After months of testimony, research and deliberation, the reconvened Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics is calling in its final report for a "coalition of presidents" to curb what it considers to be the most egregious threats to intercollegiate athletics: sliding graduation rates, escalating commercialism and a concern that big-time Division I-A athletics programs have drifted from their educational mission.

The report also calls for a reduction in Division I-A football scholarships, a revised revenue-distribution plan based on academic performance and postseason ineligibility by 2007 for teams that do not graduate at least 50 percent of their players.

The Commission's report culminates almost a year of study and review. The original group met in the early 1990s and issued its well-known "one-plus-three" model, which called for the "one" -- presidential control -- directed toward the "three" -- academic integrity, financial integrity and independent certification of athletics programs, all of which already had been under review within the NCAA. While the Commission's new report applauds the NCAA for implementing its athletics certification program and restructuring the Association to better establish presidential control, the report makes clear its belief that those efforts haven't been enough.

The Commission is calling for its coalition of presidents to be assembled by the president of the American Council on Education (ACE), working with the NCAA and the Association of Governing Boards to draw together presidential and trustee leadership from all three groups. Such a coalition would instigate what the Commission sees as a need for a "grass-roots effort" from presidents, trustees, conferences and other athletics personnel. The NCAA's governance structure includes several individuals who likely would be appointed to such a coalition, but the Commission wants the coalition to be as independent as possible in order to effect the most meaningful change.

The Commission also is calling for the Knight Foundation to fund an "Institute for Intercollegiate Athletics," an additional separate and independent body that would continue the Knight Commission's role as a "watchdog to maintain pressure for change." The institute, whose membership is not defined in the report, would "keep the problems of college sports visible, provide moral leadership in defense of educational integrity, monitor progress toward reform goals and issue periodic report cards."

NCAA President Cedric W. Dempsey, who was a member of the reconvened Knight Commission, said he agreed with the Commission's assessment of the ills that plague major college sports but would have preferred that the coalition -- or the institute for that matter -- be integrated to work closely within the existing structure of the NCAA, a structure that the Commission acknowledges has served intercollegiate athletics well. Dempsey said that such a group could strengthen the work already being done within the Association to address the Knight Commission's concerns.

"The 'new' concerns that the Commission has raised are in fact not that new," Dempsey said. "Groups within the NCAA structure are well underway in their study of escalating financial pressures facing Division I-A football and basketball programs, and the tendency for big-time sports to become detached from their educational mission.

"I believe the focus of change must ultimately rest with the Division I Board of Directors, which already is composed exclusively of college presidents," Dempsey said. "Having other entities within higher education help support the Board's work would be valuable -- the Board is open to suggestions and information from all sources -- but the Board will continue to work within the NCAA structure to resolve those concerns regardless of whether a coalition or an external oversight group is established."

No timetable has been established for when the Commission's coalition or institute would be appointed. The Commission is appealing to the Knight Foundation Board of Trustees for funding. The report also says that the coalition may be funded from membership dues, support from higher education associations and grants from the philanthropic community.

Also, the NCAA's Division I Board of Directors has yet to review the Knight Commission's final report. The Board has heard updates on the Commission's progress during the last year, but it will not review the report as a group until its August meeting.

Proposals for change

As was the case a decade ago, the reconvened Commission's report calls for another "one-plus-three" model, which this time would be the coalition of presidents (the "one") tackling a three-pronged agenda of academic reform, excessive financial pressures in athletics and commercialization in college sports.

Athletes should be mainstreamed through the same academic processes as other students. These specifically include criteria for admission, academic support services, choice of major and requirements governing satisfactory progress toward a degree.

By 2007, teams that do not graduate at least 50 percent of their players should not be eligible to participate in conference or NCAA championships.

Scholarships should be tied to athletes until they (or their entering class) graduate.

The length of the practice and playing seasons (including postseason) must be reduced both to afford athletes a realistic opportunity to complete their degrees and to enhance the quality of their collegiate experience.

The NBA and NFL should develop minor leagues so that athletes not interested in undergraduate study are provided an alternative route to professional careers.

Regarding financial pressures, the report calls for:

A reduction in Division I-A football scholarships.

An assurance that support for women's programs and compliance with Title IX are not used as excuses for soaring costs while expenses in big-time sports are unchecked.

