Wake-up call

[Water Pony]

Plan calls for scholarship reductions for poor performance in classroom

GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) -- The NCAA approved the first phase of a landmark academic reform package Monday under which about 30 percent of Division I football teams would have lost scholarships had it been implemented immediately.

On the last day of the NCAA convention, the Division I Board of Directors approved the Academic Progress Rate (APR), the standard teams in every sport must reach beginning in the 2005-06 school year to avoid scholarship reductions.

Schools will receive warning reports in the next few weeks that let them know which of their teams fall below the APR set by the Division I Committee on Academic Performance. The rate is based roughly on a 50-percent graduation rate over a five-year period.

The Academic Performance Program applies to every men's and women's sport -- more than 5,000 teams at the 325 Division I schools.

University of Hartford president and committee chairman Walter Harrison said the biggest problems were in football (about 30 percent of teams), baseball (25 percent) and men's basketball (20 percent).

"Our hope, of course, is not the penalty," Harrison said. "We hope it encourages different kinds of behavior so that the numbers will be lower."

The so-called "contemporaneous penalties" are considered rehabilitative in nature and expected to serve as warnings for teams with poor academic performance. Such penalties could begin after December 2005.

Another phase of the program will be historical penalties, which will be more severe and directed at schools with continued problems. Harrison's committee is still working on the penalties, and they will have to be approved by NCAA directors later.

Kansas chancellor Robert Hemenway, the chairman of the NCAA board, said the board has already endorsed those tougher penalties.

Academic reform has been a centerpiece issue for Myles Brand since he became NCAA president two years ago. In his state of the association address Saturday, he said the measures "will change the culture of college sports."

The APR will be based on the number of student-athletes on each team who achieve eligibility and return to campus full-time each term. There will also be a longer-term graduation success rate.

Beginning next fall, teams that fall under a minimum APR will lose scholarships when players who are academically ineligible leave the school. Such scholarships can't be re-awarded for a year.

"This is a very strong standard," Myles said Monday. "Implementing these rules is taking a position to reinforce the idea that student-athletes are students first and are expected to make continued progress toward graduation."

The committee did put a 10-percent cap on the number of scholarships teams could lose.

Based on 85 total scholarships, I-A football teams could lose no more than nine scholarships in any one year. Both men's and women's basketball could only lose up to two scholarships.

Teams that continue to have problems will be subject to the more severe penalties once the "historical penalties" are put into place.

Consecutive years of falling below certain academic standards would lead to recruiting and further scholarship restrictions. A third straight year could lead to being banned from preseason or postseason games, and a fourth would affect Division I membership status.

"Certainly, our hope is that would be a strong enough penalty that no one would ever reach that plateau," Harrison said.

[HixsontoLeVias]

...this thing is filled with so many loopholes, "if that, then, but, not before, only if and when, etc., etc., etc.." Lawyers will have fun with this....the toothless tiger continues to gum away....

[EastStang]

I always look at what else they did at the meeting than what is being highly touted because that committee tends to slip crap in while everyone is distracted by a big news item. This year's "aside" is: "In other action, the Board of Directors requested that NCAA staff draft legislation for the Board’s consideration in April that would modify or eliminate the 15,000 average attendance requirement for Division I-A membership. The Board asked for recommendations that support and enhance Division I-AA membership as well." I always fear that any legislation which would "enhance" Division 1-AA membership cannot be good for mid-major programs. This is code for "what can the NCAA do to get more schools to opt for Divsion 1-AA membership, that don't do so now." With the NCAA it usually does not involve a carrot, but a stick.

[gostangs]

When is some sharp young reporter who is not slopping at the NCAA trough going to expose these clowns - this is so much window dressing - to "release" this nothing report - meanwhile you know the big boys are having a nice belly laugh while they slap each other on the back and raid the bank again.

[SWC2010]

When is some sharp young reporter who is not slopping at the NCAA trough going to expose these clowns - this is so much window dressing - to "release" this nothing report - meanwhile you know the big boys are having a nice belly laugh while they slap each other on the back and raid the bank again.

SO are you saying that this ncaa sports committee is the UN?

[Water Pony]

Remember that the NCAA does not "crown" a Division 1A FB Champion each year, the BCS does (aka the Cartel)

[MrMustang1965]

When is some sharp young reporter who is not slopping at the NCAA trough going to expose these clowns - this is so much window dressing - to "release" this nothing report - meanwhile you know the big boys are having a nice belly laugh while they slap each other on the back and raid the bank again.

Unfortunately, it'll never happen. Almost all of the newspapers that would carry a story of this magnitude are practically OWNED by the major universities. Do you think the DMN would run a story like this? No way. Too many Teasips, Aggie$, Red Raider$, etc. are subscribers.

[ponyte]

The NCAA is such a pathetic organization that one is hard pressed to believe anything the NCAA does will have a beneficial affect. Academic reform will only encourage certain institutions to come up with even lower standard majors. Problem solved for those programs that have low graduation rates. All they will do is make graduation easier.

The Attendance game is a real case example. UL of Monroe has a 5 year deal with U of Arkansas to play in Little Rock. Now get this, UL gets to count every other year as a 'home' game for attendance purposes. UA needs a creampuff to puff up its wins and UL needs to get slaughtered to keep up is attendance numbers. What kind of screwed up rule has the NCAA designed that allows this kind of warped priorities? Congress should seriously consider taking over the NCAA. At this rate, the NCAA will make the Federal government look like a well oiled and rational bureaucracy.

[PlanoStang]

Yeah, congress does need to pass some legislation to overturn our judicial system which castrated the NCAA about 20+ years ago.

Back then the NCAA controlled the TV contracts, and limited the appearances of teams on regional and/or national television to something like 1 time per year so everybody who was a member of division 1A got
on TV, and a whole lot of people who wanted to see a college football game on TV on Saturday watched.

BCS stands for Big Corrupt System, and has effectively alienated the bottom half of Division 1A.