The following is abstracted from the Chronicle of Higher Education
of December 19, 1990.
 
 
NCAA to Decide Whether to Consider a "New Model" for College Sports
 
By Douglas Lederman
 
A year ago the National Collegiate Athletic Association's executive
director urged the group to adopt a "new model" for college sports.  In a
few weeks, the association's members will gather in Nashville to begin
deciding whether to do that, and how quickly to move.
 
The head of the N.C.A.A., Richard D. Schultz, told delegates to last
year's meeting that the public was increasingly skeptical about the
association's ability to govern college athletics.  To restore the public
trust, he said, the NCAA must cut recruiting drastically, ease time
demands on athletes, eliminate athletic dormitories, and establish tenure
for coaches, among other things.
 
...
 
The threat of outside intervention has long hung over the association,
but never as heavily as it does today.  In the last year or two, state
legislatures and the federal government have shown an increasing
willingness to get involved in the affairs of college sports.
 
...
 
Perhaps the group with the most at stake at next month's convention is the
NCAA presidents' commission.  The commission has been dogged for several
years by the perception that it is unable to get college presidents
to exert the necessary control over their sports programs and to convince
the public that the association is serious about reform.  The panel has
been lobbying intensely...to vote for the reform proposals...
 
The proposals in the reform package fall roughly into three groups;
cutting costs, reorganizing the association's membership structure, and
reducing time demands and strain on athletes.
 
...
 
Cost cutting.  The 14 proposals from the NCAA's Special Committee on
Cost Reduction would (1) reduce or limit for the first time the number of
coaches in all sports; (2) cut scholarships in most Division I sports by
about 10 percent; (3) phase out athletic dormitories and limit
training-table meals; (4) cut playing and practice seasons in all sports;
and (5) restrict recruiting in a variety of ways, including a reduction
in the number of paid campus visits that colleges are allowed to offer
basketball and football prospects.
 
...
 
The key vote in deciding the fate of the cost-cutting package as a whole,
most sports officials agree, will come on Proposal 34, which would cut
the number of coaches for a Division I-A football team to 13 from 16.  if
that proposal fails, most of the other coaching limits probably will, too
 
...
 
Time demands. Some well-organized and vocal groups oppose some of the
time-reduction proposals, especially one that would limit practices to 20
hours per week...
 
Some coaches in Olympic sports such as swiming and track and field have
argued that the limits would "kill" their sports at the collegiate level...
 
...
 
Restructuring. The debate over proposals to stiffen the requirements for
membership in Division I ..., could be influenced by an issue that is not
even on the agenda: the association's new formula for distributing
$1-billion in revenues from its new television contract with CBS.
 
Critics say the proposed Division I criteria - which would require
colleges wishing to stay in Division I to maintain minimum levels of financial
aid, sponsor at least seven men's and seven women's sports teams,
schedule most of their contests against Division I teams - would force
many colleges to spend more money when they're trying to cut costs.
 
Some of the restructuring proposals also have been attacked by those who
see the new rules as an attempt to weed out smaller, less-established
colleges from Division I.  The view that the big-time football-playing
universities want to have their way at the expense of the smaller
Division I colleges.