Myles Brand 3/31/05 Press Conference
Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 12:57 pmIs academic progress really possible? SMU and its standards may be rewarded for FB and BB.
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- NCAA president Myles Brand has gotten "very positive" feedback over new academic standards that come with severe penalties for programs that fail to reach them.
Brand spent much of a half-hour news conference on Thursday defending the Academic Progress Rate, a graduation rate every college team must reach beginning in the 2005-06 school year or face scholarship reductions.
"I would say the overall public and athletic community's response has been very positive," Brand said.
But Brand said the NCAA's Committee on Academic Reform will meet later this spring to consider changes, including the impact transfers have on the APR. Division I basketball and football players must sit out one year if they transfer, but in other sports, like baseball, athletes can transfer and play immediately.
"It needs to be looked at," Brand said. "That can affect APR because when students transfer, it's less likely that they're going to succeed academically."
The reforms were implemented this year on a trial basis. Some schools have already received warning reports from the NCAA that list which of their teams fall below the APR. The rate is based roughly on a 50 percent graduation rate over a 5-year period.
"People recognize that it's a complex way of looking at things, but also there's a good understanding that the issues themselves are complex," Brand said. "You can't find a simple solution to a complex problem."
Brand said the system is not just based on numbers. He said each noncompliant school will be judged individually, based on the makeup of its student body.
"We've built that in to make sure that we don't inadvertently disadvantage some team because it draws players from a population that really can't make that graduation rate," Brand said. "We have to be very careful to look at the details and not blindly go ahead without taking into account their particular circumstances."
Brand also touched on steroids, saying he was confident college sports will avoid a baseball-like scandal because of its strong anti-drug policies.
A college athlete caught using illegal or certain performance-enhancing drugs is suspended from competition for one year, Brand said. A second offense results in the revocation of a scholarship.
"We have a good history of this," Brand said. "We're not newcomers. In fact, we're probably the oldest on the block, as well as the most severe in our penalties. We believe we're on the right track and doing the right things. But we can't become complacent."
Brand also said he personally opposes the sale of alcoholic beverages at college sporting events, but that the NCAA has no authority to prevent it.
Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- NCAA president Myles Brand has gotten "very positive" feedback over new academic standards that come with severe penalties for programs that fail to reach them.
Brand spent much of a half-hour news conference on Thursday defending the Academic Progress Rate, a graduation rate every college team must reach beginning in the 2005-06 school year or face scholarship reductions.
"I would say the overall public and athletic community's response has been very positive," Brand said.
But Brand said the NCAA's Committee on Academic Reform will meet later this spring to consider changes, including the impact transfers have on the APR. Division I basketball and football players must sit out one year if they transfer, but in other sports, like baseball, athletes can transfer and play immediately.
"It needs to be looked at," Brand said. "That can affect APR because when students transfer, it's less likely that they're going to succeed academically."
The reforms were implemented this year on a trial basis. Some schools have already received warning reports from the NCAA that list which of their teams fall below the APR. The rate is based roughly on a 50 percent graduation rate over a 5-year period.
"People recognize that it's a complex way of looking at things, but also there's a good understanding that the issues themselves are complex," Brand said. "You can't find a simple solution to a complex problem."
Brand said the system is not just based on numbers. He said each noncompliant school will be judged individually, based on the makeup of its student body.
"We've built that in to make sure that we don't inadvertently disadvantage some team because it draws players from a population that really can't make that graduation rate," Brand said. "We have to be very careful to look at the details and not blindly go ahead without taking into account their particular circumstances."
Brand also touched on steroids, saying he was confident college sports will avoid a baseball-like scandal because of its strong anti-drug policies.
A college athlete caught using illegal or certain performance-enhancing drugs is suspended from competition for one year, Brand said. A second offense results in the revocation of a scholarship.
"We have a good history of this," Brand said. "We're not newcomers. In fact, we're probably the oldest on the block, as well as the most severe in our penalties. We believe we're on the right track and doing the right things. But we can't become complacent."
Brand also said he personally opposes the sale of alcoholic beverages at college sporting events, but that the NCAA has no authority to prevent it.
Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
