THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 24, 1995 TAG: 9501240364
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Bob Molinaro
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
Dick Schultz does not want to be executive director of the NCAA again. Not that anybody has asked. Or will.
``The only thing I miss about the job,'' he said, ``is the airplane. It belonged to the NCAA.''
For seven years, Schultz was the Sky King of college athletics. The man in control of athletic reform could usually be found behind the controls of the Lear jet.
Equipped with a pilot's license and the desire to put a human face on the NCAA, Schultz glided into gyms, stadiums and athletic offices all over the country.
He was easily the most ubiquitous sports executive in America. The most engaging, too. After years of grim leadership under Walter Byers, the NCAA was throwing open the shutters and letting in the sun.
``I was on the road 215 days a year,'' Schultz said Monday after speaking to the Norfolk Sports Club. ``It was what I wanted to do, but the time demands were unrelenting.''
A year ago, Schultz prematurely stepped down as executive director, worn out by the travel and haunted by some old, vague business from his days as director of athletics at the University of Virginia.
``I probably only would have stayed another year,'' he said.
His administration was rudely grounded by reports that he had knowledge of small, interest-free loans granted to U.Va. athletes in violation of NCAA regulations.
``The whole thing was kinda much ado about nothing,'' he said Monday. ``It was a minor situation. Too much was made of it. It wasn't until I went to the NCAA that it was even a violation not to report these sorts of loans.''
Did Schultz know that the Virginia Student Aid Foundation was handing out loans? Sure.
``But I didn't know,'' he said, ``any of the loans being made were in violation of NCAA rules.''
Obvious in all this is the irony of the NCAA executive director - the cop on the beat - getting himself snared in a confusing, infuriatingly complex, petty disagreement over rules.
The NCAA is nothing if not dysfunctional. Which is why someone like Schultz is needed more than ever.
His value to college athletics has been reconfirmed by the success of his new business - Global Sports Enterprises. At 65, Schultz does consulting work for universities and conferences.
Although Schultz has worked with the Metro Conference, he was surprised by the league's decision to eject both Virginia Tech and VCU.
It's an example, he said, ``of the greed factor rearing its ugly head.''
Runaway greed, along with rules that discriminate against the athlete, he said, are two of the biggest problems facing the NCAA.
``The bottom line is, we don't trust one another in intercollegiate athletics,'' Schultz said.
Recently, Byers surprised everyone when he came out for the payment of college athletes. But unlike his predecessor, Schultz does not call for changes he could not have supported as executive director.
``In my mind, paying athletes would be the worst thing that could happen to college athletics,'' he said. ``People have this misguided idea that colleges are making millions of dollars on the backs of its athletes. But that doesn't take into account the non-revenue sports.''
In college sports, there is never a shortage of issues. Or opinions. Schultz remains an important player in this arena of ideas.
He's still flying high. Only now, he rides commercial. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Dick Schultz
by CNB