Meaningful penalties are what drive academic behaviors

Jim Delany, commissioner
Big Ten Conference
USA Today

Discussing proposed incentives/disincentives for teams that do not meet an established academic performance rate:

"You take away the assets of television (revenue), access to NCAA championships and that kind of thing -- if someone has the courage to do that -- you're going to get people changing their behavior. A board of trustees is not going to approve a million-dollar contract for the coach of a team that's sitting home."

Jim Haney, executive director
National Association of Basketball Coaches
USA Today

"I understand (that the proposals are) for all sports, but I don't think anybody thinks they're not pointed at basketball."

Graduation rates

Lee McElroy, director of athletics
University at Albany
USA Today

"There's an issue for any group of students -- whether it's athletes, the debate team, fraternities or sororities -- that is performing at a significant level below the campus average. That, to me, is an accurate measure of what we do. Those are the people you're sitting in class with."

Daniel G. Gibbens, faculty athletics representative
University of Oklahoma
USA Today

"There's an inherent tension between being at your best in a highly competitive sport and being the best and doing the kind of (academic) work you ought to be doing in college."

Friday football

Pat Hill, head football coach
California State University, Fresno
Denver Post

"It's a Catch-22. I'd rather play all our games on Saturdays at 1 p.m. It just doesn't work out that way. We're finding a lot more mid-majors, non-BCS schools are having to fill those time slots. If we were 3-8 every year, we wouldn't be playing any Friday or Thursday games.

"I do not like to play Fridays. It should be for high-school football. Until TV wants us to play Saturdays at more conventional slots, we'll play on TV when offered. It's great exposure for our program, the players and the community."