NCAA Delays Annual Stipend Implementation, Asks For Redrafted Proposal In April

The NCAA Division I BOD Saturday “delayed implementation of a $2,000 expense allowance for athletes, opting instead to ask a working group to make a modified proposal in April,” according to Michael Marot of the AP. The board essentially “heeded membership's advice to slow things down rather than continuing to charge full steam ahead.” Supporters said that the “14-4 vote Saturday wasn't an outright rejection of the philosophy.” NCAA President Mark Emmert said, “We just want to make sure we get it right." If a new proposal passes in April, it “would go back to the membership for another 60-day comment period.” Recruits who signed national letters of intent in November “will be able to collect the money they were promised,” but those who “sign in February and April will not get that money.” Also Saturday, board members “rejected proposed scholarship reductions in football and women's basketball, and they rejected a ban on foreign trips.” The board put “a moratorium, for up to 10 years, on adding games in any sport and approved legislation to expand the definition of agents to include parents” (AP, 1/14). USA TODAY’s Steve Wieberg notes the final word on whether major colleges can offer athletes more than one-year scholarships “won’t come until next month.” Scores of schools protested the NCAA “was moving too swiftly on those and other measures in a series of reforms spearheaded” by Emmert (USA TODAY, 1/16).

IN OTHER NCAA NEWS: The AP’s Marot wrote the NCAA outlined plans Friday “to penalize repeat rule-breakers with tougher sanctions, save money by cutting football and women's basketball scholarships and trim its massive 400-page rulebook.” NCAA officials hope that all of this "can be finished by August.” Oregon State President and NCAA Exec Committee Chair Ed Ray said, "We are dealing with some very real circumstances and business as usual isn't working. This is a supernormal process to get us from business as usual to being good stewards of intercollegiate athletics so that we take back the collegiate model from the people who are making the big bucks and who, frankly, don't give a damn about the integrity of the game or the welfare of the college student." Infractions categories "would be renamed egregious, serious, solid secondary and technical." If the rulebook “is edited properly, something that NCAA leaders say remains on track,” NCAA VP/Enforcement Julie Roe Lach believes that the technical violations “could be scrapped or dealt with at the conference level.” The infractions committee “could go from 10 members to 18 or more, allowing six or seven-person panels to meet more regularly in an effort to speed up deliberations.” Presidents, ADs and coaches “all could become part of the panels, providing more context.” Lach is “also exploring the possibility of using video conferences and summary agreements” (AP, 1/14). Meanwhile, the AP reported Emmert “did enough in his first 17 months as the NCAA president to get a 24-month extension.” The Exec Committee Friday “unanimously approved a deal to keep Emmert in office through October 2017” (AP, 1/13).

IN THE HOUSE: In Cincinnati, Paul Kostyu wrote Ohio state Reps Alicia Reece, Clayton Luckie  and John Barnes Jr., have introduced “House Bill 411, which would allow universities with Division I athletics to pay up to $8,000 per athlete, Division II schools up to $6,000 and up to $4,000 for all other divisions.” Attorney Richard Johnson, who in ’08 sued the NCAA on behalf of former Oklahoma State P Andrew Oliver said, “If Ohio passes that law, the NCAA will sue in federal court and win. Then the NCAA will use the case to intimidate other states. Courts will say you can’t pass rules for Ohio schools that puts others schools at a disadvantage” (CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, 1/14).

FOUR BETTER THAN NOTHING: ESPN’s Trevor Matich agrees with Emmert’s support of a four-team playoff, saying, "I don’t think college football helps itself by becoming NFL-light.” A 16-team college football playoff “would be fantastic," but it would come "at a cost of diminishing some of the monumental battles during the regular season that are not quite so monumental in college hoops or college baseball” (“College Football Live,” ESPN, 1/13). ESPN’s J.A. Adande said a four-team playoff would be a “step in the right direction.” Adande: “we can’t keep having this argument not only who is the champion, but who should have been playing for the championship. We never have resolution with this so-called national championship game” (“Jim Rome Is Burning,” ESPN2, 1/13). CNBC’s Darren Rovell said, "There's been a real turnaround here from ‘no way’ to pretty much ‘full support.’ Part of that is coming because of fairness, a real national champion. The other part: Cash" (“Sports Biz: Game On!,” NBC Sports Network, 1/13).