National Collegiate Athletic Association
NCAA News Archive - 2000
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The NCAA News
Pat McMahon, head baseball coach
Mississippi State University
Memphis Commercial Appeal
Discussing statistics that point to a decline in offensive production in college baseball this season:
"I think it's really weighed in not just physically, but mentally on hitters who had a lot of big numbers in the past. All of a sudden they're not hitting home runs, and they're saying, 'What's wrong?' "
Ty Martin, baseball student-athlete
Mississippi State University
Memphis Commercial Appeal
"When (the NCAA) first made the changes with the bat, you could tell that the ball wasn't coming off the bat as hard. You got through a transition period and maybe you don't get as much carry on the ball. But your approach is the same as when you use a wood bat playing summer league ball."
Skip Bertman, head baseball coach
Louisiana State University
Memphis Commercial Appeal
"The numbers have gone up in the big leagues because players weight-lift more, they use supplements and they get great coaching. The same thing is happening in college, but college teams have no more than two good pitchers. People refuse to give the hitters and their instructors credit."
Coaching
Jan van Breda Kolff, men's basketball coach
Pepperdine University
Albuquerque Journal
Discussing differences in the way coaches motivate student-athletes:
"There were certain basic guidelines when you grew up, certain ground rules that everybody had. Now, in this new 21st century that we're going into, it's a little more relaxed environment in terms of the way the players have been treated at the collegiate level, AAU and high-school level."
Rob Evans, men's basketball coach
Arizona State University
Albuquerque Journal
"Kids don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. The only way they are going to know how much you care is if you spend time with them in the home, in the dorm, different places."
Basketball recruiting
Rick Bozich, columnist
Louisville Courier-Journal
Discussing proposed changes in the summer basketball recruiting calendar:
"Good luck trying to eliminate the influences of money in a game driven by money. Good luck telling coaches paid by sneaker companies that they must pretend these summer activities sponsored by the same companies do not exist.
"This will never work. Instead of making the dominant summer players less influential it will magnify their influence. Look for the summer scene to become even more sleazy. Without college coaches in the stands to watch, tournament organizers and summer coaches will not only control players; they also will control something more valuable -- information. ...
"College coaches will continue to demand this information -- and they will pay to get it in the form of printed reports, videotapes or private conversations. ... (Most coaches) will do what coaches always do to every academic and competitive regulation: Find loopholes and fast-break through them to a top-10 recruiting class.
"They will employ former coaches, friends or administrative assistants (the latest cottage industry of recruiting) to attend camps and scout for them. ... They will sprinkle extra dollars on their favorite recruiting services to get bonus information that will not be shared with other schools.
"They will do what coaches have always done: whatever it takes to get players who will help them win more games, sign better contracts -- and make more money."