Former Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker began as the new NCAA president on March 1, ending an era in which the NCAA has been led by a former college president or former athletics administrator. 

• In his first memo to member institutions, Baker acknowledged that the landscaping of the NCAA is changing at a faster pace than any in recent history.  

• Baker will lead the association through issues such as the notion of college athletes as employees, NIL oversight from federal legislation, NIL possibly reframed with a need for consumer-protection, and possible expansion of the Division I men’s basketball tournament whose media rights contract with CBS and Turner Sports is worth $8.8 billion through 2032.

March is Women’s History Month, and here’s an interesting article from the NCAA on recent trends for women in college sports. 

• Of note, there was a 30 percent increase in female directors of athletics across all divisions in the last 10 years, however, the current total of female athletic directors only accounts for 25 percent of director of athletics roles. 

The Sports Medicine Department is moving to the SWAY platform starting in Fall 2023. SWAY will replace our current ImPACT and Biodex Balance systems as part of our comprehensive concussion management plan. SWAY is an all encompassing mobile platform that objectively measures an athlete's balance and cognitive function, all while utilizing the sensors already built into their smartphone. Some of the benefits of SWAY for our student athletes include more streamlined baseline testing (which means less time spent testing,) the ability for student athletes to monitor their symptoms remotely from their smartphone, and the ability for the athletic trainer to do a sideline assessment to compare to their baseline. The company's online platform is very user friendly and merges with our current electronic medical records system.