Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 21, 1990                   TAG: 9006210039
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Medium

NFL MAY CUT LENGTH OF ROOKIE CAMPS

"We're looking into too much intrusiveness," commissioner Paul Tagliabue said after meeting for more than three hours Wednesday with coaches and officials of the National Collegiate Athletic Association in Overland Park, Kan.

Tagliabue indicated there would be a change in league policy regarding these minicamps. "We're going to go back and refine our thinking and make it part of league policy," he said.

For years, every club has staged a rookie camp - usually in late April or May while schools are still in session - for the collegians who were drafted in April.

In addition, some clubs then hold camps they call voluntary but which have the effect of pressuring a rookie to attend rather than miss critical instruction in the different world of pro football.

Speaking of the camps, Tagliabue said, "It's feasible to move them and it's feasible to limit them during the academic year."

His statement followed a meeting with Dick Schultz, executive director of the NCAA, and four major-college coaches - Terry Donahue of the UCLA, LaVell Edwards of Brigham Young, Dick Sheridan of North Carolina State and Hayden Fry of Iowa.

Tagliabue was joined on the NFL side by Jimmy Johnson, head coach of the Dallas Cowboys after a successful career at the University of Miami; and Jim Finks, president of the New Orleans Saints and chairman of the league's competition committee.

Tagliabue and Schultz also discussed such areas as pre-draft physicals, which some college coaches believe require too much time, and steroid use.

Tagliabue said they did not talk about the NFL's policy of requiring underclassmen to lose their eligibility if they opted for the draft.