SWIMMING : NCAA Reforms Could Put the Sport in Deep Water

The U.S. World Championship swimming team voted at a recent training camp to wear special caps in the U.S. Open at Indianapolis next month to protest the NCAA’s reform measures.

The caps will read “NCAA Restrictions” with a line through the words. The swimmers hope that and a six-month letter-writing campaign will dissuade NCAA presidents from passing the proposed reforms at their annual convention Jan. 7-11 in Nashville, Tenn.

Among the proposals that affect swimming the greatest:

--Coaches shall not be involved with outside teams that involve student-athletes.

--Practice is limited to 20 hours a week (including weight training, competition and meetings).

--Off-season practice and other athletic-related activities are limited to eight hours a week; three days a week are completely free of practice.

The proposals stem from a confidential survey conducted by the American Institute of Research that revealed that student-athletes desire more free time and want to be more like typical students.

“Asking if they’d like more free time . . . anyone wants more free time,” said Skip Kenney, Stanford men’s coach. “They should have asked, ‘At what expense?’

“If all these proposals go through, it would kill the sport at the collegiate level as we know it today.”

Since many college coaches rely on income from outside teams, generally U.S. Swimming clubs in the spring and summer, the reform prohibiting them from having college swimmers on their clubs could prompt them to leave the profession.

“(College) swimming coaches obviously don’t make what football and basketball coaches make,” said Mark Schubert, the Texas women’s coach who also coaches Longhorn, a club.

“For years we’ve supplemented our income with club teams. It is important to keep good coaches in the sport.”

The proposal would make it necessary for college swimmers to switch coaches during their year-round training programs.

U.S. Swimming officials predict that 60% of Olympic hopefuls will consider sitting out of school next year, rather than change coaches during an Olympic year.

Texas junior Katy Arris, the NCAA runner-up in the 200-yard freestyle last season, is one of them.

“Mark (Schubert) is the coach I want to work with, by my own choice,” Arris said. “Having the same coach makes a big difference.”

Arris sees the practice restrictions as limiting her goals.

“It is a sacrifice we make of our own volition,” she said. “Whatever you do in life, there are going to be sacrifices. I don’t see where the NCAA comes in and tells us how many hours we have to achieve our goal. It is what we want to do.”

Schubert said: “It is a real bad example of them making rules for one sport out of concern for another.”

Nebraska Chancellor Martin Massengale, the Presidents Commission chairman, denies that the reforms are designed to cure the abuses of football and basketball.

“We are following what our research told us to follow,” said Massengale, who expressed concern for the coaches’ loss of income, but noted that the athletes’ well-being is paramount.

Although Massengale has received hundreds of letters from swimmers who claim that they want to put in long hours with the coach of their choice, he is unconcerned.

“I’ve read more (letters) from swimmers than anyone else,” Massengale said. “I assume at the request of their coaches.”

One of the points swimmers stress is their ability to excel in the classroom despite a heavy training schedule.

Kenney’s recruits the last four years, for example, averaged 1,200 on the Scholastic Aptitude Tests, 500 points higher than the NCAA minimum. They also averaged a 3.7 grade-point average, and 100% of his swimmers have graduated in his 11 years at Stanford.

“Swimmers can do both and do both well,” Kenney said.

“They are great at time management and discipline. I’d invite (the NCAA presidents) to come down and spend some time in the trenches, and then they’ll understand that the dedication and loyalty to swimming is equal to class work. I don’t know where else such a demanding swimming load and academic load coexist.”

Data on individual teams, such as Stanford, are available, but there is nothing to support the contention that swimmers nationwide fare better in the classroom.

“As a sport, we have not collected the data, so we are not able to say these are the academic factors,” said Dale Neuburger, executive director of the College Swimming Coaches Assn. of America. “We have great coaches and bright, articulate student-athletes that we have not presented to the American public.”

On a conference basis, the Big Ten honors athletes by sport who are members of travel teams while maintaining grade-point averages of 3.5 or better.

Almost 26% of the conference’s female swimmers and 22 1/2% of male swimmers were so honored last season, compared to 8% of men’s basketball players and 7% of football players. Cross-country athletes fared the best: 34.4% for women and 26.6% for men.

Although it may be too late to gather the supporting academic figures, the swimming community has been at the forefront of protesting the proposed NCAA reforms.

A memorandum from swimming leaders published in the NCAA News drew support from collegiate coaching associations in 15 other sports.

Lea Loveless, NCAA runner-up in the 100 and 200 backstroke for Florida last season, tried to transfer to Stanford under the one-time transfer rule, which allows athletes in sports other than football, basketball and ice hockey to compete immediately, provided the original school gives a written release.

Florida Coach Randy Reese, who has since resigned, released Loveless, but Florida officials refused to honor the release, prompting Loveless to sue them on the ground that previous releases Reese granted were honored by the school.

Through Stanford, Loveless is also pursuing an appeal to the NCAA.

Loveless’ status could have a direct effect on the outcome of the NCAA championship meet. With sophomores Janet Evans and Janel Jorgensen, the leading scorers at last season’s NCAA meet, as well as freshman sensation Summer Sanders, Stanford is expected to duel defending champion Texas to the wire.

Coincidentally, Texas also has a former Florida swimmer sitting out without a release, Whitney Hedgepeth, the third-leading scorer in the 1990 title meet.

Swimming Notes

Matt Biondi and Tom Jager are spearheading the American Swimming Showcase Series, a series of meets offering $75,000 in prize money to be divided among the leading participants. The series will be sanctioned by the World Swim Assn., a new organization founded by Biondi and Jager to address international swimming issues. According to event promoter Parks Britton of Advantage International, the date and site of the initial event has yet to be determined, but it will probably be in April. Mission Viejo is among the potential sites. Swimmers with NCAA eligibility are allowed to compete, provided their compensation is limited to expenses.

Memorial services will be held Saturday at St. Nicholas church in Encino at 3 p.m. for Yvonne Bailey-Thompson, longtime diving official and author. She died at her home in Canoga Park Nov. 3 at 78. . . . Freestyler Mitzi Kremer underwent shoulder surgery and will miss the World Championships Jan. 7-13 in Perth, Australia. . . . Mary Ellen Blanchard, the American record-holder in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke, made an oral commitment to attend Stanford. Blanchard is the granddaughter of 1945 Heisman Trophy winner Felix (Doc) Blanchard. . . . Meredith Booker of Team Santa Monica and Natalie Norberg of Industry Hills Aquatic Center were inadvertently left off the list of Californians named to the U.S. Swimming Academic All-American team.

Coming meets--International: Canadian World Championship trials, today through Sunday; National: U.S. Open, Indianapolis, Nov. 30-Dec. 2; NCAA, Men: Cal at Stanford, Thursday; Arizona State at UCLA, Saturday; Women: Stanford at Cal, Thursday; Men and Women: Arizona at USC, Thursday; Arizona State at USC, Friday; Arizona at UCLA, Friday.