KANSAS CITY, MO – The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association has formed a task force to assess and prepare for changes to NCAA Division II athletics regarding the passage or the defeat of the Protect College Sports Act (PCSA).

The group will formally be known as the MIAA Governance and Enforcement Task Force. The task force will be chaired by Curtis Janz, Director of Athletics at the University of Arkansas- Fort Smith. Recommendations from the group will be shared with both the MIAA CEO Council and the MIAA Institutional Representatives Council (MIAA IRC).

The task force is being formed following recent meetings of the MIAA CEO Council and the MIAA Athletics Directors. Both groups, meeting separately, discussed current NCAA and MIAA membership challenges in areas such as NIL, transfer restrictions, academic degree progress, tampering, fifth-year eligibility, and student-athlete health/safety. The groups also agreed that a MIAA group should analyze and interpret areas where congress or the courts (and the NCAA) will govern future membership decisions, and it must also identify and evaluate areas where self-governance and MIAA enforcement will be necessary.
 
"NCAA Division II athletics is at a pivotal moment,” said MIAA Commissioner Mike Racy. “MIAA members want to proactively determine how to implement areas of change in college sports that outside agencies and bodies are prioritizing. The Association must also boldly identify where self-governance and enforcement are needed to help strengthen the benefits of MIAA membership."

The ten-member task force comprises MIAA athletic directors, senior woman administrators and faculty athletics representatives. Its primary goal is to identify where MIAA leadership and self-governance are needed to safeguard the educational mission of the Association’s intercollegiate athletic programs, even if the US House of Representatives passes the PCSA. The work of the task force will be supported by MIAA legal counsel at the Kansas City law firm Seigfreid and Bingham.

“I believe this task force could have a lasting influence on the MIAA and Division II,” said PCSA Task Force chair and University of Arkansas-Fort Smith Athletics Director Curtis Janz. “By examining the PCSA, we can prepare for the future—whether that means implementing the bill or expanding our role in self-governance. Our highly experienced group of athletic administrators can help shape the MIAA’s future during this important time for intercollegiate athletics.”

The following MIAA administrators were appointed to the MIAA’s new Governance and Enforcement Task Force.

MIAA PCSA Task Force Members:

• Curtis Janz — University of Arkansas-Fort Smith Director of Athletics, Recent Member of NCAA Division II Planning and Finance Committee
• Rob Mallory — Missouri Southern State University Director of Athletics, MIAA AAC Chair, NCAA Division II Management Council
• Chris Ratcliff — Rogers State University Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics, NCAA Division II Management Council 
• Lisa Goddard McGuirk — Fort Hays State University Director of Athletics, NCAA Division II Women's Wrestling Committee Member, NCAA Division II Athletics Directors Association Officer
• Andy Peterson — Northwest Missouri State University Director of Athletics, Recent Chair NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Committee
• Trey Cone — University of Central Oklahoma Professor of Kinesiology and Health Studies, Faculty Athletics Representative, Recent Member of NCAA Division II FARA Executive Committee
• Lori Hopkins — University of Central Missouri Associate Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics, Senior Woman’s Administrator, Recent Chair of NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Committee
• Meghan Mulcahy — Northeastern State University Senior Associate Athletics Director, Senior Woman’s Administrator, Recent Member of NCAA Division II Football Committee
• Rachael Page — University of Nebraska Kearney Associate Athletic Director, Senior Woman’s Administrator, Recent Chair of MIAA AAC
• Lauren Frost — Washburn University Associate Athletic Director, Senior Woman’s Administrator, Attorney, former NCAA intern

The Protect College Sports Act (PCSA) is a proposed federal law that would establish a uniform national framework for college athletics, override conflicting state Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) laws, and provide limited antitrust protection to the NCAA and its conferences. Its federal eligibility rules and limits on private rights of action apply only to NCAA Division I and Division II institutions.
 
For more information about the PCSA and its implications for the NCAA, visit NCAA.org/protect-college-sports-act.