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Collegiate 'franchises' out of touch with
mission?
From staff and wire reports
Voluntary adjustments predicted for BCS scheme
Big-time college athletics has taken a troubling turn and steps should be
taken to refocus the priorities, according to remarks made Tuesday at a New
Orleans meeting by the NCAA's top executive.
Many universities run top sports programs like professional franchises
emphasizing winning and making money before the student-athletes' education
and that trend must end, NCAA president Myles Brand said.
In Division I football and basketball especially, there is too much pressure
on coaches and players to win games first and worry about education second,
which in the long run isolates both groups from the academic community,
Brand said.
"Intercollegiate athletics is not a freestanding, wholly autonomous
enterprise that is located in close proximity to a university," he said. "To
the degree that athletics programs look and behave like such freestanding
enterprises, we have seen the type of drift toward the professional model
that in the long run will diminish the value of the program to the
university."
Brand spoke at a symposium hosted by Tulane University. The meetings also
included debates about whether college football's current Bowl Championship
Series should be changed or scrapped.
Tulane President Scott Cowen is a staunch opponent of the BCS, which runs
the four most lucrative bowl games including one as the national
championship game and has direct tie-ins to only six of the 11 Division
I-A football conferences. Two teams receive at-large bids based on computer
rankings, meaning all eight participants can and until now, always have
come from BCS conferences.
Cowen and other BCS critics have said the system amounts to a violation of
federal antitrust law by all but excluding non-BCS schools from the chance
to play in BCS bowls. BCS bowls not only pay the most money, but give
greater marketing and recruiting advantages for schools in those
conferences.
Britton Banowsky, commissioner of the non-BCS Conference USA, said he has
come to appreciate the damage being labeled a non-BCS school can cause since
leaving his old employer, the Big 12 Conference, which is a BCS league.
"It's really a very dramatic impact that occurs," Banowsky said.
The NCAA has no direct authority over how universities design playoff
systems. But Brand said he hopes the NCAA can have an indirect effect by
changing the culture of college sports to one that seeks a better balance
between its business side and its educational mission.
"Once you get clear about the whole objective of college sports, you're in a
better position for making decisions about the BCS and conference
realignment and so forth," Brand said.
Brand made clear that he believes students are in college for degrees first,
and that college sports were never meant to be anything other than an
activity that enhances college life, as is the case with lower-profile
sports like swimming or track.
"We have to recommit to education as the goal of intercollegiate athletics,"
Brand said.
When making money is the primary goal, "The logical next step is to reduce
the collegiate model to only those sports that produce revenue," Brand said.
"That is simply not acceptable."
Representatives from BCS conferences are expected to arrive this weekend and
present some ideas for making the college football championship more
inclusive.
Cowen, who already has been invited to discuss the matter before Congress,
said Tuesday he was optimistic a solution could be found outside of the
courts or Congress.
"We are on a path to resolve this collegially among ourselves as university
presidents," Cowen said.
Craig Thompson, commissioner of the non-BCS Mountain West Conference,
agreed.
"There has been tremendous dialogue. There has been movement," by BCS
schools, he said.
©2003 The Associated Press and Bonesville.net. All rights reserved.
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02.23.07 10:36 AM
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