Thrower Nicole Elliott Represents NAU at Big Sky Meetings

My name is Nicole Elliott. I am a thrower on the track and field team here at NAU. I am also the co-chair of SAAC. On the weekend of October 4th I was lucky enough to attend the Big Sky Leadership Conference. While I was there I had a wonderful experience. I attended a meeting with other SAAC representatives from our competing schools. We talked about issues among our teams and how well our SAAC groups are getting involved. We shared the plans that ours schools have for community service projects and got many great ideas of things that we do not already do and can bring back to our schools. I am proud to announce that it seems that NAU is definitely ahead of the game in this. Some of the schools have not had their first meetings yet, whereas we have had 2 full group meetings. We also went over around thirty of the new NCAA proposed legislation. Some of this will have an effect on NAU, but some of it will not because it involves sports like baseball which we do not have.

Another meeting I was able to sit in on was of the Joint Athletic Council. In this meeting I got to see all the athletic directors of all of the Big Sky Schools try to work together and figure out some new legislation. There were two big pieces of legislation discussed in this meeting. One was over the indoor track and field championship site rotation. The main thing is that they want to cut NAU completely out of this rotation, meaning NAU will not host any more indoor track and field championships. The other piece of legislation discussed was over men’s and women’s basketball, the issue being travel squads. They want to be able to take as many athletes as they want as long as there is not air travel. There were schools on both sides of these issues and it was interesting to see how the things were dealt with and to get both sides of each story.

It was a great experience. I got to see how the other Big Sky schools handled situations and I also got their point of view on different subjects. It was also really nice to get together with a group of individuals that I have never met before and talk about issues present on our campuses and what could be done about them.

NCAA President Brand Left His Mark

Collegiate Athletics lost a staunch advocate when NCAA President Myles Brand lost his battle with pancreatic cancer on Wednesday.

President Brand brought a unique perspective to the position as he became the first university president to serve in the roll of NCAA president. This after college athletic directors had served in that capacity in recent years.

I remember the first year Myles became president, not too long after the firing of Bobby Knight at Indiana; he summoned numerous college administrators to Dallas, Texas to work on the “Strategic Plan” that would guide the NCAA into the future.

I had the privilege of being asked to attend those meetings and you knew from day one that ACADEMICS were going to become his focus. Literally every time a suggestion or idea came forward he would ask, “How will these ideas help move forward academic performance?”

Myles always took the time to address your concerns and you may not have liked the answer but you always got one. He brought a different global perspective to the Association and it came at a time when we needed that difference.

A phrase we use to describe Northern Arizona University is “the difference that matters”. Myles Brand was “the difference that mattered” in the leadership of the NCAA and he was able to bring what matters the most to the forefront of the Association’s Agenda.

He said that the academic performance of our student-athletes will become the central focus of the Association and he did that.

Myles Brand may not have come to the Presidency of the Association in the traditional athletic way but make no mistake he became the classic athlete.

As he took on a formidable foe, cancer, he fought it tooth and nail just like you expect any true competitor to do.

He may have been over matched physically, by this demon, but he was class from beginning to end and he never gave up! He is gone in body but his spirit will live on.

Now the rest of us owe it to him and ourselves to keep that vision moving forward, that vision he so strongly believed in.

Thank you Myles, you and your leadership will be missed.

Jim Fallis, Northern Arizona University Athletics Director