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Jul 8, 9:08 PM EDT Currier-Post (New Jersey)

Brand Supports New Eligibility Proposal

By MICHAEL MAROT
AP Sports Writer

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- NCAA president Myles Brand will back a sweeping new proposal that would give college basketball players a fifth season of eligibility.

One day after the National Association of Basketball Coaches unanimously approved the measure, Brand responded by calling it an "outstanding package."

"I'm supportive of the package in its entirety," Brand told The Associated Press on Thursday. "It's coherent, and it's an effort to make the coach look more like a mentor and a teacher."

The coaches association plans to submit a revised proposal to the NCAA. The NCAA still must debate the measure and approve the recommendations, a process that will likely take at least a year.

Brand believes the extra year of eligibility will help place a greater emphasis on education and improve lagging graduation rates. He said most students take 4.8 years to graduate and that athletes should be expected to do the same.

Another part of the package calls for coaches to meet regularly with players about their classwork and future plans.

While Brand acknowledged there would be critics, he will not be one.

"I understand it will be controversial," he said. "We'll see how it turns out. But I believe the main purpose is to increase graduation rates in men's basketball, which has had the most severe problem."

Brand had four NCAA officials help craft the plan during a yearlong process that culminated in the coaches' approval Wednesday.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said at the Nike All-America Camp in Indianapolis that the NCAA and NABC had formed an unprecedented partnership.

"Myles Brand has given us more access to himself and the staff," Krzyzewski said. "It's phenomenal. We were in a period 11 or 12 years ago and just a couple of years ago where no one listened. Now they are listening."

If the NCAA passes the plan, coaches would also be able to make more phone calls to recruits.

Other measures in the proposal include more stringent penalties for schools committing secondary infractions and greater enforcement of current NCAA rules.

Brand said the coaches insisted on that part and he believes the entire package will not only put a greater emphasis on academics but also create parity among all Division I programs.

"It won't affect kids who leave before the fourth year because they'll leave anyway," Brand said. "But it well help in building parity and in most cases, the benefits will be in the mid-major programs."

Brand has been a proponent of academic reform since taking over as president in January 2003. Since taking over, the NCAA has passed legislation increasing the number of core courses required for incoming freshmen and increased the percentage of hours toward graduation for student-athletes to remain eligible.

Earlier this year, the NCAA also passed a measure that would penalize schools with consistently poor graduation rates although a subcommittee is still determining where the cutoff line should be. Schools could lose scholarships as early as this fall.

Brand considers this proposal another step in that direction.

"In some ways, it's not a radical package. It's a coherent package," he said. "It's a new model and a new approach for student-athletes and recruiting. I'm very supportive of it."

If this package does not have a manditory RED Shirt year for all Freshmen, they have missed an important point.

I would also like to see... If a player leaves early for NBA or European league... They have to pay the school back for tuition.

why penalize a kid for leaving early to get started on his career? Didn't we all go to college to prepare ourselves for a better job/career? If you had been recruited as a junior and offered a very attractive position, would you have considered leaving without a degree?

As for the 5th year of eligibility, the more I think about this the more I think it could benefit schools like SMU who have difficulty attracting quality big men. With a 5th year to continue developing, SMU might eventually have some 4th and 5th year low post guys contributing more to the program. Just a thought.

I see leaving after a few years as using the university. Furthermore, I have never heard of Ernst and Young giving any underclassmen a 100,000.00 job. Get real.
School is for earning a degree. If you end up using the school, pay it back.

wouldn't making the players pay back their scholarship if they leave early hurt us more than help us? I mean what good player isn't going to want to leave early for the pros if he thinks he can make the big bucks, if he knows he has to pay back his scholarship if he does won't he be more likely to go to an in state public school where he only has to pay back 6-8k per year as opposed to a private university that will be closer to 20, or 30k a year?

Either way, if a player makes the Pros early, the used scholarship will be pocket change. Having the owners paying it would probably become a standard part of contracts...just like paying agents. So all things considered, I like the idea.

In addition to Five Year Eligilbility, here is a new plan for Coaches to hold try-outs for BB players, during their senior year:

Plan lets colleges try out recruits

By Malcolm Moran, USA TODAY

A series of proposals to redefine the relationship between college men's basketball players and their coaches includes tryout sessions to analyze recruits.
The proposals, submitted to the NCAA Management Council for its meetings Monday and today in Baltimore, would allow Division I teams to conduct tryouts for no more than 18 prospects each academic year. According to a copy of the reforms suggested by the National Association of Basketball Coaches and obtained by USA TODAY, the private sessions would involve only the prospects and current players on a college team.

Division II programs already are allowed tryouts. NABC executive director Jim Haney said the sessions were intended to benefit Division I teams that are not national championship contenders.

"It gives the coach an opportunity to see what kind of attitude (a prospect) brings to the court," he said. "The players can assess how he would be as a teammate. When you get out of the elite level, where the evaluation is pretty simple, in many cases you're scrambling as a coach to come up with somebody who can play at a particular position. It addresses the issue of doing a better evaluation."

NCAA President Myles Brand has endorsed the package, including giving players five years of eligibility, created by an NABC committee and unanimously approved this month by the organization.

The proposals seek to establish coaches as stronger mentors for players by providing greater access during recruiting and once the player is in school.

The tryouts would be no more than two hours and be during a recruit's senior high school season.

The coaches also suggested imposing more serious penalties for programs committing NCAA violations currently seen as secondary, such as contacting recruits outside acceptable time periods, and reducing the number of official campus visits by recruits from five to four.