Edited: Jan. 13, 2009

DENISON'S KNOBEL, OHIO WESLEYAN'S CARNEY-DEBORD TO SPEAK AT NCAA CONVENTION PANEL

Dale Knobel, president of Denison University, and the North Coast Athletic Conference, and Nan Carney-DeBord, head women's basketball coach and former athletic administrator at Ohio Wesleyan University, have been selected as panelists for a session at the annual NCAA Convention, which begins tomorrow in Washington, D.C.

The educational session, "Academics, Athletics and Today's Sports Culture - Expectations and Realities," will be from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. Thursday. It will focus on telling the Division III story, an idea presented to the NCAA by the North Coast Athletic Conference governance. The inspiration came from a series of articles by Bill Pennington in the New York Times on the scholarship myth that pervades some levels of youth sports. [Read the whole series here]

Knobel will likely focus his remarks on the role a president hopes athletics plays at a private DIII school like Denison. He will also touch upon the conscious commitment to the full student-athlete experience and integrating student-athletes into the broader campus culture.

Carney-DeBord will speak on the recruiting process, both from the perspective of family/student-athlete expectations, as well a pressures faced by DIII recruiters. Now coaching in her 24th season at OWU, Carney-DeBord will be able to lend a first-hand account from the front line of the recruiting trenches and will be able to discuss the challenges of recruiting student-athletes who may also be looking at DI or DII institutions.

Other panelists for the popular session, all available seats have been reserved, include Pennington; W. Michael Hendricks, Vice President for Enrollment Management at Catholic University; Charlie Titus, Vice Chancellor for Athletics, Recreation & Special Programs at the University of Massachusetts, Boston; and Kavin Williams, football student-athlete at Puget Sound. Richard Ekman, the president of the Council of Independent Colleges will serve as the session moderator.

Founded in 1983, the North Coast Athletic Conference consists of 10 academically selective colleges and universities - Allegheny College, Denison University, Earlham College, Hiram College, Kenyon College, Oberlin College, Ohio Wesleyan University, Wabash College, Wittenberg University and the College of Wooster. The NCAC sponsors 22 championship sports, 11 for men and 11 for women.

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