Providence College Athletics
Future NCAA Action
9/13/2004 12:00:00 AM | General
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September
The recruitment of student-athletes is always of great interest to those who follow an athletic program. They want to know who might be their team's next star, next workhorse, next clutch player or next "diamond in the rough." It's exciting to imagine how new talent might contribute to a team's success. In fact, as I catch up with Friar fans throughout New England, I am often asked about prospects and new recruits.
The recruiting process as legislated by the NCAA can be complex, but has been formulated with the best interests of the student-athlete in mind. Late last year I was excited to learn that I would be directly involved with reviewing NCAA legislation when BIG EAST Commissioner Mike Tranghese nominated me to be one of three conference representatives on the NCAA Division I Management Council.
The NCAA Division I Management Council is comprised of 49 athletic directors, faculty athletic representatives, conference commissioners, and senior women's administrators representing 327 Division I NCAA institutions. The Management Council is responsible for developing and passing legislation that will shape the future of Division I athletics. It so happens that improving recruiting is currently a very hot topic for NCAA institutions, predominantly because of some damaging breakdowns in the process at member institutions and the public fallout from these breakdowns.
The Management Council has spent many months debating and passing emergency legislation to address recruiting abuses. As a result of these abuses, a special NCAA task force on recruiting was formed and recommendations in the form of new legislation were forwarded to the Management Council. The new legislation was developed and adopted to reduce the, "sense of entitlement and celebrity that has become prevalent in the current recruiting culture" and to assist prospective student-athletes and institutions in reaching informed decisions through the recruiting process. It was immediately adopted.
The Management Council adopted the following six new proposals from the task force on recruiting:
1. Written policies for recruiting visits must be established by each institution.
2. Airfare for official visits is limited to coach class on commercial airlines.
3. Transportation around campus during official visits must be in an institutional vehicle normally used to transport regular students who visit campus.
4. Prospective student-athletes must be housed in regular lodging with no special services or accommodations.
5. Student hosts are limited to either current student-athletes or students who are designated by the institution to provide general campus tours.
6. Arranging personalized recruiting aids (e.g. jerseys, scoreboard presentations, and game day simulations) is prohibited.
In addition to this emergency legislation, the Council is also considering proposals presented by the National Association of Basketball Coaches and Women's Basketball Coaches Association calling for new and improved recruiting calendars and fewer restrictions on the contacts of prospects. The proposals also call for five years of eligibility to ensure that basketball student-athletes have a better opportunity to graduate.
Both the emergency legislation that was adopted by the Council and the proposals submitted by the NABC and WBCA are designed to address the behavior of prospects and hosts during official visits and to improve student-athlete retention and graduation rates at NCAA institutions.
I believe that all of these changes are positive in that they remove some of the fanfare around official visits and, hopefully, put more emphasis on whether or not an institution is a good fit for a student-athlete both academically and athletically.
Go Friars!
