors, allows the division to be “vision-led rather than history-pulled.”

“We’ve done more than just develop an identity,” he said. “We are providing tools in community engagement, game environment, life skills and championships administration that allow institutions to live Division II’s ‘life in the balance.’ We’ve gone from a division driven by legislation to one that enables institutions to use an array of tools to become better Division II members.”

Ambrose completes his two-year term as chair of the Presidents Council after the Convention. Metropolitan State President Stephen Jordan succeeds him. But regardless of who’s in charge, Ambrose said the presidents have come to expect greater involvement in initiatives that define Division II by what it is rather than what it is not.

Above: For Division II Presidents Council Chair Charles Ambrose, it's all about the strategy. (NCAA Photos)

“The Council realizes the need to spend time and energy providing initiatives and programs that remove the inhibitors to what our platform says we are rather than use every meeting to comb through a legislative agenda,” he said. “In turn, institutions are picking up on that creativity and enthusiastically embracing the ‘I Chose Division II’ theme by applying the tools that support their choice.

“We’ve only just started learning how to use this stuff. The future looks exciting from here.”