National Collegiate Athletic Association
NCAA News Archive - 2002
« back to 2002 | Back to NCAA News Archive Index
The Will to Act Project
|
The NCAA News
When I have talked with student-athletes at the NCAA Leadership Conference or those on the national Student-Athlete Advisory Committees, I invariably hear about the "trust gap" that exists between these individuals and the coaches and administrators with whom they interact on campus.
They talk about the intrusion of athletics on their time, especially personal time. They talk about their inability to integrate into the rest of the student body because of time demands and the isolation imposed upon them by coaches. They discuss the socialization and "culturalization" failure they feel because their world is rarely allowed to expand beyond the width of the field or court. They talk about the disconnect between their coaches' recruiting promises and the reality of expectations that turn them into athlete-students far more often than student-athletes.
They are describing their lives at colleges and universities where people of good will -- faculty, staff, coaches and administrators -- are perceived to be manipulating the lives of students for the lowly purpose of enhancing an institution's athletics image.
What's wrong with this picture?
What's wrong may be that our own time demands and competitive pressures have overwhelmed our good intentions to treat student-athletes as more than pawns in the athletics chess game. The challenge for CEOs is to reassert control on campus of athletics programs.
Set expectations for a collective and individual behavior of those involved in your athletics programs that aligns with the principles of student-athlete welfare.
Assure that your campus student-athlete advisory committee feels free to express concerns without retribution and with the expectation of cure from unreasonable demands.
Demand that exit interviews are conducted for all student-athletes who leave your program to determine where failings may be occurring and review the results of those interviews.
Consider moving academic support for student-athletes into a faculty responsibility outside of athletics.
Become champions of the CHAMPS/Life Skills program on your campus as a way to grow the whole student-athlete.
If we believe that our behavior should be governed by our principles, we have a clear mandate for our relationships with student-athletes. Article 2.2 of the NCAA Constitution sets out a comprehensive description of what constitutes student-athlete welfare. Member institutions are to conduct their athletics programs "in a manner designed to protect and enhance the physical and educational welfare of student-athletes."
In a very real sense, this principle represents a promise that when a member institution recruits prospects to its campus, the student-athlete can expect to be treated with the attention and dignity set forth in the constitution. The question at hand is whether NCAA member schools are keeping the promise. On nearly a daily basis, intercollegiate athletics are assailed from one direction or another with the assertion that, in fact, the promise is not being kept.
Within the last year, we have seen:
The development of the Collegiate Athletes Coalition, aligned with the United States Steelworkers, created to "pursue basic protections for student-athletes," including time demands;
A Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics report, calling for reform that starts with "respect for the dignity of the young men and women who compete and the conviction that they occupy a legitimate place as students on our campuses";
An HBO "Real Sports" program on purported deficiencies of the Association's catastrophic-injury insurance program;
A CBS "60 Minutes" program on student-athlete welfare issues that examined the gap between the value of an athletics scholarship and the full cost of attendance;
A hearing before a subcommittee of the United States Congress that inquired about a range of concerns regarding student-athletes; and
An ESPN "Outside the Lines" program that revealed low or nonexistent graduation rates among African-American male basketball student-athletes at 36 Division I member institutions.
These are all issues that represent a level of "customer dissatisfaction" that if left unattended by a CEO could spell the end of any enterprise. The will to act for CEOs at NCAA member institutions is to become a guardian of student-athlete interests. If your student-athletes don't have your ear or the ear of those on your campus who can help them with their concerns, they surely will find the ear of someone or some group that can.
Presidents can take several steps to assure that student-athlete welfare is not compromised.
Support the development of and provide resources for an effective student-athlete advisory committee (SAAC).
Meet with the SAAC at least once per year
Require that your athletics director provide you with a quarterly report on the activities and issues of your campus SAAC.
Require that your coaches support participation in your SAAC.
Support the educational, social and developmental goals of the student-athlete:
Require each coach to provide student-athletes time to be a student and to enforce the 20-hour rule to the spirit of the rule and not just the letter of the rule.
Support the CHAMPS/Life Skills program required on each Division I campus.
Require athletics directors, compliance staff and the faculty athletics representatives to monitor on a monthly basis the time demands on student-athletes to avoid exceeding the 20-hour per week during the season.
Conduct a confidential "climate survey" of all student-athletes annually focusing on time demands and other issues (for example, expectations for voluntary workouts, encroachment of "year-round" athletics on time with family).
Require every team to spend time with the athletics director and faculty athletics representative at the beginning of each year to discuss the institution's expectations of the student-athlete on campus. The coach must be at this session.
Article 2.2 of the NCAA Constitution
Intercollegiate athletics programs shall be conducted in a manner designed to protect and enhance the physical and educational welfare of student-athletes.
Overall educational experience
It is the responsibility of each member institution to establish and maintain an environment in which a student-athlete's activities are conducted as an integral part of the student-athlete's educational experience.
Cultural diversity and gender equity
It is the responsibility of each member institution to establish and maintain an environment that values cultural diversity and gender equity among its student-athletes and intercollegiate athletics department staff.
Health and safety
It is the responsibility of each member institution to protect the health of and provide a safe environment for each of its participating student-athletes.
Student-athlete/coach relationship
It is the responsibility of each member institution to establish and maintain an environment that fosters a positive relationship between the student-athlete and coach.
Fairness, openness and honesty
It is the responsibility of each member institution to ensure that coaches and administrators exhibit fairness, openness and honesty in their relationships with student-athletes.
Student-athlete involvement
It is the responsibility of each member institution to involve student-athletes in matters that affect their lives.
© 2010 The National Collegiate Athletic Association
Terms and Conditions | Privacy Policy