Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 18, 1992 TAG: 9203180034
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB DART COX NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The number of Americans who believe big-time college sports are "out of control" has dropped by more than a third in the past three years, said the Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics.
A "solid start" has begun toward cleaning up abuses in recruiting, academics and other troublesome aspects of college sports, said the commission in a follow-up to its landmark 1991 report "Keeping Faith With the Student-Athlete."
The independent Knight Commission was established in 1989 to assess the multimillion dollar sports business in the nation's colleges and to make recommendations on issues such as coaches' income, booster involvement and academic requirements for student-athletes.
In its first year of operation, the group commissioned a Lou Harris Poll that showed 78 percent of Americans felt that "big-time college athletics are out of control." Its follow-up poll this month showed only 48 percent feel that way now.
Harris said the findings demonstrate a "dramatic shift in public attitudes."
Meanwhile, more people are following college sports, the poll showed. The percentage of respondents who said they were fans increased from 57 percent in 1989 to 62 percent this month.
The commission concluded that the improved public perception of college sports was caused by reforms instituted in the past two conventions of the NCAA. The changes include tougher eligibility requirements, more limits on recruiting high school players, tighter controls on income of coaches and more power for college presidents to oversee their athletic departments.
"The results of both the 1991 and 1992 [NCAA] conventions speak for themselves," the commission reported.
However, Harris warned that his poll shows Americans believe the cleanup of college athletics is not complete. For instance, 70 percent of the respondents said they believe television is corrupting college sports (down from 85 percent in 1989).
Despite slight drops since 1989, sizable majorities still believe "too many colleges" take advantage of players and that athletic departments have "undermined the traditional role of universities as places where young people learn ethics and integrity."
"Is there skepticism below the surface? You bet there is," said Harris, commenting on the findings.
Indeed, while the commission recommended that Congress not get involved in regulating college sports, the public is not so sure it would be a bad idea.
In 1989, 46 percent of the respondents felt that federal legislation was needed to clean up college sports (compared to 49 percent who thought that colleges could reform themselves). This month there was a slight shift: 42 percent thought Congress should step in and 43 percent thought colleges could clean up their own sports programs. The remainder had no opinion.
Rep. Tom McMillan, D-Md., a commission member who played college and professional basketball, also disagreed with the report's "assertion that the federal government does not have a positive role to play in the reform process."
"Without Congress' intervention in 1972 through the passage of `Title IX,' women's athletic programs never would have been given a chance on college campuses," recalled McMillen, a former University of Maryland basketball star and Rhodes scholar who played in the NBA with the Atlanta Hawks and Capital Bullets.
by CNB