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University Presidents Respond To Pac-12's 10-Point Proposal For NCAA Reform

The Pac-12 and Big Ten conference commissioners believe that it is "time to bring college sports in line with the century in which its student-athletes are competing," according to John Crumpacker of the S.F. CHRONICLE. Change is "coming to major college sports and the two conferences figure to be leading the charge." Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said, "The scholarship model has not evolved since the 1970s. We want to make sure our scholarships provide full cost of attendance. We want to make sure we're doing everything we can for student-athletes within the collegiate model." Pac-12 university presidents sent a letter to their counterparts in the other four major conferences "advocating major changes to what many see as outdated practices by the NCAA regarding student-athletes." Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said: "It's not rocket science but it is complex and is worth preserving. In the last 25, 30 years, we have not been able to evolve to a 21st century response to our problems" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 5/22). Meanwhile, CBSSPORTS.com's Dennis Dodd noted Boise State President Bob Kustra last night "issued a scathing criticism" of NCAA reform, seemingly "accusing the commissioners of the SEC and Big Ten of 'calling the shots.'" Kustra "spent more than three pages ripping [the] Big Five conferences in an email sent to media outlets." He "laid out a case for large-school voting autonomy being a guise for those institutions to consolidate money and power." Kustra in the letter wrote, "I have no doubt why the power conferences are working to separate themselves from some Division I universities who still see the value of equity and fairness in athletic funding" (CBSSPORTS.com, 5/21). 

WEIGHING THE PROS AND CONS: SPORTING NEWS' John Infante wrote "little" in the Pac-12's reform plan "is groundbreaking." Most of it has "been proposed before, either in other settings or by other groups." The two "biggest and most surprising elements are a desire to add even more teeth to the Academic Progress Rate penalties and the threat to bring back freshman ineligibility if the NBA does not change its draft age limit." All or most of the proposals "were due to be addressed in the next couple of years, after the new governance structure for Division I was in place." Bringing all these issues "together and asking for a response from other conferences by June 4 merely moves up the timeline." The "biggest flaw with the Pac-12's plan is that it is just a plan" (SPORTINGNEWS.com, 5/21). However, Purdue President Mitch Daniels called the Pac-12 presidents' letter “highly positive” as the march toward reform of intercollegiate athletics continues. He said, "It's about time a lot of these issues got raised in more than a timid way. I'm not sure every single one is the best idea, and a couple of them I would want to know more about." Daniels "knows the current model isn't working," but admits he "didn't know what the right answers were." Daniels: "I've been trying to learn more, and the items I see in this letter, I now see we're heading in the right direction" (Lafayette JOURNAL & COURIER, 5/22). ESPN.com's Ivan Maisel writes you can "argue over the merit" of the Pac-12's 10-point proposal, but the "fact that the Pac-12 CEOs have made it known that they want and expect significant change is great news for those of us who love intercollegiate athletics." The Pac-12 proposals would "increase benefits and decrease time demands on student-athletes" (ESPN.com, 5/22).

TURNING A NEW LEAF: NCAA VP/Enforcement Jon Duncan yesterday said that staff turnover "has abated, the enforcement division has 100 open cases and he expects at least 10 more involving major violations will be processed by the end of the year, in addition to the 12 that have already moved through his office." Former NCAA Infraction Committee Chair Gene Marsh said that when NCAA enforcement "has gotten in trouble -- the Miami case, for instance -- it was because of legal missteps made by investigators or executive-level people with almost no experience outside of NCAA matters, so having a real lawyer heading the department has eliminated the 'throw something against the wall and see what sticks' mentality that permeated the department in the past." He added, "It doesn't mean the staff is getting wimpy, it just means they're getting more thoughtful about bigger picture issues." USA TODAY's Dan Wolken notes Duncan has "fostered staff training on NCAA rules and investigative interview skill and created an in-house review board in which a team of investigators, before sending a Notice of Allegations, will present its findings to a group of 14-16 other investigators as a stress test for holes in the case" (USA TODAY, 5/22).

PAUSE IN ACTION: CBSSPORTS.com's Jon Solomon reported the NCAA "wants all of next month's Ed O'Bannon trial to be delayed until February, citing the potential overlap of video game claims involving the Sam Keller plaintiffs, who have proposed now trying their case in February 2015." The NCAA in a filing on Tuesday wrote the O'Bannon antitrust plaintiffs "cannot explain how the Court can conduct a meaningful bench trial and be assured that its factual findings will not impinge in any way on a common issue to be presented to the Keller jury." The NCAA claims that the "Seventh Amendment mandates that legal claims must be tried to a jury before equitable claims sharing any common issue -- an argument U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken disagreed with last week" (CBSSPORTS.com, 5/20).

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