Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 17, 1993 TAG: 9301170068
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL BRILL
DATELINE: DALLAS LENGTH: Medium
AFTER MEETINGS, NCAA'S DIRECTION REMAINS MYSTERY
College athletics continues to wander down a perilous path to an uncertain future.After a mild, generally predetermined meeting in which the appearance of Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski produced the only controversy, this is where we find ourselves:
\ Presidents: Their power has been clearly determined, often frustrating coaches and athletic directors.
"I am concerned," admitted NCAA executive director Dick Schultz. "If things were working the way I'd like to see them, the presidents would get together with their coaches and ADs and they would all be on the same page."
What has happened is some presidents, who wouldn't be able to make changes on their individual campuses, have used the power of presidential grouping to produce legislation that would be opposed by their own employees.
\ Gender equity: There is an obvious fear of the issue. As a result of votes here, women now have more scholarships in every comparable sport than do men.
The fly in the ointment is football, which, with its huge numbers, makes it impossible to balance scholarship figures.
While militants like Donna Lopiano, the most outspoken of the women, would seek significant reductions in football squad sizes, Schultz and other administrators want moderation.
Clearly, football is one of the two revenue producers, but, as Lopiano points out, most schools still lose money in the sport. The consensus seems to be that there will be additional scholarship and staff reductions in the '90s. Expect one coach eventually to be trimmed, with the most likely scholarship count to be 70.
\ Financing: Everybody has financial problems, some more than others. Schools like Maryland, with no obvious way of eliminating the red ink, are in desperate shape.
Schultz would like to see significant cutbacks in administrative staffs. "That's where the fat is," he said. "Just in the five and a half years since I left Virginia, the staffs have grown. When I visit a school and ask to speak to the administrative people, the room is always full."
Schultz also believes an underpublicized opportunity for schools to enhance revenue is through licensing. He would like to see it all handled through NCAA Productions.
He said there are more than 400 companies licensing paraphernalia with school logos. He would like to see that brought to less than 40.
"Most of the schools are getting five percent on the stuff that is being sold," Schultz said. "We are certain if the NCAA was handling the licensing, we could increase that to seven or eight percent.
"We think that this has enormous potential, perhaps as much as $750 million a year."
Schultz said two schools market their own stuff - Notre Dame and UCLA. He said the NCAA would begin actively attempting to enlist other schools. "We could make this work if we had the right 50 or 60 schools," he said.
The NCAA controls everything that can be sold at the Final Four. "We take a hard line on it," he said. "I bring in our marketing guy and the local security. You wouldn't believe how much stuff we confiscate."
Schultz believes if there were far fewer licensed agencies, they would serve to police their own areas. As it is now, numerous companies market material in any college town.
While on vacation in Japan this year, Schultz visited a company in Osaka. "They took me to the department stores," he said. "In every one, there was an NCAA corner where they sold school material."
\ Football playoff: Although Schultz addressed it again in his state of the association speech, ACC commissioner Gene Corrigan does not believe such a game will take place.
There is a concern that a playoff after the New Year's games would further reduce interest in the bowls.
"And I don't think we'll ever go to a full playoff," Corrigan said. "We won't subject our players to that stress."