My suggestions to improve the NCAA

[Left Seater]

Below are a few of my suggestions for the NCAA to adopt to improve themselves. I have purposely left out the idea of a 4 team playoff from this list since it has been discussed and will continue to be discussed out side of this thread. Most of these ideas are from my perspective as a former student athlete.

1) Do not require athletes to take classes in the semester of their sport. Right now the NCAA requires athletes to be full time students during the fall and spring semester. I think they should change it to require the athletes to be full time students in two of the three semesters. For example football players would only have to take 1 class in the fall, but then take a full load in the spring and summer semesters. Baseball players would only have to take 1 class in the spring, but a full load in the summer and fall. This would allow the athletes to focus more attention on the classroom than they currently do during their season. I would also require the athletes to be on "target" for graduation to take advantage of this. Further any athlete that wanted to take the fall semester off would have to have the hours completed in summer school, ie a frosh football player would have to take 15 hours in the summer immediately after HS graduation in order to not have to take classes that fall as a freshman.

2) Any athlete who graduates and still has playing eligibility remaining can stay on scholarship and not have that count towards the maximum. This would reward schools who have their players graduate on time or ahead of time. We all know there are penalties for not making progress towards a degree, why not reward schools when players succeed in the classroom as well.

3) Allow athletes in any sport to sign letters of intent during the fall signing period. I don't understand why football must wait until Feb to allow athletes to sign with a school. If a player wants to sign in Oct let them sign. This would end a huge amount of calls, mail, texts, etc to many HS athletes and allow them to focus on the classroom rather than replying to each and every coach each time.

4) Make athletic scholarships more than one year renewables. What many people don't know is that athletic scholarships are only for one year. I would like the scholarships to be multi year once the student matriculates. There should also be a requirement that forces the school to give the athlete an academic scholarship if the athlete is hurt while playing his or her sport. Further, since I am requiring more from the schools in the way of a commitment, I would like to see athletes make more of a commitment to the schools. An athlete who transfers would not be eligible for a scholarship at their new school until a point in time as their original scholarship was expried. An example would be a freshman who wants to transfer would have to wait until after their soph season not only to play, but to be on scholarship. This would help the athletes make a more binding commitment to the school.

5) Remove conference control over things like prop 48. In fact the NCAA should do away with prop 48. All conferences should operate on the same playing field. If a student athlete can't meet a minimum grade point / test score, then they don't belong on a Division 1 field or court. The clearing house should have the minimum requirements upgraded to above prop 48 standards. If they clear you, then you are good to go as long as the school will still take you.

6) The NCAA should work with state legislatures to make those who give money or gifts to athletes or their families criminals. Agents have to have a liscense to operate, and if they or someone in their employ gives money or gifts, make it illegal. This would help stop the agents from handing out these gifts. Further make it illegal to accept these gifts. Right now the only people hurt when these things are found out are the current players. Yeah, you still have to punish the schools for these things, but the individuals need to pay too.

7) Review title 9 to see if it can be improved. I am a backer of title 9 in general, but I don't think title 9 should be used to kill off men's programs. I would rather see an amendment to it that has schools add programs to become title 9 compliant rather than delete programs to become so. I would also like to see title 9 expanded to take intrest in sports into account. At some schools their may be a difference in how many woman want to participate in sports vs the number on campus.

These are the main suggestions I have. Notice there is no mention of paying athletes as that is a horrible idea. I am sure many will disagree, but this is my list.

[Goober McTuber]

Number 1 won’t work at schools like Wisconsin. They have two semesters, fall and spring. There is a summer session, but it’s much shorter. 6 credits would be a full load in the summer. They are student athletes. They should be able to handle both, the vast majority of them do now.

Number 7 is impractical. You can’t just mandate schools add more programs that they can’t afford. Athletic departments have to balance their budgets.

I don’t have time to trash the rest of your ideas right now. :wink:

[Dinsdale]

have to take 1 class

Don't be silly.

Sin,
The Meatgrinder

[Left Seater]

Yep, FL and LA do have a law already on the books.

Wisc has two summer sessions. One three weeks and one eight weeks. You can take classes in both.

[PSUFAN]

I love #3.

