NCAA to protect amateurism as defined
The Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO» NCAA leaders expect to receive recommendations for reforming men’s college basketball in late April and have pledged to quickly implement changes while preserving the status quo when it comes to amateurism.
NCAA president Mark Emmert said Thursday during his annual state of the association news conference before the Final Four that the commission on men’s college basketball — led by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice — will present its report to the Division I Board of Directors and Board of Governors on April 25.
As he has previously, Emmert drew a line at any suggestion of paying college athletes.
“The most fundamental principle here ... is whether or not we want to have college sports as it exists today,” Emmert said. “That is student athletes playing student athletes. Or whether we want to move toward a model where these are employees that are compensated whether directly or indirectly for their performances. And universities and colleges have very consistently said they don’t want to have student athletes become employees of a university. They don’t want them to be playing for compensation. They want these young men and young women to be part of a higher education environment.”
Emmert and University of Minnesota president Eric Kaler, the chairman of the Division I board, also pushed back against a plan allowing athletes to be compensated by outside sources, such as endorsement deals.
Kaler called such a model “a slippery slope.”
A federal investigation has alleged hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and kickbacks being funneled to influence recruits, an FBI probe that many fans believe reveals just a tiny slice of potential corruption in college sports.
In September, the Justice Department arrested 10 people — including four assistant coaches from Arizona, Southern California, Auburn and Oklahoma State. Payments of up to $150,000, supplied by Adidas, were promised to at least three top high school recruits to attend two schools sponsored by the shoe company, according to federal prosecutors.
The NCAA’s response was to form the commission and task it with analyzing everything from the NBA’s one-and-done rule to the relationship with agents to the influence of summer and youth leagues on recruiting.