Academic reforms approved by NCAA

For years, those in charge at the NCAA have talked with pride and sometimes disappointment about the graduation rate of the athletes at its member schools. But the talk has lacked muscle.

Yesterday, some bite was added to the NCAA's expectations as the Division 1 Board of Directors approved measures that will cost schools not only scholarships if players don't graduate at a normal rate, but postseason spots. In extreme cases, the new measures, which will be in place in the fall of 2005, could result in expulsion from the NCAA.

The measures were approved by some coaches, who would like to see a more even playing field between teams that graduate their players and those that simply shuffle players in and out.

"Anything that ties in academic incentives is a good thing," Boston University basketball coach Dennis Wolff said yesterday. "Schools that are doing things legitimately and graduating players don't have anything to worry about. They can continue to do things the way they have always done them. The schools that are totally ignoring those measures are going to be in trouble."

The NCAA feels it is the first major step in academic reform. "This is the beginning of a sea of change in college sports," said NCAA president Myles Brand via conference call. "Landmark legislation was passed to ensure each and every student-athlete has a genuine opportunity to receive a high-quality education and graduate."

The basic premise of the reforms is that athletes will have to stay above a minimum graduation rate -- which has yet to be finalized -- in order for the schools to avoid being hit with penalties.

The first step will occur next fall when each NCAA school will be told how it would have fared under the guidelines that will be imposed in 2005.

"We're starting immediately to make these reforms real," said Robert Hemenway, chancellor of the University of Kansas and chairman of the Division 1 board.

The minimum graduation rate will be the same for all sports, and schools that do not meet that level will first be given a warning beginning with the 2006-07 school year. If those schools do not improve, the following year scholarships will be lost, and if that doesn't work, the following year could lead to sanctions that keep teams out of the postseason.

In what many basketball coaches regard as a major victory, the board also rescinded the "5-8" rule, which allows a school to award a maximum of five basketball scholarships in one year and eight in a two-year period. The coaches opposed that rule since it prevented schools that were hit hard by transfers or graduation to reload more quickly in offering as many as eight scholarships in one season, rather than over two years.

But with the new academic standards, the NCAA felt the rule could be eliminated.

"With so much progress having been made, combined with the pieces already in place, the 5-8 rule probably was unnecessary," said Hemenway.