NCAA Moves to Allow Athletes More Time Off

With an eye toward reform--or perhaps more to the point, Congress--NCAA members have approved a series of measures designed to cut costs and limit the time demands on college athletes.

Under legislation approved Wednesday at the 85th annual NCAA convention, playing seasons in all Division I and Division II sports other than football and basketball will be reduced, and all athletes will be limited in how much time they can devote to their sports.

In addition, scholarships in all sports face 10% cutbacks.

Another significant development was the passage of several measures outlining tougher qualifications for membership in Division I, the highest classification of NCAA schools.

All told, the approval of the measures, representing the bulk of the convention’s reform agenda, with relatively little dissent was another achievement for the NCAA Presidents Commission, which proposed or endorsed much of the agenda with the idea of silencing the NCAA’s critics in Congress.

Of those critics--chief among them Rep. Tom McMillen (D-Md.) and Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.)--Wake Forest President Thomas Hearn Jr., said: “I hope they are now convinced that reform is alive and well, and that we can effectively bring changes within a voluntary structure.”

Perhaps the most telling item among the time constraints, most of which go into effect in August, is a requirement that athletes in all sports must be limited in their participation in team activities--including practice, competition and meetings--to four hours a day and 20 hours a week during their respective seasons, and to eight hours a week during off-season work.

Also approved were provisions allowing athletes in such non-revenue sports as gymnastics and swimming to participate in workouts with their coaches present beyond the 20-hour limit, as long as the workouts are voluntary.

Those provisions may eliminate the fears of some coaches who say the 20-hour rule will hinder athletes in Olympic sports.

But the logistics of the rule could prove to be a disaster, some delegates warned.

“I think the (NCAA) interpretations committee is going to be very busy,” said Jeffrey Orleans, the Ivy League’s executive officer. “My fear is people are not going to take this seriously--or take this so seriously that students will be bird-dogged by (schools’) compliance officers.”

Asked how the 20-hour rule, which requires schools to keep daily records, will be enforced, Oregon State Athletic Director Dutch Baughman said: “Like the 55-m.p.h. speed limit.”

Still, Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner Gene Corrigan, chairman of a committee on cost reduction that developed the measure, said he expects no problems as long as coaches plan their weeks around the time constraints. “I’m a trusting soul,” he said.

The Division I restructuring measures, developed by a special committee set up to study the matter in 1989, become effective during the 1993-94 academic year.

Such restructuring has long been favored by Division I-A football schools who want more say in the business of Division I. Their argument is that too many of the 295 schools in the division are operating so-called “ghost” programs--usually without any form of football--solely to be part of Division I basketball and the revenue the sport at that level generates.

Tuesday, Division I schools adopted the first of three proposals developed by the committee--a measure requiring Division I schools to schedule Division I opponents in virtually all contests.

Division I schools approved the other parts of the committee’s package Wednesday, those dealing with minimum numbers of sports and scholarships, but in amended forms that probably will allow many schools that otherwise would have dropped out of Division I to stay in.

Delegates voted to raise the number of required sports for Division I membership from six each, for men and women, to seven each.

However, they voted down a proposal that would have denied schools the opportunity to count indoor and outdoor track as two sports--a practice presently used by 67 schools in maintaining Division I membership.

Similarly, delegates approved legislation imposing minimum levels for athletic scholarships for Division I schools.

To maintain membership in Division I under this legislation, a school must meet one of three criteria calling for:

--No less than 50% of the maximum number of scholarships in each of its seven sports.

--A minimum expenditure of $500,000 for athletic scholarships in sports other than football or basketball as long as the amount funds at least 19 full scholarships.

--A minimum of 50 full scholarships outside football and basketball.

However, delegates also approved two provisions making the standards less restrictive.

One allows schools that rely on exceptional amounts of federal assistance in financial aid to cut their obligations in meeting the scholarship and expenditure standards by half. That adjustment should allow several historically black schools on the East Coast to remain in Division I.

“This could have been a disaster,” said Leonard Braxton, Morgan State athletic director. “It’s not as bad as it surely could have been.”

As it is, the legislation will force some schools to pay a steep price to remain at the Division I level.

At Loyola Marymount, where a full scholarship is worth about $17,000 a year, the $500,000 minimum in scholarship expenditures does not pose a problem.

But, according to Athletic Director Brian Quinn, the university will have to add 8 1/2 scholarships to reach the required total of 19.

“We’re losing a few bucks in one area (mandated by the convention) by not having a part-time coach,” he said, “and then we have to add $250,000 in scholarships.”

But Loyola’s commitment to Division I is unwavering, Quinn said.

“Money and numbers have never driven what we do,” he said. “ . . . Philosophically and numberswise, our future is in Division I.”

Pepperdine is not affected by the new scholarship standards for Division I membership, Athletic Director Wayne Wright said. But the school will have to add at least one women’s sport to remain in Division I--the cost of which can be absorbed by the across-the-board scholarship cuts approved Wednesday, he said.