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

DATE: SUNDAY, July 22, 1990                   TAG: 9007230298
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: B-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TIME TO REFORM

WHEN Dick Schultz resigned as University of Virginia's athletic director to become executive director of the NCAA three years ago, it was expected he'd bring the same wisdom and integrity to his new job that he amply showed in Charlottesville.

Wow, has he ever.

Schultz has set for his goals nothing less than major reforms in the way colleges handle athletics, which for a long time has been abominable. The baser side of higher education has proved resistant to reform, but Schultz's persistence is beginning to pay off.

Schultz wants colleges to be colleges, a straightforward idea but largely alien to the world of big-time collegiate athletics. Soon the NCAA will start publishing graduation rates of member schools for each sport. Schultz has pushed for a shorter basketball season. He wants to restrict practice time. He's trying to codify and enforce recruiting regulations.

Now comes his most recent proposal - to share more of the wealth from lucrative college-basketball TV contracts. As it stands, the most money is awarded to teams that advance furthest in the NCAA basketball tournament. That's wrong.

Last week, an NCAA budget subcommittee approved plans for allocating $1 billion from a seven-year contract with CBS. Officials from University of Nevada-Las Vegas, which won the NCAA basketball tournament last spring with one of the most corrupt programs in the nation, are unhappy with Schultz's proposal - a sure sign of its merit.

UNLV won $1.43 million along with the tournament, and doesn't want to share its earnings. But why should it get that sort of money? Whatever happened to trophies? To pride?

Players on professional teams may pocket bonuses for winning, but the teams don't. Players on supposedly amateur, non-profit college teams don't receive pay, not legally anyway. So why should their schools pocket hundreds of thousands just for winning?

Well, say the UNLV types, distributing television revenues more equitably is like socialism; it will reward mediocrity. But what's being rewarded now? Million-dollar payoffs for tournament wins are a big inducement to cheat in recruiting. And what about coaches' contracts that tie bonuses to how far their teams get in tournaments?

Actually, Schultz's share-the-wealth plan doesn't go far enough. Leagues that have had the best six-year record in NCAA competition will still get the most money. Still, his plan will help increase competition in the major sports, and will help fund college sports that don't bring in big revenues.

This is a time of promise for reform in college athletics. The blue-ribbon Knight Commission, on which Schultz serves, is expected to push for major changes. A commission of college presidents is doing the same.

The hope is that college presidents will reassert their authority, that recruitment rules will be more widely enforced. Athletic scholarships must be reduced, coaches' compensation controlled, and outside annual audits installed to certify financial and academic integrity.

The potential for progress is limited by the corruptive power of money. Give Schultz credit, however, for making the old colleges try.

by CNB