I've research this topic in depth, not only the NCAA's rules and regulations but also with the US Department of Health and Human Services and their Title IX materials. Title IX is probably the most complicated topic collegiate athletic administrators face today, and I'm pretty sure there are a lot of them that don't understand the subject to well. This is one reason there are a number of Title IX consultants that assist college and high school programs across the country. I'll try, to the best of my abilities, to give you a brief look at Title IX, how it affects collegiate athletics and how it may affect Georgia Southern's potential move from I-AA to I-A football.

As I understand it . . .

The Skinny Behind Title IX.

"No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." - Title IX of the Education Amedments of 1972 to the Civil Rights Act of 1964

This law was enacted by the US Government in June 1972 and has drastically changed, for the good, the world of collegiate athletics. It guarantees that both young men and women have the equal opportunity to participate in intercollegiate athletics. It doesn't guarantee that they WILL participate, but it mandates that colleges and universities have sport programs in place so that no student's right to participate is violated.

Title IX isn't something for Georgia Southern to fear, but rather the opportunity for us to right wrongs and provide our daughters, nieces, sisters, wives and other women the opportunity to compete and excel in intercollegiate athletics. Coach Russell always taught us to "Do Right." Title IX is just a roadmap we can use to make sure we don't get sidetracked on our trek to "Do Right!"

Okay, I've probably lost a few folks already, but I don't know how to better explain Title IX. Here's an explanation I stole off another website:

"Title IX protects students, faculty and staff in federally funded education programs. Title IX applies to all colleges and universities. It also applies to programs and activities affiliated with schools that receive federal funds. Title IX requires that schools which receive federal funding provide equal opportunities for members of both sexes. It addresses the availability, quality and kind of benefits, and the opportunities and treatment that athletes receive".

How Title IX Compliance is Reached.

Being in compliance with Title IX is a simple "YES" or "NO" answer. As far as being in compliance, there is no such thing as "being close", "almost in compliance", or "on schedule to be compliant". Either a school is compliant or they aren't compliant with the law.

Compliance with Title IX is gauged in three areas, and all three must be complete for compliance to be in effect. The three areas of Title IX compliance are:

1. Interest & Abilities (also known as "Participation")
2. Scholarships
3. "The Laundry List" (formally named "Additional Athletic Department Components")

AREA 1: Interest & Abilities.

There are 3 distinct ways in which a program can fulfill the requirements of this area. A school doesn't have to meet all three of these ways, they are free to choose one of them and not worry about the other two.

A) Proportionality - the athletic opportunities for both males and females must be at least the same ratio as the male-to-female ratio of students attending the institution. VERY FEW colleges and universities that sponsor football use Proportionality to fulfill the Interest & Abilities segment of Title IX. Unless you're The Citadel or VMI, there's a pretty good chance your M/F ratio is close to 50/50. Since football eats up so many scholarships, it is almost impossible to sponsor enough women's sports to offset the 63 or 85 "participation opportunities" football uses.

B) Program History and the Continued Practice of Program Expansion for Women's Sports - This is exactly what it says. If the school has a history of increasing womens' scholarships on a regular basis, and/or adding womens' sports to their athletic department, then the US Government will allow the school to pass muster in the Interest & Abilities area. This is very hard for most schools to do as they must constantly be adding programs and scholarships.

C) Prove the University is Meeting the Needs of Her Students - The majority of colleges that sponsor football use this way to fulfill the Interest & Abilities segment of Title IX. This method simply surveys incoming high-school seniors that have been accepted to GSU and/or Freshmen during their orientation. The students are asked what sports they would like to see added at the university and if they would participate on the squad if it (they) were added. The survey is done by a campus department other than athletics (most schools use their Academic Recruiters and Orientation Teams) with the process overseen by the schools' Title IX Coordinator (every school is required by law to have this positition). The results are then shared with a Title IX consultant that is familiar with these type surveys and is equipped to interpret them and make recommendations for the school.

If it is determined that an additional sport program needs to be added, the school has to put together a five-year plan of implementing the program. This gives the athletic department the time it needs to secure funding, facilities and other resources necessary for the new sport program to be of the caliber of the rest of the sport programs on campus. From the time the surveys are initially done until the first season of the new program can be a six year span as long as a plan is put together and shared with the Title IX Coordinator on campus.

That's it for the first segment of Title IX: Interest & Abilities. What it all boils down to is that if female students show enough interest in establishing new sport programs then the school is obligated to provide them with the programs.

AREA 2: Scholarships.

Whatever the ratio of male-to-female student-athletes is, the ratio of male-to-female scholarships must be the same. Again, borrowing an explanation from another website:

"For example, consider a college with 90 female athletes and 115 male athletes and a scholarship budget of $100,000. The male-to-female ratio of student-athletes is 44/56. An equitable distribution of scholarships would award $44,000 in scholarship aid to female athletes and $56,000 to males".

This one is sometimes applied incorrectly by athletic administrators that interpret it as the male-to-female ratio of students on campus, but it's not the students on campus but rather the male-to-female ratio of student-athletes on the rosters of the school sponsored sport teams.

That's it for the second segment of Title IX: Scholarships. It's pretty cut and dried as to figuring out this section, as long as you use the number of student-athletes and not the number of students of the entire campus.

