NCAA CONVENTION : Schultz Sees Need for Many Changes

Calling for a “new model” on which to base college athletics, NCAA Executive Director Dick Schultz advocated a variety of sweeping changes, including granting tenure to coaches, Sunday night in an address to delegates at the opening of the NCAA convention.

“I still maintain that the majority of things happening in college athletics are positive,” Schultz told the convention, “but, regardless, we are what we are perceived to be. And, today, the general public, and even our faculties and deans, feel that colleges and universities are not doing a good job of controlling intercollegiate athletics. In other words, the model is not working. If this is the case, it’s time to develop a new model.”

The convention, scheduled to run through Wednesday, offers a relatively tame set of proposals for the delegates’ consideration. But Schultz’s speech could spark a shift toward more radical proposals in the next few years.

“I don’t know how exciting this convention is going to be,” Al Witte, the University of Arkansas law professor who currently serves as NCAA president, said after Schultz’s speech, “but ’91 ought to be a blockbuster.”

Perhaps the most dramatic part of Schultz’s “model” was a call to “reduce pressure” on coaches by providing them with a tenure system comparable to that afforded faculty members. Schultz suggested that initial coaching contracts should be for five years with no termination except for violations of NCAA rules or ethical or moral reasons. After the five-year period, Schultz said, coaches should be granted tenure, given a one-year contract extension or be released.

Witte said he was “a little surprised” to hear Schultz advocate tenure for coaches, but said he supported the notion. “As a tenured member of a faculty, I know what the advantages are of job security,” Witte said. “Maybe we could get more sense into the process if we did get them (coaches) security.”

Schultz also advocated sharply reducing off-campus recruiting.

“This solves a number of problems concurrently, such as many of the integrity issues as well as many cost-reduction concerns,” he said. “It’s absolutely ridiculous that we allow six, in-person off-campus visits (the present maximum for coaches visiting prospects). We hire presidents, commissioners, faculty and coaches with far fewer interviews. We need further restrictions on the number of coaching staff members allowed to travel, as well as shorter recruiting periods. . . . Let’s put some dignity back in the way we conduct our business.”

Schultz went on to say that pressure must also be reduced on athletes by limiting demands on their time. He told the delegates he supports measures, some of which will be considered at this convention, to shorten seasons and practice time.

Schultz addressed what he termed “other concerns regarding athletes” by advocating increased financial aid, an “emergency loan system for needy athletes” and an endowment fund that would provide small cash bonuses for athletes graduating within five years.

At the same time, Schultz suggested that college football and basketball underclassmen should be allowed to place their names in the professional drafts and evaluate subsequent financial offers without losing eligibility. “This also would reduce the efforts of the unscrupulous sports agent,” he said.

Further, Schultz said, an athlete recruited by a head coach who leaves the school before the athlete enrolls should be allowed to transfer without the usual penalty of sitting out a year.

Schultz drew applause when he then added: “Let’s also eliminate athletic dorms and the constant isolation of the athlete from the rest of the student body.”

Schultz dealt generally with the issue of how to spend the $1 billion that will be generated by the NCAA’s new basketball contract with CBS.

“We should view these new dollars as a real opportunity to create major reform,” he said. “Let’s go back to playing for the trophy, eliminating the incentives to break rules because of dollars, and reduce pressure on both coaches and athletes.”

Schultz, who replaced Walter Byers as NCAA executive director 2 1/2 years ago, said later at a news conference that his speech included ideas he has formulated throughout his career as a coach and athletic administrator.

“Obviously, I’ve been thinking about these things a long time,” he said. “But two things made me think this was the right time (to speak out). First, the new (television) contract we received gives us an opportunity to make some changes, because that kind of event doesn’t come along every day of the week. Second, you are what you are perceived to be. And if you read the polls and listen to the people around you, you know what the perception of us (college athletics) is. That tells you that change is needed--not just window-dressing--and that’s what I hope to stimulate.”

In his speech, Schultz said he does not advocate eliminating freshman eligibility altogether, but he asked the delegates to study the issue this year.

As for Proposition 42, the controversial rule set to be implemented this year that denies scholarships to freshmen who fail to meet either the standardized-test or grade standards of Proposition 48 entrance requirements, Schultz told the delegates that he supports proposals in front of the convention that would modify or delay implementing the rule. He cited continuing studies by the testing services on the use of standardized tests in determining freshman eligibility.

UCLA Chancellor Charles Young, taking part in a debate on freshman eligibility during last night’s opening session, stated that all first-year athletes should be ineligible for competition but be allowed to participate in practice and conditioning sessions in a limited way. Under Young’s plan, those athletes, provided they had met Proposition 48 entrance requirements, would then have four years of eligibility for competition.

Young said he believes that athletes need the year off from competition to make the transition from high school to college work.

He said his proposal is not just a “mandatory red-shirt year” because athletes who would be ineligible as freshmen under his proposal would not be allowed to travel with their teams or suit up for games.

Young said he hopes that a proposal to make freshmen ineligible altogether will be considered at next year’s convention in Nashville, Tenn.

Young’s view was countered by Wake Forest President Thomas Hearn, who said: “Given the ills that prevail, freshman ineligibility is no panacea. Were freshmen to become ineligible, our athletic houses would not be in order, and some problems would certainly be made worse.”