UND faculty athletic rep sought

[PCM]

This item was in today's UND University Letter:

PRESIDENT KUPCHELLA SEEKS FACULTY ATHLETIC REPRESENTATIVE

Letters of interest are being sought by President Kupchella to assume the role of Faculty Athletic Representative (FAR) for the current Division II sports at UND as it transitions to Division I. This call is precipitated by the changed institutional role of the current FAR, Phil Harmeson. Mr. Harmeson has had his administrative duties expanded over the years to the point where he is now the full-time Senior Associate to the President with no faculty-related assignment(s). While the NCAA requires that a FAR

[star2city]

I understand that Harmeson will continue to serve as UND's Division I hockey representative and maintain his posts on the WCHA committees on which he serves. The new FAR will cover all sports except men's and women's hockey.

Why would UND withdraw Harmeson as the FAR for the NCC? Harmeson is the "big gun" that knows the political in's and out's of most area DI and prospective DI institutions, from what I understand.

If UND was hurting for a conference, this would be the worst time to pull Harmeson from that relationship with the NCC (and non-WCHA schools like USD., Augie, UNO, etc that are contemplating a DI move). IF UND's conference hopes were minimal, Harmeson would be needed to patch together an independent scheduling alliance. But yet, Harmeson maintains his relationship with the WCHA, where he will continue to hob-knob with WCHA administrators like those at Denver U.

With the NCAA recent encouragement to UBC to become a member, I know many readers will be skeptical, but something is up. UND's WCHA membership, hockey tradition, facilities, and media outlets could very well open doors in DI that other schools couldn't open.

[Siouxman]

It would seem that the explanation may be in the early part of the notice. The NCAA requires the FAR to have faculty responsibilities which Harmesan does not have. You would not want to go into the transition with a question about whether you are compliance with NCAA requirements. It could be that he was given a choice of reducing his current responsibilities so that he could assume some faculty responsibilities to be in compliance, or let someone else take that specific role.

It also states that the FAR cannot be in an administrative role within the athletic area.

I agree his experience is valuable for the transition, and it still is likely to be in effect without him being the official FAR.

[star2city]

It could be that he was given a choice of reducing his current responsibilities so that he could assume some faculty responsibilities to be in compliance, or let someone else take that specific role.

It also states that the FAR cannot be in an administrative role within the athletic area.

I agree his experience is valuable for the transition, and it still is likely to be in effect without him being the official FAR.

Understand the FAR compliance part (but wouldn't it have been easy for Harmeson to teach one class with a TA?), but then why keep Harmeson in the WCHA role? The new FAR could use as much exposure as possible. I can only conclude that Harmeson's role in dealing with hockey interests (and possibly DI interests) is far more crucial to UND's near-term interests than the new FAR's role with the NCC. Considering the stability of the WCHA, that is signficant IMHO.

[PCM]

Understand the FAR compliance part (but wouldn't it have been easy for Harmeson to teach one class with a TA?), but then why keep Harmeson in the WCHA role?

Harmeson holds seats on three key WCHA committees. And you are correct that as important as hockey is to UND, the university can't afford to risk turning that part of the job over to someone less qualified and less experienced.