Varsity - The Official Digital Magazine of Wisconsin Athletics

Varsity - November 3, 2011

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NCAA moves a start, but there's more to do BEHIND THE DESK BARRY ALVAREZ • UW DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS N CAA president Mark Em- mert is attacking things, and it's a positive. He recognizes that there are issues to be addressed and he's address- ing them. And he has done so in a timely manner. Some sweeping reforms were announced last week. Under the NCAA's full cost-of- attendance language, individual conferences like the Big Ten will have the option of adding $2,000 to scholarships. It was just a mat- ter of time, and I can live with it. Any time we can help the student-athletes, I'm on board, I'm all for it. But where's the money going to come from? How many confer- ences can afford to do it? I still think there's some defini- tion needed for the head-count sports like football and men's and women's basketball, volleyball and tennis; sports which give full- ride scholarships. Another source of debate — and irritation for me — has been the prospect of scholarship cuts. Apparently there has been some discussion in committees along those lines. In football, they would take away five, reducing the number from 85 to 80. Men's basketball would go from 13 to 12. That doesn't make sense. If you were a corporation, that would be the equivalent of taking 12 » VARSITY NOVEMBER 3, 2011 award scholarships for multiple years instead of the one-year renewable system that we're cur- rently working under. I'm not crazy about it. We don't cut anybody loose » NCAA President Mark Emmert How are we going to enforce the rules? Which rules can be eliminated? Which are necessary? To me that's still one of the biggest issues we're all facing in college athletics. your top division, your biggest money-maker, and cutting it. That's just not good business. I'm definitely in favor of impos- ing harder academic standards as far as admissions. And I'm OK with the Academic Progress Rate impacting the postseason eligibil- ity of schools that don't measure up. Maybe that levels the playing field in some instances. As part of the reform package, schools will have the option to here, we don't run anybody off, so I don't see the need for it. I would guess that there could be some recruiting fallout from some of the new legislation depending on what conferences and schools elect to do with their options. If you can't afford to give the $2,000, it could be a factor. If you choose not to give four- year rides, it could be a factor. More than anything else, I'm anxious to see what they're going to do about compliance. Tell me about compliance. I'm serious. Tell me how we're going to address compliance. How are we going to enforce the rules? Which rules can be eliminated? Which are necessary? To me that's still one of the big- gest issues that we're all facing in college athletics. We need to address the NCAA rule book. We need to talk about the rules that can't be policed. Or the rules that are just very hard to police. There's not an easy answer. But there's an answer. We need to start looking and working in that direction.

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