Transition Process Tops Commission's Meeting Agenda Picking Tourney
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Comment Women’s golf Scholarship program March 25, 1996 Volume 33, No. 12 Student-athlete Tournament adds Six athletes says the right to more opportunities selected as finalists 4 write should not be 6 for Walter Byers but raises some 24 encumbered questions Scholarships National Collegiate Athletic The Association Page 6 Official Publication of the National Collegiate Athletic Association NCAA News Transition process tops Commission’s meeting agenda The restructuring transition process In Division I, the group will review will head the agenda of the NCAA the existing program, which requires Presidents Commission at its March all members to complete a periodic 28-29 meeting in New York City. self-study that is evaluated by a com- Much of the Commission’s work mittee of peers and verified by the will be done in the three division sub- NCAA Committee on Athletics Certifi- committees, although the full Com- cation. mission will discuss the overview of That committee issued its first round the process for handling restructuring of certification decisions March 6, transition issues. 1995, and 61 institutions now have The membership restructuring completed the process. Several insti- plan, which was approved at the Janu- tutions have been certified with con- ary NCAA Convention, is designed to ditions; no institution has been desig- provide for a more federated Asso- nated “not certified.” ciation and to place control with chief In Division II, the subcommittee will executive officers. discuss how, or whether, to proceed Each division is in the process of with an athletics certification plan. making the transition to the new struc- Delegates at the 1996 Convention ture, although Division III is the only decisively defeated Proposal No. 16, division in which the full transition which would have required Division II team has met. members to complete an athletics cer- As a result, the Division III subcom- tification process once every 10 years. mittee has a specific agenda for re- The full Commission also will hear structuring issues, which includes: a report from the Subcommittee on A review of the results of a survey Minority Issues, which is chaired by that was administered at the Conven- David G. Carter, president of Eastern tion (see the March 11 issue of The Connecticut State University and chair NCAA News). of the Division III subcommittee. Reports from each of the transi- Robert Lawless, the president of tion-team subcommittees (governance, Texas Tech University who recently membership and championships). accepted a similar position at the Uni- A review of the restructuring time versity of Tulsa, chairs the Division I Jackie Lorentz/NCAA Photos line proposed by the transition team subcommittee, while Adam W. Her- (see the March 11 issue of the News). bert, president of the University of All smiles — Jay Judson of Oakland University receives congratulations from his teammates A discussion of possible commu- North Florida, chairs the Division II after winning the 200-yard breaststroke at the NCAA Division II Men’s Swimming and Diving nication initiatives. subcommittee. Championships. Judson was one of three individual winners for Oakland, which cruised to its The Divisions I and II subcommit- Samuel H. Smith, president of Wash- tees will consider athletics certification ington State University, chairs the third straight team title. See championships story, page 10. issues. Presidents Commission. Picking tourney winners fun, but betting raises concerns BY RONALD D. MOTT Gambling on the NCAA men’s basketball tournament brack- STAFF WRITER et is considered by many people as “innocent” wagering. All across the country this month — in office buildings and fac- tories, college dormitories, and locker rooms — talk about NCAA The dangers of gambling to the integrity of the tournament and Division I Men’s Basketball Championship tournament brackets college athletics as a whole are so high this year that the Association has peppered sports conversations. will host a seminar on the topic at this year’s Final Four (see story Millions of hoops fans each year take the 32 opening-round on page 18). games and predict how the tourney will unfold, carefully consider- Addictions begin ‘innocently’ ing factors such as how one team’s point guard will match up against a much larger and faster opponent or what bearing Denver’s alti- Many troubled gamblers, some experts will say, often begin the tude would have on teams that advanced to this year’s West region- cycle of their addiction by taking part in “innocent” forms of wager- al. ing such as filling out NCAA tournament brackets. Participants in In some instances, the brackets are completed just for the plea- such gambling may pay entry fees as meager as $1 before