The NCAA News - News & Features

NACDA forum considers approaches to sports agent issue

BY SALLY HUGGINS
STAFF WRITER

MARCO ISLAND, Florida -- Permissible loans to student-athletes, removal of the July recruiting period, elimination of summer sports camps, and education of parents and athletes all surfaced as possible solutions to the growing sports agent problem during a discussion at the annual convention of the National Association of Collegiate Director of Athletics (NACDA).

Sports agents and gambling present a continuing crisis for intercollegiate athletics, the panelists said June 11. While the problems may go underground for a time, they continually resurface, said Vincent J. Dooley, athletics director at the University of Georgia.

"What both of these issues have in common is that they both have a long history of being a crisis," Dooley said. "They are both so critical, and there are those who say that if they are not properly addressed, they could bring down intercollegiate athletics this time."

Dooley moderated a panel consisting of Robert J. Minnix, associate athletics director at Florida State University, and Tubby Smith, men's basketball coach at Georgia.

Smith gave the coach's perspective of the issue and what he believes coaches can do to reduce agent influence on athletes.

"From a coaching standpoint, you try to control as much as you can," he said. "My concern is that the agents have access to the student-athletes long before they come to our universities."

Both Minnix and Smith addressed the possible solutions under consideration: loans to student-athletes; development of trust funds; establishment of a consortium or clearinghouse of coaches, agents and administrators; removal of the July recruiting period.

Professional clubs sign about 280 athletes each year, but Minnix said the number of sports agents across the nation stands at about 20,000. Studies indicate that 75 percent of underclassmen have received cash or gifts from an agent.

"That's disheartening," he said. "Sports agency has become a growth industry because of the money involved."

Panelists and audience members both pointed to summer basketball camps as one means of trying to curb agent accessibility to athletes. Others suggested eliminating the July recruiting period because doing so would eliminate the reason for having the summer basketball camps that provide a forum for agents to contact athletes.

"Eliminate the July period altogether," Minnix said. "It is an area a lot of entrepreneurs have latched on to. Remove that opportunity and put recruiting back in the fall. It would lessen the exposure of the athlete."

But others suggested that agents will find other openings if that window is closed.

Audience suggestions ranged from having the NCAA take control of the camps to making any athlete who attends a camp automatically ineligible for intercollegiate athletics.

Runners, the individuals who make the initial contacts with athletes for agents, also are a major issue.

"Runners are probably the primary individual in the agent issue," Minnix said. "The common thread is that the athletes end up trusting these individuals."

Many of the athletes come from an economically disadvantaged environment, Smith said, which makes some sort of loan program a possible solution.

NCAA Executive Director Cedric W. Dempsey told NACDA members that the NCAA Special Committee on Agents and Amateurism has discussed whether increased financial aid to student-athletes would help alleviate the agent problem.

One possibility involves loans for student-athletes with first-round draft potential that would be repaid after they reach the National Basketball Association or the National Football League.

"I'm not advocating that," Dempsey said. "I'm suggesting that whatever we do, we keep our minds open.

"We need to be thinking about the student-athlete of today compared to the student-athlete when many of our rules were written."

The NCAA special committee will meet again July 17 and 18 to recommend legislation that will be considered at the 1997 NCAA Convention.

Education of athletes and their parents also is considered a major factor in reducing the influence of sports agents.

"Coaches need to talk to parents," Smith said. "We need to educate them. We need accessibility to the athletes. We need to be able to make more calls to parents.

"If the student-athlete is not getting information from coaches, he is getting it somewhere."

Florida State has developed a class, which is open to the student body, that provides information about the agent issue. Florida State also brings in former student-athletes, professional athletes and financial advisors to talk to athletes and parents, especially at times when the athletics department believes student-athletes are most vulnerable to agents, such as at bowl time, Minnix said.

Athletes need to be aware of what they are jeopardizing if they involve themselves with an agent, Minnix said.

