NCAA defines new role for agents
Changes a result of basketball scandal
The Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. — The NCAA is carving out a limited role for agents to work with college basketball players and is changing key parts of its rules-enforcement system as part of numerous reforms in the wake of a corruption scandal.
The Indianapolis-based governing body for college sports announced Wednesday that its Board of Governors and Division I Board of Directors had adopted a “series of significant policy and legislative changes” as part of an effort to “fundamentally” change the NCAA’s structure. Some are immediate, while others first require action from other agencies — such as the NBA changing the age limit for draft-eligible players that has fueled the wave of “one and done” at the college level.
That follows late-April recommendations from the commission headed by former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice after a federal investigation into alleged bribes and kickbacks designed to influence recruits on choosing a school, agent or apparel company. Georgia Tech president and Board of Directors chairman Bud Peterson said the NCAA had pushed through changes in about 3½ months that would “normally take us about two years through the governance process.”
“Today was obviously a very important day for the NCAA and especially for men’s basketball, and ... Division I,” NCAA president Mark Emmert said in a teleconference with reporters Wednesday afternoon.
The agent changes are about transparency and offering a legitimate avenue for communication or advice that previously could’ve taken place in the shadows.
Now college basketball players can work with an NCAA-certified agent while testing the waters of declaring for the NBA draft. College players first would have to request an evaluation from the NBA Undergraduate Advisory Committee about their draft prospects after the season, and that would clear the way to enter into a written agreement — disclosed to the NCAA or school — with the agent. That agreement must end if the player returns to school.
Agents would be allowed to cover minimal expenses such as meals and transportation associated with meetings or workouts with pro teams, though the NCAA said that might first require revisions to the Uniform Athlete Agent Act — a version of which is in place in more than 40 states to regulate agent conduct. Previously pro teams would cover some of those expenses.
The agents would have to be certified by the NCAA by no later than August 2020, agents certified by the NBA players union would qualify until a formal deadline is set.
There also were significant changes to the enforcement process to handle cases of rules violations, including the appointment of Rice-recommended independent groups to handle and resolve complex cases.
Federal prosecutors announced last fall they had charged 10 men — including assistant coaches at Arizona, Auburn, USC and Oklahoma State along with a top Adidas executive — in a fraud and bribery scandal. The case has entangled schools such as Kansas, N.C. State, Maryland and Louisville, among others, though prosecutors withdrew a criminal complaint in February against one of the defendants.