[MuchoBulls]

2) Any athlete who graduates and still has playing eligibility remaining can stay on scholarship and not have that count towards the maximum. This would reward schools who have their players graduate on time or ahead of time. We all know there are penalties for not making progress towards a degree, why not reward schools when players succeed in the classroom as well.

3) Allow athletes in any sport to sign letters of intent during the fall signing period. I don't understand why football must wait until Feb to allow athletes to sign with a school. If a player wants to sign in Oct let them sign. This would end a huge amount of calls, mail, texts, etc to many HS athletes and allow them to focus on the classroom rather than replying to each and every coach each time.

These are 2 great ideas.

[Goober McTuber]

Yep, FL and LA do have a law already on the books.

Wisc has two summer sessions. One three weeks and one eight weeks. You can take classes in both.

Which together would still not equal one reular semester. Not to mention the fact that course options are much more limited in the summer sessions. Unfair advantage to schools that run trimesters.

[Left Seater]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I still don't understand. I could take two courses during the three week session for 6 hours and three courses during the 8 week session for another 9 hours giving me a full course load for the summer. Summer courses are limited across all schools, but with athletes getting to register before the general population this isn't much of an issue.

Mucho,

Given you ties you prolly have some ideas yourself.

[buckeye_in_sc]

I like 2 and 3 as well...

I especially like the sign at any time deal...I mean if a kid has his mind made up then let him do it...of course I would limit it to HS seniors...too many sophs and juniors give verbals and then back out, etc...

but that is a great idea...

do you let the kid out without penalty if a coach goes somewhere else or he changes his mind?

[King Crimson]

at Colorado the athletes (from all sports, men and women) all hit the summer sessions pretty hard. they also take on-line classes (one's that have been accepted as credits in the past) in the summer offered by other institutions. that latter practice i personally find a little sketchy, but hey. there was an issue with a kicker a few years ago who took like 28 hours or some crazy number over the summer all on-line trying to get eligible.

i think a reduced course load (say 6-9 hours) yet still maintaining full-time student status is a better idea than none or one class* during the semester of competition.

*in terms of practical advance towards a degree, i'm not sure how efficacious one class would be. once a student declares a major there will be certain classes required for the major. some of these classes may only be offered in, say, the Fall semester. if there is more than one of these classes, the football player is in a bind if he wants to stay on track fulfilling his department requirements.

[Goober McTuber]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I still don't understand. I could take two courses during the three week session for 6 hours and three courses during the 8 week session for another 9 hours giving me a full course load for the summer. Summer courses are limited across all schools, but with athletes getting to register before the general population this isn't much of an issue.

Taking two courses in three weeks would be something like taking 10 courses during a regular semester. Three courses in the 8-week session would be a significant workload. Plus, your chances of finding five classes that you need during the summer sessions would be slim. Not sure why you're having trouble understanding that they don't offer anything resembling a full range of courses in the summer. And this is a major 40,000+ student university.

The UW summer sessions were never intended to act as a third semester in a year. Just an opportunity to catch up/get ahead a little bit.

[Left Seater]

Taking two courses in three weeks would be something like taking 10 courses during a regular semester. Three courses in the 8-week session would be a significant workload. Plus, your chances of finding five classes that you need during the summer sessions would be slim. Not sure why you're having trouble understanding that they don't offer anything resembling a full range of courses in the summer. And this is a major 40,000+ student university.

The UW summer sessions were never intended to act as a third semester in a year. Just an opportunity to catch up/get ahead a little bit.

Couldn't disagree more. In the summer you go to class everyday not like spring/fall courses where you are in class only 150 minutes a week. Class meeting time is longer and you have work due daily. Further in my experience I found the teaching to be better in the summer because you had profs who actually enjoyed teaching classes. If it could be done on a short schedule at a school 1/10th the size of UW, I am sure they could do it too.

Agree to disagree I guess.

[King Crimson]

on the issue of summer school. i taught a summer class at CU this past year and had many students who were taking 10-15 hours over the various summer sessions and some taking my class and another one during CU's second summer term. CU's main summer terms are 5 weeks in length that meet every weekday for an hour and a half. There is also an intensive term in May that i believe is 3 weeks and a term that runs from mid May through August 1 that i believe meets twice a week, maybe. the vast majority of the enrollment is in the two 5 week terms.

it's doable. i don't think it's an ideal situation (even though summer has many of the advantages Lefty mentioned).