Bringing coaches' compensation more in line with other institutional salaries.

Requiring that agreements for coaches' outside income be negotiated with institutions, not individual coaches.

A new NCAA revenue-distribution plan that focuses on institutions' academic performance.

In the area of commercialization, the report recommends that:

Institutions alone should determine when games are played, how they are broadcast, and which companies are permitted to use their athletics contests as advertising vehicles.

Institutions should be encouraged to reconsider all sports-related commercial contracts against the backdrop of traditional academic values.

Commercial "intrusions" in arenas and stadiums should be reduced in order to maintain institutional control of the campus identity.

Athletes should not be exploited as advertising vehicles.

Legislation to ban legal gambling on college sports in the state of Nevada should be supported.

The report acknowledges that some of the recommendations regarding financial concerns and commercialization "may be difficult to accept, even among academics and members of the public deeply disturbed by reports of academic misconduct in athletics programs." The Commission believes, however, that it is far worse to cater to the notion that the excesses continue only because nothing can be done about it.

The Commission also acknowledged that many of the problems outlined in the report mirror the challenges that higher education and society in general face. Dempsey said that in that regard, the report does a fair job of assessing some of the challenges facing major sports programs, particularly in the upper realm of Division I-A football and basketball. "I think it is a bit unfortunate, though," he said, "that the report doesn't acknowledge the many positive experiences that the vast majority of our student-athletes have while on campus. But, like our society today, there is a tendency to focus on what is wrong, and the report gives us plenty of food for thought about what is wrong."

As for fixing what is wrong, the report indicates that while the NCAA should be applauded for taking the reform measures it has over the past several years, the coalition of presidents can "rethink the operational dynamics of intercollegiate athletics, prescribe what needs to be done and help define the consequences of continuing business as usual."

Avenues for change

Dempsey maintains that the Division I Board of Directors provides the best vehicle to carry out those initiatives since it has the authority to enact legislation.

"Whatever suggestions higher education groups have still must eventually come back to the Board. The coalition can't be a legislative arm," he said.

Dempsey, who has been outspoken about financial issues, also said the Board already has taken steps to address some of the Knight Commission's concerns. For example, the recently created NCAA Football Study Oversight Committee is in the process of reviewing tighter standards for participating in Division I-A. Part of that process is a call for institutions to better determine "where they belong" with regard to their educational mission rather than striving for their football programs to be classified at a financial level schools cannot afford.

"We have to bring the financial mission back under the educational umbrella," Dempsey said. "In other words, the financial mission has to support the educational mission, not
drive it.

"The Board is grounded in making sure institutions remember why we have intercollegiate sports in higher education in the first place," Dempsey said. "It's because intercollegiate athletics has an educational mission. Money in and of itself is not what is bad -- how money is used is what can be bad. We have to use that money to support the educational mission."

Right now, the NCAA has several groups in place that are reviewing reform. In addition to the Football Study Oversight Committee, the Division I Basketball Issues Committee is proposing legislation to deal with the summer evaluation period in college basketball, and the initial-eligibility and continuing-eligibility subcommittees of the Academics/Eligibility/Compli-ance Cabinet are working to define criteria that could increase graduation rates. Also, several groups are working to deregulate at least six NCAA bylaws, including amateurism and student-athlete benefit rules.

"The NCAA structure is certainly equipped to address the concerns noted in the Commission's report," Dempsey said. "I have charged our leadership to thoroughly consider the reform suggestions made in the report, and many of those suggestions already are under review."

At the end of the report, the Commission stresses that "the search now is for the will to act." Dempsey believes there are leaders in the NCAA who will continue to step up to that challenge, even without pressure from outside.

"We've worked hard since the Knight Commission's first report 10 years ago to enhance our relationship with higher education," he said. "We embrace having higher education and other presidential organizations involved with us, and as we have with other issues, we want to work together with those groups.

"There is a presidential structure in place within the NCAA, and whatever coalition is established should work with that structure. After all, the presidents involved with the ACE or the AAU are the same presidents who are in the NCAA."

Call for reform

Reduce football scholarships

Postseason restrictions for sub-50 percent graduation rates

Align coaches' salaries with other institutional personnel

Revenue distribution based on academic performance

More institutional autonomy in broadcast issues