Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 26, 1990 TAG: 9007260074
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: HAL BOCK ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
August could be a landmark month in American collegiate sports.
National Football League commissioner Paul Tagliabue has promised new guidelines by Aug. 1 to reduce the pressure on prospects who feel obliged to leave school early to prep for the pros in pre-draft scouting combines and preseason mini-camps.
Two weeks after that, the Collegiate Commissioners Conference and the NCAA Council will submit legislation for the January 1991 convention, and one of the proposals, which carries the enthusiastic endorsement of the NCAA Presidents Commission, will drastically cut back the time student-athletes can devote to sports.
Clearly, change is in the wind.
Tagliabue is sensitive to criticism from collegiate administrators who blame the NFL for declining graduation rates among football players. An Associated Press survey showed that almost two of every three players drafted last April did not finish their studies and that 82 left one semester or less short of their degrees, specifically to get a head start on the pros.
"Before this year's football season begins, we will implement certain limitations and restrictions on the activities of NFL teams ... in order to eliminate excesses and to assure that there is no unwarranted interference in the academic programs of student athletes," Tagliabue told the Knight Commission on college athletic reform last month.
The commissioner is unwilling, however, to allow the NFL to shoulder the entire burden for academic shortcomings.
"I think it is erroneous to suggest, and there is no basis for concluding, that NFL recruiting and hiring policies or practices have had a substantial negative impact on college programs, including on the academic progress of college football players," he said
That opinion is not shared, however, by a large segment of the collegiate community. The College Football Association adopted strong anti-NFL resolutions last month, citing the demands that cut into class time for student-athletes and lead many players to leave school short of their degrees.
The CFA said it wanted mini-camps postponed until after the academic year and a commitment from the pros to pay for the completion of a player's education if he comes into the league without his degree. Until the NFL becomes more sensitive to such issues, the CFA said its members will not cooperate with the pro scouts.
"Significant courtesies have been extended to pro scouts," said Chuck Neinas, executive director of the CFA. "Those courtesies will no longer be extended unless something is done. The moratorium is in effect now.
"We're just asking that pro football pay attention to its farm system. The pros aren't giving the colleges the time of day. Let's face facts, pro football is interested only in pro football."
The strong words from the CFA can be traced directly to the offices of university and college presidents, who are putting the pressure on their athletic departments to improve graduation rates.
Tagliabue thinks the institutions would be better served cleaning up their own houses before complaining about the NFL.
"Based upon all the available information," the commissioner said, "it is evident to me that the graduation rates of college football players are overwhelmingly determined by the policies and practices of the colleges and universities themselves - and only marginally influenced by the policies and practices of the NFL.
"I say this not because the NFL needs or is seeking exoneration or because I desire to be self-serving. Rather, I say it because it is obvious that high pressure, commercialized, mass-marketed college athletic programs, involving long seasons and extraordinary athletic and other pressures that necessarily limit academic opportunities, make it inevitable that graduation rates for college athletes will be a matter of concern."
That, too, is changing.
Last month, the NCAA Presidents Commission endorsed a package of legislation presented by Collegiate Commissioners Association that, if adopted by the national convention next January, will have significant impact on the time student-athletes devote to sports.
Under the plan, playing seasons would be limited to no more than 22 weeks and competition and practice to no more than 20 hours per week and four hours per day. Athletic dormitories would be phased out over a five-year period and limitations would be placed on training table meals. Scholarships would be cut in football from the present 95 to 85 by 1994, and in basketball from the present 15 to 13 by 1993. All other sports would take 10 percent cuts across the board except for women's gymnastics, women's tennis and women's volleyball, which would retain current levels.
Other parts of the presidents' proposal call for one mandatory day off per week from all sports related activity; no class time missed for practice, except for travel to a road game; and elimination of preseason off-campus intrasquad games.
In other words, the emphasis in the term student-athlete would be on the student, not the athlete.
Martin Massengale, interim president of the University of Nebraska and chairman of the Presidents Commission, anticipates some opposition to these rather dramatic measures when they are presented at the convention.
"I think there will be people of different viewpoints," he said. "There will not be unanimity. I think we can work our way through them. This is a strong statement, I think, because it came from the commissioners."
For some academic people, the changes are already evident.
Anna Price, assistant athletic director for academics and student services at Miami, sees a bright future for the co-existence of sports and studies.
"I believe more people are sincere about this and we're better than we're portrayed," Price said. "It used to be that the academics area of the athletic department was manned by ex-coaches who were not familiar with academic support services. That's changed.
"People think we need to correct things. I believe they're already being corrected. The academics part is being cleaned up and it is a model for the rest of the university."
Michael Beachley, academic coordinator for athletes at Oregon State, welcomes the new direction and the promise it brings for improved academic performance.
"I am an educator," Beachley said. "I hope it changes. It has to, ethically. The Presidents Commission assures us that it will. If it doesn't, we're not conducting business as educational institutions. And that's what our priority ought to be."
by CNB