Volume 25 · Number 1 · Fall 2007
Photo: Wayne Tilcock
Stadium Kickoff!
Aggie Stadium’s finished, and it’s a whole new ball game! The multi-use stadium opened this spring before it was finished in order to host the last few home games of women’s lacrosse. It’s now complete both inside and out, with landscaping added for picnic and play areas. The 9,000-seat facility, located at the corner of La Rue Road
Division I: It's Official
After completing a rigorous four-year process, UC Davis received official notice in August that it had been certified a Division I school. The National Collegiate Athletic Association’s designation indicates that the campus has proved its readiness for the toughest athletic competition, academic requirements and regulations at the NCAA’s top level of play.
“We are ready,” said Athletics Director Greg Warzecka. “We’ve done it the right way by recruiting the type of students who can succeed here both athletically and academically.”
The campus — with about 800 student-athletes participating in 26 varsity sports — is now eligible for conference championships and postseason play in Division I. Most of UC Davis’ athletic teams will compete in the Big West Conference. Football is part of the Great West Football Conference. During the just-completed four-year transition, these teams could not compete for conference championships or participate in NCAA postseason play.
Commitment to a model program
Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef said the Big West Conference and Division I offer the perfect academic, philosophical and competitive “fit” for UC Davis.
“We continue to affirm our commitment to a model intercollegiate athletics program that is centered on the student-athlete and teacher-coach,” he said. “Aggie
student-athletes will continue to succeed in the arena where it counts the most — the classroom.”
The decision in 2003 to reclassify from NCAA Division II to Division I status followed almost a year’s discussion among campus administrators, faculty, staff, students, alumni and the local community.
With changes at the NCAA, UC Davis was one of the first three schools to undergo a four-year transition, instead of the previous two-year process. The NCAA certification process included a campus self-study with faculty, staff and student committees charged with examining such topics as governance, rules compliance, academic integrity, equity and welfare of the student-athlete. And as part of the process, an NCAA peer-review team visited campus to meet with the self-study teams, inspect facilities and evaluate the campus’s readiness to be a Division I school.
Academic integrity
UC Davis officials established eight core principles to guide the campus through the transition process. Among them: Admission and graduation standards must not be altered or amended for student-athletes, all sports are on an equal footing, and the institutional commitment to achieving gender equity must be maintained.
Kim Elsbach, a management professor who chairs the athletic administrative advisory committee and serves as UC Davis’ faculty athletic representative to the NCAA, said UC Davis is steadfast in its commitment to the priority of education.
Elsbach pointed to a recent study that showed UC Davis student-athletes are doing better than the rest of the student population in academic performance and graduation rates — an important measure of accountability.
Facilities and competition
Since beginning its progress toward Division I play, UC Davis has expanded its tennis facilities with the Marya Welch Tennis Center, constructed the new multi-use stadium and hosted an NCAA women’s water polo championship in the new Schaal Aquatics Center.
The Aggies began playing a mostly Division I schedule in fall 2004 and, since then, have racked up impressive victories over Stanford in football, men’s soccer, men’s basketball, wrestling and baseball; made strong showings against other Division I and Big West Conference teams; and wrestler Derek Moore earlier this year became the first Aggie to win an NCAA Division I championship.
Elsbach said other schools are looking to UC Davis as a model for their athletics programs: “We can feel proud of what we’re bringing to the Division I playing field.”
Julia Ann Easley writes about student affairs and campus operations for University Communications.