Well, ladies and gentle-peoples, the NCAA has gone and done it.  On Wednes-
day, the delegates voted to cut the number of scholarships and to toughen
the requirements for schools to remain in Division I.  In addition, the
length of most playing seasons was cut back, and a limit on the number of
full-time assistant coaches was imposed.
 
Specifically, in college hockey, the number of scholarships was reduced from
20 to 18 and the limit on games in the regular season was lowered from 38 to
34 (this limit does not include games against teams from outside the conti-
nental United States, such as Alaskan teams).  Also, college hockey teams
can have no more than one full-time assistant coach, plus one graduate
assistant.  In order to be classified as a Division I school, a college
would have to sponsor at least seven men's and seven women's varsity sports,
up from six, and would be required to award at least $500,000 in financial
aid to men and women ($250,000 each) in addition to whatever the school
awards in football and basketball.  Note that this money does not have to be
in the form of athetic scholarships -- other non-athletic university grants
may be used to fulfill the minimum.  Also, schools that have an "above-
average" number of students who receive Pell grants only need to award half
the minimum in aid.  Current Division I schools would be required to meet
these new levels by September 1994.
 
This "Division I school" distinction becomes important because of another
change that was implemented in the NCAA tournaments.  Starting this season,
non-Division I schools that are participating in Division I tournaments
cannot share in the proceeds.  As an example, Lake Superior State is a non-
Division I school because their only Division I sport is hockey.  Thus, they
could participate in the NCAA Division I hockey tournament and even win the
championship, but their share would come from the Division II (or Division
III) tournament -- a much smaller amount.  A number of schools are Division
I only in hockey or in hockey plus a few other sports, and thus these
schools would face the same tournament restrictions.  This could hurt a
number of smaller sports, since the revenue from hockey at these colleges is
often counted on to support a significant part of the athletic program.  In
addition, cutting four games from the season could end up costing some of
the top schools up to $200,000 in lost ticket sales.
 
Some recruiting restrictions were also passed.  Coaches were previously
allowed to make six personal contacts with athletes off campus, and they
could make an unlimited number of visits to high schools for evaluation
purposes during specified periods.  Coaches will now be permitted only three
personal contacts and four evaluations, with no more than one per week.
 
As you might expect, several hockey coaches were somewhat peeved at the
changes passed by the NCAA convention.  North Dakota's Gino Gasparini
lambasted the delegates for treating hockey "like... the orphans of inter-
collegiate athletics", while Maine's Shawn Walsh was upset with the NCAA for
classifying college hockey as a non-revenue sport: "It's a significant
revenue producer for the majority of Division I schools playing it."
(Football and basketball, the "money-making" sports, were not subjected to
the level of cuts that hockey was in some areas, including assistant coaches
and number of games scheduled)
 
Well, well, well.  Comments, anyone?  The NCAA has made some positive rule
changes at this convention, such as limiting practice time to 20 hours per
week with a mandatory day off, but I think that many of the changes listed
above are going to hurt more than help.  However, the NCAA has a history of
"reviewing" rule changes and lessening their severity.  Last year, for
example, the delegates voted to cut the basketball season from 28 to 25
games; this season, they voted to "reduce" it to 27 games.
 
Bill Fenwick
Cornell '86
LET'S GO RED!!
 
David Brenner's definition of paranoia, slightly modified for hockey fans:
 
Picture yourself at Boston Garden for the ECAC Tournament championship game,
which is being played by bitter rivals Cornell and Harvard.  Thousands of
screaming maniacs have been cheering their respective teams on all night.
Harvard leads by one goal with less than a minute left in regulation.  Cornell
calls timeout, the players huddle around the bench, and you are sitting up in
the stands *convinced* that those guys on the ice are talking about YOU.