Remembering Brentdrick

The images on my television screen were from the NFC Championship Game between the New York Giants and the Green Bay Packers. The images gave me a brief break from the pictures I had seen over the weekend. I would watch a couple of plays and then the numbness would return, a numbness that was equal if not greater than the Wisconsin cold I saw on the television. Less than twenty four hours beforehand I had received word that Brentdrick Walker, a member of our football team, had died in a motorcycle accident.

The images that my mind would constantly go back to: the video of a motorcycle on the side of the road shown on a local news channel, the picture of Brentdrick’s jersey hanging in his locker, a locker room filled with young people asking questions that no one has the answer for. Then my mind would accelerate to visions that I had not seen: Brentdrick spending time coaching a youth basketball team on his last day on earth and the horrified shock that his family had to have felt when they received the news. These images were difficult for me to comprehend; I began to realize that my mind was on overload and that I was not ready for all of the mental images that this event would cause.

The rest of the week was busy preparing for the campus memorial service on Thursday and the funeral on Saturday. There is no handbook on how to prepare and handle a situation as tragic a young person dying in his prime. All of us are concerned with not only finding the right thing to say, but also trying to avoid saying the wrong thing.

The funeral was a wonderful tribute to Brentdrick. There were several songs that the congregation sang that gave me goose bumps and raised my spirits. There were numerous individuals who gave examples of how Brentdrick strived to be a role model, how his parents were so proud of him for wanting to go to college. It was obvious that Brentdrick touched so many people in such a short time. After the funeral, the congregation was led outside for a final goodbye to Brentdrick. His father was given a dove, and then a poem was read to celebrate Brentdrick’s life. At the conclusion of the reading of the poem, Brentdrick’s father released the dove. The bird flew to the south and was quickly outlined against the blue sky that was filled with sunshine. It was one image that helped me make it through that day, and the days to follow.

NCAA Convention Recap

The 2008 NCAA Convention for Division III will be remembered for many reasons for our division. For the first time, the talk about subdivision and NCAA Division IV went from hotel lobby talk to being a part of the conversation on the convention floor. There has been much speculation about the future of Division III and the college landscape as we know it will likely change in the next three to five years.

One major factor behind the potential change is that the television contract the NCAA has signed with CBS to cover the Division One Basketball Tournament will expire in 2013. The NCAA would like to negotiate the new contract within the next 16 to 24 months. If there is a new division or subdivision for Division III, that would be an issue to include in the contract negotiations. Currently, Division III receives just over 3% from the multi-billion dollar contract that CBS pays the NCAA for the broadcast rights. This money is used to help pay for championship travel for teams when they advance in the NCAA post-season.

There are many institutions at the Division III level who are happy with the division as it is and do not want to see a split. I believe there are a significant number of institutions which would like to see the return of redshirting, the return of more non-traditional playing dates and more skill instruction for our student-athletes. Then there are schools which would like to see even more restrictions placed on the role of athletics on a college campus. Finding a mandate between these three groups will be a daunting task that will likely leave many in the membership unhappy with the final decision.

As of now, the timetable calls for the NCAA to send out a survey to Division III schools to find out their opinions on the future of our division. There will be discussion between university presidents, athletic directors and conference commissioners about the positives and negatives of a potential split. After a year of discussion, the vote could be put before the membership at the 2009 convention in Washington, D.C. It is only appropriate that one of the polarizing issues for the NCAA could be decided in a city that lives and breathes politics.

The Chinese have a saying “May you live in interesting times” That is exactly what our membership will be doing for the next 12 months.

Cowboy Up.

John Neese