Many of you have read about the NCAA Presidents meeting that was held in August.  The result of that meeting has been the creation of five committees to address the following issues:

1.        Collegiate Model - Committee on Academic Performance (CAP);

2.        Student-Athlete Well-Being Working Group;

3.        ResourceAllocation Working Group;

4.        Collegiate Model - Rules Working Group;

5.        Collegiate Model - Enforcement Working Group.

Here are some the the moves that you can expect to occur from each of the Committees.

1.     Collegiate Model- Committee on Academic Performance (CAP)

You can expect the CAP to create a package of academic proposals aimed atimproving academic success.  The packageof proposals will probably include increased initial-eligibility standards, increasedtwo-year college transfer standards, an increase of the penalty benchmark to930, and amending the NCAA Division I Academic Performance Program penaltystructure to include a postseason ban in the first year a team falls below the930 benchmark. In sum, entering students will need to be more qualified than ever before to compete in their first year and teams will have to consistently perform well in the classroom in order to reach post season play.  A dozen teams would not have qualified fro the NCAA tournament this year, including the Champion UConn team, because of the APR standard.  Our APR for this past year was a perfect 1000.

 

2.     Student-AthleteWell-Being Working Group.

This group is addressing the value ofathletics grants-in-aid, terms of grants-in-aid and other ways to enhance thewell-being of student-athletes.  They are suggesting a student-athlete who has received afull athletics grant in aid receive additional athletic aid (or otherinstitutional aid, including use of Student Athlete Opportunity Fund) up to thefull cost of attendance or $2,000, whichever is less;permit multi-year grants up to the fullterm of eligibility;eliminate financial aid eligibilityrestrictions (five years of aid within a six-year period) to permit formerstudent-athletes to return to the institution and receive unearned athleticsaid to complete their baccalaureate degree requirements;early graduation from high school andenrollment in college should receive increased scrutiny to ensure that onlyqualified student-athletes are permitted to engage in practice; and consideration of a category of student-athletes who may qualify forfinancial aid and practice, but no competition in their initial year inresidence.

3.     ResourceAllocation Working Group

Look for this group to eliminate non-traditional competition and reduce mandatory out-of-season practice;  explore what a reduction in competition looks like for allsports, including ramifications;  eliminate all foreign travel; a reduction of scholarships in many sports and/or reallocation in others as well as reductions in coaching staffs.

4.     Collegiate Model- Rules Working Group

This group is charged with a full evaluation of the NCAA rules and by-laws - a daunting task and one I won't comment on here.

5.     Collegiate Model - Enforcement Working Group

This group will consider the guiding principles for action, milestones andtimeline, prior reviews of the enforcement program and penalty structure, andviolation and penalty structure background. 

 

The winds of change lie not only in conference realignment as determined by football primarily, but also in the very structure of the NCAA and the guiding principles of collegiate athletics.  Stay tuned, there will be more forthcoming.