My last post was about a bunch of clueless people--the citizens of Nassau County. Today I'm happy to do a blog about another group of people. Ones who actually know what they're doing. NCAA President Mark Emmert and the group of school presidents/athletic directors that met at NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis this week to discuss NCAA reforms that were sorely needed. Even more impressively, some of those reforms have already been put in place.
The biggest change made by the group was raising the minimum APR from 900 to 930. The APR, which stands for academic progress rate, is the measure the NCAA uses to make sure student-athletes are actually on track to graduate. Previously, if schools had an APR below 925, they got a letter from the NCAA and faced penalties like loss of scholarships. But they didn't face a postseason ban unless their four-year APR dropped below 900.
That's all about to change. From now on, 930 (which translates to a 50 percent graduation rate) will be the strict minimum standard. And here's the best part. Teams that are below 930 will face postseason bans. How significant is that? If the new standard had been in place, 12 of the 68 teams that played in the 2011 men's basketball tournament would've been ineligible. UConn would've barely made the cut last season (the Huskies' APR in May 2010 was 930), but wouldn't be able to defend its title in 2012 after seeing its APR drop to 893. That's not going to happen. It'll probably take a little while for the change to be approved and put into effect, and with fall sports getting underway as early as next weekend, it would be unfair for the NCAA to start instiuting postseason bans in any sport prior to the 2012-13 school year.
But the point remains. This is a good thing for the NCAA. As expected, men's basketball and football coaches don't like it. Well, guess what? College basketball and college football aren't the minor leagues for the NBA and NFL. The term is student-athlete. The NCAA takes that seriously. So do school presidents. These student-athletes receive scholarships that allow them to attend school for free. It's embarrassing that some of the finest academic institutions in the country are basically forced to admit these idiots who can't even spell their own name just because they play football or basketball, only to then have those same individuals spit in their faces by not even going to class, then complain about being ineligible. You made a choice to go to school, not just play basketball. Take the school part seriously.
Of course, I'm only referring to a small percentage of the student-athlete population here. I respect the hell out of guys like Andrew Luck, who isn't majoring in football. He appreciates the fact that he goes to Stanford, which I think is probably the best school on the West Coast, and takes advantage of it. He's majoring in architecture. Or how about Matt Leinart, who decided to go back to USC for his senior season because he liked being in college? Fortunately, there are plenty of guys like that, too.
But the unfortunate fact is that its the guys like Terrelle Pryor and Reggie Bush who make the headlines. That's why the NCAA called this meeting in the first place. College administrators are some of the smartest people around. They realized that problems like that weren't going to go away anytime soon if changes weren't made. Raising the minimum APR is the most significant since it'll be the first to take effect, but it's not even close to the only change that was recommended over two very productive days in Indianapolis.
The whole Pryor thing has brought the whole "should they be paid?" argument to the forefront. They shouldn't, and won't be as long as Emmert is in charge, but SEC Commissioner Mike Slive proposed a reasonable potential solution. A full scholarship covers tuition and room and board, but doesn't take cost of living into account. How about including an extra $2,000-3,000 per semester into a student-athlete's scholarship to cover living expenses? $2,000 a semester is approximately $500 a month. That's enough to cover a college student. Paying athletes makes them professionals. That's why you can't do it. But this is an issue that definitely needed a closer look, and I think Slive's proposal could go a long way.
Along those same lines, the panel suggested making scholarships four-year committments, rather than the current system, where they're basically one-year deals that are renewable each year. Providing a little more stability wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. Another sticking point is the NCAA rulebook. It's really big (434 pages) and really confusing. There are so many rules, it's impossible for anyone to actually know what they all are. The stupidest little thing could be a violation of NCAA rules. And the NCAA spends so much time worrying about those stupid little minor violations. The proposal is to make the rulebook a lot simpler and a lot less confusing. That would definitely be good.
Finally, they proposed stricter enforcement standards for major violations. Right now, it seems like the penalties for major violations are completely arbitrary. And they also seem to change on a whim. The presidents want to have a clear cut system that says, "You break this rule, you get this penalty." That way, schools would know what the consequences are for breaking the rules, and it also won't continue to look like Ohio State gets off easy while Youngstown State gets nailed for doing the exact same thing. That would also make the NCAA less hesitant to investigate potential major violations at major programs. Needless to say, making the penalties and punishments clearer will make programs think twice about breaking NCAA rules. With all the negative news that we've heard about major rules violations at major programs over the last couple years, I think we can all agree that a rules-breaking deterrent is definitely necessary.
You have to give the NCAA a lot of credit. They realized that these things needed changing, and they took the necessary steps to address them. Even more amazingly, for an organization where change doesn't usually happen very quickly, the NCAA made it a point to get this stuff done and put it into effect. The APR was the first step, but the others are sure to follow soon. Perhaps as early as 2012-13.
Were is my shameless plug ?
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