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.