AREA 3: The Laundry List. Officially known as "Additional Athletic Department Components", this is by far the most important area of Title IX compliance. It is also the easiest to follow, but the easiest to violate. Here's a good explanation another website has for The Laundry List:

"The standard for compliance is one of quality rather than quantity. The actual amount of money spent on women's and men's programs may differ as long the quality of facilities and services for each program achieve parity. For example, equipment needed for men's football may cost more than equipment needed by women's field hockey. Title IX compliance is achieved as long as both teams are given equipment of comparable quality. However, Title IX is violated if a community builds a state-of-the-art field and locker facilities for males, but requires female athletes to share a field owned by a local community center. In this example, quality of facilities is far from equitable, and Title IX is violated".

Why is this area called the Laundry List? Because there are 10 specific areas that must be adhered to in order for this area to be successfully followed. The ten parts of the Laundry List are:

1. Coaching : the same number of coaches for comparable sport programs must be the same for mens' & women's programs. This also includes support personnel, i.e. Graduate Assistants, secretaries, full-time managers, etc.
2. Game Times and Practice Times : Women's sport programs cannot "take a backseat" to mens' programs when it comes to practice times and game tipoffs. Women's programs are to not be scheduled around mens' programs in comparable sport programs.
3. Locker Rooms : comparable sport programs must have similar or same size and equipped locker rooms for the mens' and women's programs.
4. Medical & Training Facilities : Same as above.
5. Equipment & Supplies : Again, same as above. Can you see a pretty obvious trend developing?
6. Practice & Competitive Facilities : Women's programs can't be provided with practice fields and/or courts that are sub-standard compared to mens' programs in comparable sports. This is to say, Women's Basketball at GSU will not be forced to practice and play their games in the Old Hanner Gym while only the men's basketball team practices and plays in Hanner Fieldhouse.
7. Publicity : Women's sports must be promoted on the same level and with the same financial investments as comparable men's sport programs. Media guides, schedule cards and attendance promotions produced for men's soccer must also be produced for women's soccer.
8. Recruitment of Student Athletes : Same as above. If the men's team of a comparable sport gets to bring 15 athletes to campus on official visits, then the women's program must receive the same.
9. Tutoring Opportunities : both men's and women's sports programs must have the same opportunity to school-employed tutors academic advisors, and counselors.
10. Per Diem & Travel Allowances: Same as above. If men's basketball gets $24 per day for meals while traveling on the road, the women's team must receive the same $24 per day. If men's soccer rooms 2-to-a-room on road trips, then the women's soccer team must room 2-to-a-room.

All ten of these items contained in the Laundry List are pretty obvious and extremely fair. But they are also very difficult to police. It calls for the Athletic Director, all Head Coaches, and every other university administrator, staff member and coach to all be on the same page, all the time. Any slighting of a student-athlete, whether it be intentional or accidental, can be perceived as discriminatory by the student-athlete. All it takes for the Government to come in for a Title IX investigation is a complaint from a participating student-athlete.

The best way to make sure this doesn't happen is to follow Coach Russell's one rule and always "Do Right" by the student-athletes. After all, they are all representatives of our university and deserve everything we can give them.

How Does All of This Affect GSU's Move Up to I-A Football?

Alright, that's Title IX in a nutshell. I hope you were able to follow all of it, because it can make or break a universities' athletic program. It's been said by some that GSU will have to add the same number of women's scholarships as the new football scholarships needed for a move to I-A. That's not true. Nowhere in Title IX does it say that the number of scholarships for men and women must be equal. It only says they must be in the same proportion of the male-to-female student athletes.

If we move our football program from I-AA to I-A, there's a pretty good chance we won't add any additional student-athletes to our football program. Right now, we have somewhere around 90-110 young men participating in football. Although we would add an additional 22 scholarships, this only means we would replace 22 walk-ons with 22 scholarship athletes. Not many schools can manage more than 100-110 kids on a single sport team, and GSU is no exception.

The truth is, if Georgia Southern is meeting the requirements for Title IX while participating in I-AA football, then there's almost a 100% certainty that we will meet the same requirements if we move up to I-A football. The AD and Head Football Coach can control the male-to-female ratio of student-athletes by limiting the number of walk-ons and non-scholarship players on the team. And, in reality, if we have 85 kids on full-ride for football, how many walk-ons and dead-heads do we really need? Do you really think any of them would contribute on the I-A level?

Simply adding 22 football scholarships doesn't mean we will add more football players. The additional scholarships will not affect the male-to-female ratio of student-athletes unless we allow our football program to add additional bodies.

As our football team becomes successful in Division I-A and participates in post-season bowl games, it's a good bet that our enrollment will increase. This will create the need for adding not only new women's sport programs, but also new men's sport programs. This will affect our Title IX compliance issues, but with football success and increased enrollment will come additional donors, a surge in season ticket sales and more student activity fees. We will have enough resources to provide the next generation of GSU students with the collegiate athletic opportunities they want and deserve.

That's it. They myth of Title IX Compliance explained and rationalized so that everyone can understand it. I hope you see that using Title IX as a crutch for staying a I-AA football program is just an excuse. We are providing opportunities for women student-athletes today, and we will also provide opportunities for them in the future, because it is the right thing to do.