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NCAA setting tougher standards
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Before college coaches headed out on recent recruiting trips, they were briefed by their school’s athletic academic advisers regarding academic standards adopted by the NCAA in October.
What they heard left many in shock.
“This is as big as Title IX,” Florida Atlantic women’s basketball coach Chancellor Dugan said, referring to the landmark legislation that mandated equal opportunities for female athletes. “This affects everyone.”
The stringent new standards are aimed at increasing graduation rates among student-athletes. Although they will make more high school seniors eligible for scholarships, they will also make it tougher to keep scholarships once the student-athletes start college.
“This could be a real humdinger,” Florida State Associate Athletic Director Bob Minnix said. “I think a lot of people have been caught by surprise.”
“The transition of this is going to be very bumpy,” said Mike Allen, the FAU athletic department’s academic adviser. “This isn’t a small change.”
The key changes mandated by the NCAA are an increase from 13 to 14 in the core courses required for high school athletes and a drop in the minimum test-score requirements.
Athletes already in college face a host of increased requirements designed to keep them on track to graduate, including passing at least six hours per semester, declaring a major early in their academic careers and taking more classes toward that degree.
In the past, such changes in eligibility have caused a lot of debate. But this round of changes slid by with barely a notice.
“This legislation had the overwhelming support of college presidents,” said Jamie McCloskey, associate athletic director for compliance at Florida. “So at some point, you just have to get on board.”
That doesn’t mean there won’t be controversy once the regulations are applied.
“Who knows? They might go back later on and junk all of this,” Minnix said. “There’s never been anything as sweeping as this.”
Nationally, football (52 percent) and men’s basketball (43 percent) continued to lag.
There are no penalties or incentives attached to graduation rates, just the scrutiny that comes when the rates are released.
No sport has been getting more negative publicity than men’s basketball, as many of the top programs consistently have had no players graduating, such as Oklahoma’s recent 0 percent graduation rate.
“There is no question that the bar has been raised,” said Jim Haney, the National Association of Basketball Coaches’ executive director. “We are advocates for graduation.”
Haney said many coaches were concerned when they first heard about the new rules, but when the NABC did its own research it found that many players were already meeting the new requirements.
“Many people are prophesizing a doomsday,” Haney said. “I’m not encouraging that. When one has knowledge of what has to be accomplished and it is reasonable, one can work toward it.”
While athletic departments and academic advisers are still poring over the new regulations, they have alerted coaches who are recruiting, since the new regulations affect the class of 2003-04.
“It’s going to force coaches to make more difficult judgments,” said FAU’s Allen, since the incoming freshmen will have to meet the higher standards.
Said FSU’s Minnix: “We’ve told our coaches they should look at the GPA and start looking at younger kids, in terms of trying to direct them, making sure they have their core courses.”
“It’s going to require an attitude change in how we’ve functioned in the past,” Haney said.
Ted Hutton, South Florida Sun-Sentinel