advanc- sure of foretelling the future as Nostradamus might have done, with ing to more involved forms of wagering where the stakes are sig- no money involved. That is the case at the NCAA, where staff members get in on the fun each nificantly higher. year by filling out brackets and charting who most successfully picks winners and losers. Office and campus dormitory tournament pools technically are illegal forms of gambling in However, in many other places where fans take the time to predict the tournament’s outcome, 49 of 50 states. Only in Nevada can one wager legally on sporting events. fans toss in anywhere from a few dollars to a few hundred dollars to enter a pool. Federal, state and local law enforcement officials and the NCAA, however, generally have con- By virtue of the tournament’s vast following throughout this country — evidenced by the $2.5 centrated on tracking and reducing forms of gambling that more directly could result in tam- billion that the FBI estimates was bet illegally on last year’s tournament — Association concern about gambling perhaps reaches its peak this time every year. See Betting, page 18 ➤ Page 2 The NCAA News March 25, 1996 Schedule of key dates for April and May NCAA News DIGEST APRIL 1 2 3 4 5 6 A weekly summary of major activities within the Association 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 APRIL RECRUITING Men’s Division I basketball 1-2 (noon) ....................................................Dead period. 2 (noon)-3 (7 a.m.) ....................................Quiet period. 3 (7 a.m.)-8 (7 a.m.) ..............................Contact period. 8 (7 a.m.)-12 (7 a.m.) ................................Dead period. 12 (7 a.m.)-17 ........................................Contact period. 18-30 ............................................................Quiet period. Women’s Division I basketball* 1 (until noon) ..............................................Dead period. 1 (noon)-8 (7 a.m.)................................Contact period. 8 (7 a.m.)-12 (7 a.m.) ................................Dead period. 12 (7 a.m.)-30..............................................Quiet period. Men’s Division II basketball 1-2 (noon) ....................................................Dead period. 2 (noon)-8 (7 a.m.)................................Contact period. 8 (7 a.m.)-10 (7 a.m.) ................................Dead period. 10 (7 a.m.)-30 ........................................Contact period. Women’s Division II basketball* 1-8 (7 a.m.)..............................................Contact period. 8 (7 a.m.)-10 (7 a.m.) ................................Dead period. 10 (7 a.m.)-30 ........................................Contact period. Division I football 1-30................................................................Quiet period. Division II football 1-30: Quiet period, except during any high-school all- star game that occurs within the state in which the member institution is located: Evaluation period. MAY 1 2 3 4 In other state-legislation activities, bills have McGlade, associate athletics director, Georgia Gambling been introduced in Colorado, Florida and Institute of Technology; Allan Ryan, attorney, 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Maine that would permit home-schooled stu- Harvard University; Marcia L. Smeltzer, asso- 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 House passes legislation dents to participate in extracurricular activities ciate athletics director, Colorado State Uni- 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 for gambling commission at the student’s local public (or in some cases versity; Judith M. Sweet, athletics director, Uni- 26 27 28 29 30 31 nonpublic) school. versity of California, San Diego; Angela D. The U. S. House of Representatives recently Staff contact: Doris A. Dixon. Taylor, women’s athletics director, University passed legislation to establish a National of Nevada; Patty Viverito, senior associate com- Gambling Commission. missioner, Missouri Valley Conference, and MAY The bill would fund a nine-member com- Regional seminars commissioner, Gateway Football Conference; RECRUITING mission for two years to study every aspect of Diane T. Wendt, associate athletics director, Men’s Division I basketball gambling in the United States, including casi- University of Denver; and Charlotte West, asso- 1-31..................................................................Quiet period. nos, lotteries, Indian gaming and sports betting. Rules-compliance seminars ciate athletics director, Southern Illinois Uni- Women’s Division I basketball* At the end of the study, a report detailing the set for three sites in May versity at Carbondale. 1-31..................................................................Quiet period. commission’s findings would be submitted to Selected individuals in the membership have Representatives