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Herrion rejoice! 5-8 rule ending
From Bonesville.net staff and Associated Press
reports
East Carolina head basketball
coach Bill Herrion will likely be pleased by a Monday decision by an NCAA
panel to modify one of the methods by which basketball grants are
apportioned.
The NCAA Division I Management
Council voted unanimously Monday to repeal a rule on scholarship limits in
basketball and replace it with one that rewards teams for overall academic
performance.
The current rule allows
schools to offer five scholarships in one year or eight in two years, but it
penalizes schools � no matter how well they've done historically � by not
allowing them to replace scholarship players who become academically
ineligible, NCAA president Myles Brand said.
Herrion has been outspoken in
his complaints about the arbitrary burden the rule has placed on
responsibly-run programs which undergo roster attrition for unforeseen
reasons.
One of the proposals the
Management Council will present to the NCAA Board of Directors later this
month would set a team threshold for triggering a penalty, such as the loss
of a scholarship.
The exact numbers would be
determined later.
"If you have a very high
performing academic team that graduated almost everyone, that team's not
going to be affected," Brand said after the first of two days of meetings.
"But if it turns out they haven't had a good graduation rate � and we
haven't set that number yet � then that school will be affected.
"So there is some reward �
some incentive, if you like. It gives you a little leeway."
The proposals must be approved
by the Board of Directors before they can be put into effect. If approved,
they would track graduation rates and academic progress of athletes and
apply increasingly harsher penalties for the worst offenders.
Christine Plonsky, the council
chairwoman and women's athletic director at Texas, said the 5/8 rule, which
would be eliminated immediately upon approval by the Board of Directors, has
outlived its usefulness.
"The Management Council really
feels the incentives-disincentives, the continuing eligibility and the
ratcheting up of academic standards does call attention to the issues with
regard to low graduation rates and low performance in some programs across
the country," she said.
Brand said penalties would be
applied based on data gathered beginning this coming academic year.
Among other proposals to be
considered by the Board of Directors are those to prohibit foreign
basketball tours within 30 days of the start of fall practice and to study
possible changes in media and promotional materials that might be used in
recruiting. Another would set up a committee to evaluate the academic
reforms once the data is collected.
"We need to know semester by
semester, quarter by quarter, how our athletes are progressing," Plonsky
said.
Brand said he is "highly
optimistic" the board will approve the proposals at its April 29 meeting.
The Management Council will
meet again Tuesday to consider recommendations by a separate task force on
recruiting, which last week proposed colleges be required to develop written
policies on alcohol and unsupervised entertainment, along with clear
standards for determining who should be held accountable for compliance.
The task force was formed in
February by Brand in the wake of several highly publicized recruiting
scandals. Final recommendations will be considered in July and are expected
to be sent to the Board of Directors in time to enact new rules before the
2004-05 recruiting season.
Copyright 2004
The Associated Press. Bonesville.net contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
02/23/2007 11:03:07 AM
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