"If a player gets an agent, he has compromised himself in three areas -- his play, his practice and his welfare," he said.

Minnix believes an athlete's play can be affected because he may not make the full effort in order to keep from getting hurt; his practice can be affected because agents are frustrated coaches and frequently give advice on techniques; and his welfare is affected because of the negative publicity and the potential for lawsuits.

Minnix noted that agents use a ledger system, listing every meal, loan and product given to an athlete.

"We must understand the ledger," Minnix said. "All agents have ledgers. They write down all their contacts and gifts to the athlete.

"We must impress on athletes that nothing is free."

Smith and Minnix suggested things to look for to determine if student-athletes may be involved with an agent:

* The statement of their financial accounts.

* A new wardrobe or jewelry.

* Parents coming to an away game for the first time.

* A new car.

* An athlete not returning home from competition with the team.

* Who an athlete is associating with.

* New electronics.

* Disability insurance acquired from someone besides the university or NCAA.

* Airline tickets and calling cards.

* Whom they put on a complimentary ticket list.

Minnix suggested more financial accountability as one way to deter athletes from signing prematurely with agents, perhaps by requiring repayment of financial aid under certain circumstances.

"We need to educate them and give them direction," he said. "But there comes a time when the athlete must be accountable."

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics
June 10-11/Marco Island, Florida

* Presented the 30th James J. Corbett Memorial Award to Carl James, commissioner of the Big Eight Conference. The award is presented annually to the collegiate athletics administrator who "through the years has most typified Corbett's devotion to intercollegiate athletics and worked unceasingly for its betterment." Corbett was athletics director at Louisiana State University and NACDA's first president in 1965. The award was presented at a luncheon June 10 that featured Bob Griese of ABC Sports.

* Honored six football coaches as part of the American Football Coaches Association 75th anniversary celebration. Recognized were John Gagliardi, St. John's University (Minnesota), 53 years in coaching; Billy Joe of Florida A&M University, 22 years; Eddie Robinson of Grambling State University, 54 years; Steve Spurrier of the University of Florida, nine years; Grant Teaff, Baylor University and the AFCA, 30 years; and Bobby Wallace of the University of North Alabama, eight years.

In acknowledging the honor on behalf of the honorees, Spurrier noted that Division I-A football is the only sport in the world without a national championship. "The bowl games have been great, but I really believe they were beneficial 20 years ago," he said. Spurrier said attendance would be better for games in a football championship tournament like that for men's basketball than the bowl game system.

* The NACDA/NIT Athletics Directors Award was presented to John Kaiser, who was athletics director at St. John's University (New York) for 22 years during an association with the university that spanned 40 years.

* Sears Directors Cups were presented in four divisions for the first time. Previously the award was presented only in Division I. Recipients were Stanford University, Division I for the second straight year; University of California, Davis, Division II; Williams College, Division III; and Pacific Lutheran University, National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. The directors cups were awarded for overall points achieved in competition across the board in athletics.

* Cedric W. Dempsey, NCAA executive director, gave an update on the status of restructuring of the NCAA. He noted that new administrative groups had been selected in all three divisions and issues that would require legislation for the 1997 NCAA Convention are being examined.

* Barbara A. Hedges, athletics director at the University of Washington, was elected NACDA president for 1996-97, effective July 1, becoming the first woman to head the organization. Other officers elected were Vincent J. Dooley, first vice-president, University of Georgia; Frederick E. Gruninger, second vice-president, Rutgers University, New Brunswick; and Jim Livengood, third vice-president, University of Arizona. Arthur Eason of William Paterson College began his third year of a five-year term as secretary. New members of the executive committee are Robert K. Marcum, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and Joe Roberson, University of Michigan, university division; and Tricia Bork, NCAA group executive director for championships, and Miechelle O. Willis, Ohio State University, at-large representatives. They will serve four-year terms, effective July 1.