As the starting right guard on Florida State’s football team, Wilson Bell is used to clearing a path for his teammates.
This year, he’s doing it off the field as well.
Bell, a fourth-year junior who is studying communications and English at FSU, is one of three Atlantic Coast Conference student-athletes chosen to represent the ACC on the NCAA’s Autonomy Committee. As part of that role, he already has made trips this year to Dallas for an NCAA meeting and to Amelia Island, Fla., for an ACC meeting.
In January, he likely will be headed to the NCAA Convention in Nashville.
Bell’s goal at those conferences is to provide the student-athletes’ perspectives on a variety of issues -- from concerns about the time requirements placed on various sports teams to the financial hardships many college athletes face.
“It’s tremendous to be the student-athletes’ voice,” Bell said. “It’s a great opportunity for us to show how we feel and get our voice out there and let them understand that we have needs and wants.”
The Autonomy Committee was formed last year when the NCAA granted the Power Five conferences -- the ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Pac-12 and Big 12 -- the right to make certain rule changes without getting the approval of the entire NCAA.
During the first meetings, the primary focus was on providing student-athletes with the “complete cost of attendance” needed to spend a year at their respective schools. On top of the usual tuition, room and board, the schools started providing funds for other living expenses, including trips home and spending money.
Since that initiative has been addressed and implemented, the Autonomy Committee now is looking at things such as the time demands placed on student-athletes and the potential for further compensation.
Although Bell has his own opinions about those topics, he said his goal is to gather the opinions of other student-athletes and share them with university administrators. During the ACC spring meetings at Amelia Island, Bell was excited to spend one-on-one time with John Swofford, the ACC’s longtime commissioner, and other university leaders.
“You get the opportunity to meet these people with tremendous power to help make changes within your school and other institutions,” Bell said. “It’s an amazing opportunity … to have these people who want to listen and want to help us reach our goals as the voices of student-athletes.”
And Swofford and other ACC administrators said the feedback from Bell and others has been invaluable.
“A lot of times as administrators and coaches, we think we know what’s best for the athletes," Swofford said. "Sometimes we find that we do, and sometimes we find that we don’t.”
