From the Advocate
NCAA's future up for debate
Meetings may redefine face of college athletics
By MICHAEL MAROT
AP sportswriter
INDIANAPOLIS -- The future of the NCAA is up for debate this week in Indianapolis.
The Board of Directors today will discuss a series of proposals that could redefine the term "amateur" athletics. Then on Friday, the executive committee will begin its search to find a replacement for retiring president Cedric Dempsey.
It's a 48-hour period that could dramatically change the governing body does business.
"We're asking the NCAA to move away from one of its founding principles," said Ohio State president Brit Kirwan, chairman of the NCAA's board of directors. "Given that fact, it's made it a really difficult issue."
At the top of the agenda is allowing "elite" student-athletes to take one-time loans of up to $20,000, based on potential earnings. Another proposal would allow high school athletes to enter a draft and go to college without losing eligibility if they do not sign a contract or with an agent.
And that's only the beginning.
The committee also will debate a measure that permits student-athletes to compete professionally for one year, then sit out a year and enter college. The athlete would then have three years of eligibility remaining.
Other proposals would let the NCAA pay for the disability insurance of "elite" student-athlete and permit the acceptance of educational expenses to high schools or prep schools without losing eligibility if the money is distributed by the school.
An "elite" student-athlete is determined by where they are projected to go in the draft although the standards are different for the five sports included -- football, men's and women's basketball, ice hockey and baseball.
The catalyst for the changes, Kirwan said, has been the increase in college athletes leaving school early for the pros and high school athletes who skip college and enter the draft.
But solutions have been difficult to find unanimity on.
"The most divisive elements are those with allowing athletes who have ever been paid for playing on professional teams much more so than the loans," Kirwan said. "I think we've already accepted the idea that athletes could borrow money for disability insurance, so I don't think loans are as big an issue."
If the proposals are approved, they could change the face of college athletics as early as next season.
Still, Kirwan is uncertain what the board will do. He called the debate "intense" at times, and acknowledged that some items may not even be voted on Thursday.
The other big issue is finding a new president, which the executive committee must approve.
Tulsa president Bob Lawless heads a four-member search committee formed to winnow the field of candidates. The search committee consists of Lawless, Kirwan, Patricia Cormier, president of Longwood College in Virginia and chairwoman of the Division II Presidents Council and Bette Landman of Beaver College in Pennsylvania. Landman is chairwoman of the Division III Presidents Council.
Lawless said two or three finalists are expected to be determined in September and that those finalists would interview with the 12-member executive committee at a special meeting Oct. 10. He anticipates a final vote Oct. 11.
"I think we are looking for leadership more than we were the last time," said Lawless, who also is chairman of the executive committee. "In changing from an executive director to a CEO, we're looking more for leadership than we were the last time, and I think we got good leadership from Ced."
Lawless expects the executive committee to approve Friday the choice of Baker-Parker, an Atlanta-based firm, to conduct the search.
Lawless said he has not yet received any applications for Dempsey's replacement. Dempsey announced in January during the NCAA convention that he would be retiring when he term ends Jan. 1.
