NCAA Cracks Down on Making the Grade : The Free Ride Gets Bumpier

In all likelihood, the kind of youngster who will be most affected by the actions taken at the NCAA convention here this week did not read about it in the newspapers.

He doesn’t read newspapers. He doesn’t even read the sports section unless he see his own name in the headlines or a picture of someone he knows.

He probably perked up a little when tougher academic standards were mentioned on TV, cringed at the thought of his grades, then shrugged it off. Just talk. Somebody always takes care of star athletes. It’s just paperwork. Details.

There’s good reason for that kind of thinking. There has been talk of higher academic standards for years. But that’s all it was, talk.

Gibberish. Who cares?

The kid who thought he was going into big-time college sports next fall and whose test scores and grades don’t measure up, that’s who. Or at least that’s who should. He is going to care a lot when he suddenly finds that he’s not going anywhere in Division I.

His little world is going to come crashing down around his extra large sneakers when he realizes that, for him, it’s too late.

The coaches who were telling him how many times he would be seen on national television if he came their way will now be telling him to find a nice Division II school or a junior college, and don’t call us, we’ll call you.

It is true that those coaches can still give the youngster a scholarship, even though he doesn’t have the grades or the test scores. He just won’t be able to practice or compete as a freshman. But think about that. How many coaches are going to spend one of their scholarships that way unless the kid is the next Magic Johnson or the next Bo Jackson?

By the time the kid figures that out, it’s going to be too late. There are minimum standards, as of next fall, that are inflexible. They’re not real demanding minimums, but for the kid who doesn’t have those numbers, there will be no exception.

The standards that were set three years ago, to go into effect as of this fall, require at least a 700 combined score on the Scholastic Aptitude Test or a 15 on the American College Test, in addition to a 2.0 grade-point average in a core curriculum that includes three years of English, two years of math, two years in a social science and two years in natural or physical science.

There were attempts made by some of the traditionally black colleges at the convention to eliminate the test score requirement. They argued that the tests are discriminatory. They were voted down.

The only compromise offered was the passing of Proposal 16, which sort of phases in the requirements. What that compromise amendment does is allow a lower SAT or ACT score to be offset by a high grade-point average, or vice versa, for the next two years. By the fall of 1988, it’s back to the 2.0 and 700.

This fall, for example, an SAT score of 680 will be good enough if combined with a grade-point average of 2.1 or over. An SAT score of 660 will be good enough with a grade-point average of 2.2. But the scale doesn’t allow for a test score of less than 660 on the SAT or 13 on the ACT.

A grade-point average of 1.9 will be good enough combined with an SAT score of 720, and an average of 1.8 will make it with an SAT score of 740. But nothing under a 1.8 grade-point average will do, no matter what the test score.

Those tiny deviations get tighter in 1987 and will be gone the next year.

Nothing was done to let the youngster slide by this year if he hasn’t been preparing himself for college.

If he has a 1.7 grade-point average, he’s not going to make up that much of a percentage in one semester. If he hasn’t taken a math or science class yet, he’s not going to get four years’ worth in one semester. And if he needs to take the SAT two or three times to get the hang of it, and he hasn’t taken it yet, that one-time shot might throw him into shock.

Taking that test is an art unto itself. It helps to start as a junior.

So the kid is going to be very disappointed when he can’t go off to the school he has his heart set on, and his parents are going to be very upset that the school didn’t take care of all of this. And everybody is going to say that the NCAA should have allowed this kid some time to get his grades up and get his test scores up before they cut him off like this.

The NCAA did give him time. When these standards were passed in January 1983, the NCAA sent them directly to the high schools. The NCAA also sent out word through the high school associations. And all the college recruiters were supposed to be letting the high school guidance counselors know what would be needed.

For the kid who is a senior now, who hasn’t been preparing for this day, it is too late. Some will persevere, take a year out from sports or play at junior colleges, get their grades and go big-time later. Thousands, though, will end up selling sneakers instead of wearing them.

There are going to be a lot of sad stories about kids who were seniors at the wrong time. A lot of sports careers that will not be.

The delegates to this convention knew that, but they took the stance that these kids are being sacrificed for the greater good.

The rallying cry here was, “We are sending out a strong message.”

Maybe the sophomore will get the message. That is the plan, anyway. The sophomore who hears the sad stories, who sees his buddy lose out on the dream, will probably enroll in the algebra class and maybe even take chemistry.

There were some angry charges on the convention floor that these measures were pushed through by “elitist” members, and in private conversations, some representatives said that in a way, the charge is true. But, they added, colleges are meant for elite students, and Division I sports are meant for elite athletes. Those who are good enough to make it competitively, both academically and athletically, will get there.

Not one delegate at the convention suggested that some high school athletes are just not smart enough to get the grades or the test score. They believe it’s a question of convincing the athlete that he has to put some effort into his schoolwork, that he has to give academics a high priority.

A 15-year-old kid doesn’t always listen to his parents. He doesn’t always listen to his teachers. But he’ll often walk through fire for his coach because his coach says whether he plays or doesn’t play, and that matters to him.