Presidents Dominate NCAA Convention

The 2,300 NCAA convention delegates who face four days of debate, deal-making and decision should remember that the effectiveness of their efforts will likely determine whether college athletics survives into the 21st century.

During his annual state of the NCAA address, Executive Director Dick Schultz said the delegates shouldn’t fear the reform package that has the strong backing of the Presidents Commission.

“While some resent presidential involvement as an intrusion into a hallowed area, intercollegiate athletics as we know it today will not survive this decade if presidents are not directly involved and in control.”

Schultz told the representatives of almost 900 schools that the organization isn’t immune to the recession that has prompted cost-cutting at the individual universities.

“I have been involved in athletics for over 40 years and the financial pressure on higher education is the most challenging that I have witnessed. . . . Those of you who are the most fortunate are the ones who have received budget freezes. Most of you have received substantial cuts in budget, have faculty positions that you cannot fill and are looking for various ways to work within the financial constraints that have been placed on you.

“Financial studies indicate that almost 70% of the Division I schools will not generate enough revenue this year to pay the actual expenses of their athletic departments.”

The NCAA’s budget, he noted, was cut by $3 million this year and the headquarters staff is operating under a hiring and replacement freeze.

Last January’s convention at Nashville approved cuts in scholarships, coaching staffs, recruiting and specialized facilities for athletes.

“Those cuts have created many unhappy people in the athletics world,” he said. “But we have to realize that with these types of financial pressures, athletics departments are not sacrosanct when it comes to the budget-cutting process.”

State legislatures that have passed bills designed to alter the way NCAA rules are enforced are also a problem, Schultz said.

Four legislatures have passed and six others are working on so-called “due process” legislation, regardless of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that due process guarantees aren’t required for voluntary organizations such as the NCAA.

“To preserve your right as a voluntary association to make rules and to enforce those rules, it is very important that we have the support of each institution, not just in lip service to us but in active support of NCAA activities regarding these laws with your own lobbying efforts at the state or national level. If you are not satisfied with the enforcement and infractions process, you have the ability to change it through the legislation process.”

Before adjourning on Friday, delegates will decide on more than 140 agenda items. They begin the process today. Most significantly, the larger Division I schools will decide on a controversial package of academic enhancement proposals, what has been called the NCAA’s biggest academic push in almost a decade. Improved classroom performance would be demanded of athletes from their freshman through their senior years.

There is no reason to believe the academic proposals won’t pass, because this convention is expected to be dominated just as convincingly by Presidents Commission as was last year’s.

In keeping with the presidents’ timetable, this year’s agenda deals with academics. The commission drew up the legislation and, along with the NCAA Council, is its chief sponsor.

Under the NCAA’s one-school, one-vote process, a president’s opinion can be the only one that matters. Commission members, who are elected by college presidents to three-year terms, have proved most adept at galvanizing opinion among their fellow CEOs.

“This effort is not in any way haphazard,” said commission member David Warren of Ohio Wesleyan. “The presidents intend to remain involved.”

Although they do not expect to lose on the academic issues, the presidents are bracing for more opposition than they have encountered at other conventions.

“I told the Presidents Commission to expect more rhetoric at the 1992 convention because academics are such an emotional issue,” Schultz said. “But there I see no evidence that the presidents’ influence is waning.”

“A president doesn’t have to personally attend the convention to cast his vote,” pointed out Chuck Neinas, executive director of the College Football Assn. “He simply instructs his designated voting delegate how to vote on certain issues. Because the Presidents Commission calls for a roll call vote on the proposals they are sponsoring, each president can verify whether his instructions were carried out.”

“I would anticipate the academic package will pass,” Schultz said.

Under the present freshman eligibility rule known as Proposition 48, freshman to be eligible their first year must have a 2.00--or C average--in 11 high school “core” or college preparatory courses. They must also make a minimum score on the ACT or SAT college entrance exams.

The new rule would raise the number of core courses to 13 and hike the minimum grade point in the core from 2.00 to 2.50.