"There was a time when being summoned to a meeting with the NCAA almost automatically meant agonizing hours of intensive interrogation were pretty much inevitable and a long term of probation was likely to ensue.

"Now, they serve cookies. ...

"(S)chools that get themselves on the wrong side of the infractions committee still have their problems. But when the NCAA's highest-ranking staff members met recently with several groups regarding pending summer recruiting legislation, the atmosphere was cordial.

"The conversation lasted three hours. The NCAA staff members asked questions and entertained some of ours. Whether any of our ideas or opinions will find their way into legislative proposals is impossible to say, but what seemed most important is that the organization opened itself to hear whatever insights we've developed. ...

"Journalists are one group in this debate with no vested interest in how it turns out, though most who closely observe the summer scene have ideas about what course of action is just and prudent.

"Listening to those opinions demonstrated the NCAA's new structure has made a positive difference in how the organization governs itself. When all legislation was passed through the annual Convention, it usually worked this way: a problem would be perceived and a piece of legislation would be sponsored by a conference and placed on the agenda for a vote.

"Too many people with not enough knowledge were making decisions that affected vast numbers of athletes and coaches. With the NCAA now governed by a Board of Directors most often acting on recommendations made by the Management Council, there is more time to gather information and more time to make certain it is comprehended by the people making the calls.

"When (NCAA President Cedric W.) Dempsey appeared at the Final Four and definitively declared the NCAA needed to 'change the culture' of summer basketball, that left him open to criticism that he and the NCAA presidents and conference commissioners pushing that agenda had no idea whether change was necessary because they'd never witnessed it firsthand.

"Dempsey stopped by both the Nike All-American Camp and adidas ABCD Camp and was one of several NCAA staffers who saw one or the other in action. The next step was interviewing various constituent groups to entertain their thoughts on how the recruiting process might be changed. ...

"There is no guarantee the NCAA will make the correct call when it redesigns summer recruiting, but decisions made from a base of knowledge are preferable to those made strictly on a reactive basis.

"This is not the NCAA as we remember it. This NCAA asks more questions than it ever did and answers more than anyone imagined it would."