Gordon Gee, chancellor
Vanderbilt University
CNNfn (The Flipside)

"When we first started talking about (reform), people said, 'You'll never make this happen. You'll never be able to talk about economic standards.' The first thing we said that we wanted to do is appoint a sitting university president as the head of the NCAA. I was told time and again -- it was on the front pages of most newspapers -- that will never happen. I want you to know that January 1, Myles Brand, the sitting president of Indiana University, is now the head of the NCAA and we're driving this issue.

"It used to take 800 coaches and athletics directors to vote any changes. Now, 120 presidents will make that determination and I can tell you that there are 120 determined presidents to put their arms around this. No one wants to go through what's happened at Georgia. No one wants to go through what's happened to St. Bonaventure. No one wants to go through what's happened to a number of other institutions because the embarrassment factor and the credibility factor of universities through intercollegiate athletics are absolutely on the line. I think that this is the time we will make that change and I am very optimistic."

Pay for play

Mike Tranghese, commissioner
Big East Conference
Chicago Tribune

"When you tell (student-athletes) there isn't enough (money available), they look at you and they don't believe you. I understand where the kids are coming from. It's very, very hard to argue with them. But at the end of the day you can't just provide funds to the kids who are playing the sport that earns the money."

Marketing women's basketball

Geno Auriemma, head women's basketball coach
University of Connecticut
Atlanta Journal and Constitution

"People are throwing money at (women's basketball), but they don't want to nurture its growth. There's no glamour in women's basketball. You're an athletics director and your football program has a chance to win the Orange Bowl, or your men's basketball program has a chance to go to the Final Four. Well, that's where you're going to spend your time and energy. And then with women's basketball, because Title IX says you have to do certain things, you'll do those things."

Gambling issues

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada
Los Angeles Times

"I think the NCAA should address the problems it has and not the problems it imagines. Less than 2 percent of sports wagering is conducted in Nevada. Why not stop the 98 percent who are betting illegally? Why do they want to stop something legal? This is a sop for the NCAA to avoid the problems they really have. The first thing they should do is to leave Nevada alone. This state is not hurting anything. It's so foolish. People come from all over the world to bet legally.

"I can't imagine why they don't focus on real problems. The NCAA receives $6 billion from television. Why don't they spend that on advertising on why people shouldn't gamble? If they are so concerned about what's going on on campus, they should do that. They do it with the problem of alcoholism on campus. They help pay for the advertisements on binge drinking."

Graduation rates

Jim Boeheim, head men's basketball coach
Syracuse University
Baltimore Sun

"Seven of the last eight kids in our program have graduated. But two of them transferred in. So we have five out of eight. But we had five guys transfer out. So we have a 45 percent graduation rate according to how it's figured now. I wouldn't be proud of that. But the five guys that transferred out are going to graduate where they are now, but they count against us. It's such a small number that if three or four guys transfer because they want to play more, it skews the rate unbelievably."