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News Nuggets, 01.14.05
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Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

NCAA poised to wield big academic hammer

The NCAA has approved the first phase of a landmark academic reform package under which about 30 percent of Division I football teams would have lost scholarships had it been implemented immediately.

Key points of the Academic Performance Program:

• The Academic Progress Rate (APR) is based roughly on a 50-percent graduation rate over a five-year period.

• The APR will be based on the number of student-athletes on each team who achieve eligibility and return to campus full-time each term.

• The program applies to every men's and women's sport.

• Teams that fall under a minimum APR will lose scholarships when players who are academically ineligible leave the school.

• Confiscated scholarships can't be re-awarded for a year.

• There is a 10-percent cap on the number of scholarships teams could lose.

"Historical penalties" will be more severe and directed at schools with continued problems; they are yet to be approved.

Consecutive years of falling below certain academic standards would lead to recruiting and further scholarship restrictions. A third straight year could lead to being banned from preseason or postseason games, and a fourth would affect Division I membership status.

The provisions were passed earlier this week as the NCAA convention in Grapevine, TX, was winding down. The Division I Board of Directors approved the Academic Progress Rate (APR), the standard teams in every sport must reach beginning in the 2005-06 school year to avoid scholarship reductions.

Schools will receive warning reports in the next few weeks that let them know which of their teams fall below the APR set by the Division I Committee on Academic Performance. The rate is based roughly on a 50-percent graduation rate over a five-year period.

The Academic Performance Program applies to every men's and women's sport — more than 5,000 teams at the 325 Division I schools.

University of Hartford president and committee chairman Walter Harrison said the biggest problems were in football (about 30 percent of teams), baseball (25 percent) and men's basketball (20 percent).

"Our hope, of course, is not the penalty," Harrison said. "We hope it encourages different kinds of behavior so that the numbers will be lower."

The so-called "contemporaneous penalties" are considered rehabilitative in nature and expected to serve as warnings for teams with poor academic performance. Such penalties could begin after December 2005.

Another phase of the program will be historical penalties, which will be more severe and directed at schools with continued problems. Harrison's committee is still working on the penalties, and they will have to be approved by NCAA directors later.

Kansas chancellor Robert Hemenway, the chairman of the NCAA board, said the board has already endorsed those tougher penalties.

Academic reform has been a centerpiece issue for Myles Brand since he became NCAA president two years ago. In his state of the association address Saturday, he said the measures "will change the culture of college sports."

The APR will be based on the number of student-athletes on each team who achieve eligibility and return to campus full-time each term. There will also be a longer-term graduation success rate.

Beginning next fall, teams that fall under a minimum APR will lose scholarships when players who are academically ineligible leave the school. Such scholarships can't be re-awarded for a year.

"This is a very strong standard," Brand said Monday. "Implementing these rules is taking a position to reinforce the idea that student-athletes are students first and are expected to make continued progress toward graduation."

The committee did put a 10-percent cap on the number of scholarships teams could lose.

Based on 85 total scholarships, I-A football teams could lose no more than nine scholarships in any one year. Both men's and women's basketball could only lose up to two scholarships.

Teams that continue to have problems will be subject to the more severe penalties once the "historical penalties" are put into place.

Consecutive years of falling below certain academic standards would lead to recruiting and further scholarship restrictions. A third straight year could lead to being banned from preseason or postseason games, and a fourth would affect Division I membership status.

"Certainly, our hope is that would be a strong enough penalty that no one would ever reach that plateau," Harrison said.

Gruden, Turner to coach Senior Bowl squads

MOBILE — Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden and Norv Turner of the Oakland Raiders will coach in the Senior Bowl on Jan. 29.

Gruden and the Buccaneers staff will lead the South team, while Turner and his coaches will lead the North in a game that features top NFL prospects.

``The Senior Bowl is very beneficial, especially when it comes to spending time with the players,'' Gruden said. ``During our last experience in 1999, we were able to get some great players on our team after having hands-on experience.''

Both Gruden and Turner have coached in the Senior Bowl before — Gruden in 1999 and Turner the previous two years.

The NFL selects the coaching staffs for the game.

Brian Rimpf, a standout offensive lineman at East Carolina in 2000-03, was a member of the 2004 Senior Bowl squad. The complete roster for this year's game has yet to be announced.

News Nuggets are compiled periodically based on material supplied by staff members; data published by ECU, Conference USA and its member schools; and reports from Associated Press and other sources. Copyright 2005 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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