Thompson and Krebs will join other commissioners, athletic directors, faculty representatives, senior woman administrators and student-athletes from around the country when the first meeting of the Division I council meets on Friday, along with the 2015 NCAA Convention in Washington, D.C.
It will be the first time that student-athletes will be represented on council-level groups. All Division I conferences will be represented by the council, which is made up of 40 individuals.
“The next several months will be challenging times in intercollegiate athletics as several initiatives to enhance the student-athlete experience will unfold,” Thompson said in a release. “It will be important to be on the ground level of those discussions.”
According to the Mountain West release, the council is charged with conducting the day-to-day business of Division I athletics and will have the final say on shared governance rule-making decisions. In response to the many changes happening in Division I, including the debate about the principles of amateurism, the NCAA developed the council.
In the council’s first meeting, it will elect an athletics director to chair the group, identify the subgroups that will assist in developing legislation, administering championships and performing other necessary functions. New rules will be voted upon by the council for the first time during the 2015-16 legislative cycle.
“I am honored to serve as a MW representative to the new NCAA Division I Council,” Krebs said in a release. “These are historic times for college athletics as we chart the future of our enterprise. UNM is very fortunate that our own Kendall Spencer will be serving as the first-ever SAAC (Student-Athlete Advisory Committee) representative to the NCAA Division I Board.”
Spencer, a former UNM track star, was also selected to the Division I Council. The 2012 NCAA Indoor Track & Field National Champion in long jump became the first student-athlete in the history of the organization to serve on the Division I Board, according to the release.
In 2011, Spencer joined UNM’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and joined the National SAAC two years later. He became the Division I SAAC Chair in 2014.
“I have a lot of fun doing what I’m doing and being involved in SAAC gives me the opportunity to network with other student-athletes,” Spencer said about SAAC in an earlier MW release.
In all, five individuals will represent the Mountain West: Thompson, Krebs, Spencer, Utah State University President Stan Albrecht and Wyoming Vice President for Athletics Tom Burman.
Thompson and Krebs will take on roles in the new Division I governance structure. Spencer and Albrecht have been selected to the reconfigured Division I Board of Directors.
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Burman has been chosen to the Division I Committee of Academics, a group that will report to the Board but process legislation through the Council. The Committee on Academic Performance and Academic Cabinet from the previous Division I governance structure, is replaced by the 20-person academics body.
