SAN FRANCISCO – May 20, 2019 – At its annual Spring meeting held today in San Francisco, the Pac-12 CEO Group approved measures to support student-athletes and to enhance Pac-12 men’s basketball program performance.

 

 

Following support from the Pac-12 Council and Pac-12 Athletic Directors at their meetings earlier this month, the CEO Group voted to extend the annual $3.6M of funding to the Student-Athlete Health & Well-Being Initiative for a period of 5 years with a review of the program after 3 years.  Additionally, the CEO Group voted to significantly increase to $1.1M annually the portion of funding to on-campus mental health services to provide more support to this critical area of need.  The annual investment of $1.1M will be provided through the Conference’s leading Student-Athlete Health & Well-Being Initiative directly to the Conference’s 12 member schools and will go toward additional campus resource to directly support student-athletes in need.

 

Created in 2013, the Student-Athlete Health & Well-Being Initiative has provided funding for research projects for its 12 member Universities for five consecutive years.  The initiative is a collective effort between the Pac-12 and its member universities to strengthen and improve the health, general well-being and safety of all student-athletes.  Since its founding, the initiative has committed funding for 25 research projects at Pac-12 Universities with a total investment of over $12M.  Projects designed to improve safety and well-being in the essential areas of head trauma, injury prevention and mental health, among others, have featured in the program. 

 

 

Following support from the Pac-12 Council and Pac-12 Faculty Athletics Representatives at their meetings earlier this month, the CEO Group voted to eliminate the "loss of a season" penalty for all student-athletes who transfer within the Conference.  This rule change removes one of the last remaining penalties associated with transferring between Conference schools, and is designed to provide student-athletes with a similar experience to any other student who decides to transfer.

 

 

Following support from the Pac-12 Council and Pac-12 Athletic Directors at their meetings earlier this month, the CEO Group voted to introduce non-Conference scheduling standards to enhance Pac-12 men’s basketball non-conference schedules.  This follows approval by the Pac-12 Council of a move to a 20-game Conference men’s basketball schedule starting with the 2020-2021 season.  The approved new non-conference scheduling standards include the following elements: (i) a non-Conference five-year trailing average of opponents’ NET ranking must be 175 or less, (ii) no participation in road buy games, (iii) no regular season games against non-Division I opponents and (iv) no road games versus a non-conference opponent with a five-year trailing average of 200 NET.

 

“The Pac-12 is committed to supporting our student-athletes on and off the field of play, and today’s decisions support this core mission,” said Philip DiStefano, Chair of the Pac-12 CEO Group and Chancellor of the University of Colorado Boulder.  “We are particularly proud of the leadership role that our Conference has played through our Student-Athlete Health and Well-Being Initiative to bolster the existing programs we have on our campuses.  The extension of this initiative and future support of the mental health will benefit student-athletes for many years to come.”

 

“Initiatives focused on enhancing the student-athlete experience and student-athlete well-being have been at the forefront of the Pac-12 mission,” said Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott.  “Today’s decisions reaffirm our commitment to the student-athlete and our efforts to play a leadership role in important areas such as health and well-being.”

 

The Conference has a tradition as the “Conference of Champions,” leading the nation in NCAA Championships in 52 of the last 58 years, with 523 NCAA team titles overall. The Conference comprises 12 leading U.S. universities - the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), the University of Colorado, the University of Oregon, Oregon State University, Stanford University, the University of Southern California, the University of Utah, the University of Washington and Washington State University. For more information on the Conference’s programs, member institutions, and Commissioner Larry Scott, go to Pac-12.com/conference.