NCAA academic-reform efforts received a strong endorsement from the Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, but the group used its third meeting since reconvening six months ago also to discuss financial concerns, along with changes in the recruiting culture and the postseason football bowl structure.

The Knight Commission, which met May 24 in Washington, D.C., commended the NCAA on academic reforms adopted in April by the Division I Board of Directors, particularly a disincentives structure designed to hold institutions accountable for improved student-athlete academic performance. However, Commission members -- including those who also are members of the Division I Board -- noted the important work yet to be done regarding academic reform: establishing demanding thresholds to trigger penalties and urging faculty to fulfill their obligations as stewards of institutional academic integrity by not allowing fraudulent academic majors.

The Commission also heard a report on Division I-A postseason football. It included an update on recent efforts by the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) Presidential Oversight Committee and the Presidential Coalition for Athletics Reform to unify Division I-A and resolve issues concerning bowl access and revenue distribution. Commission members agreed afterward that the current governance structure of Division I-A postseason football needs to be substantially altered to advance the "collegiate model of athletics" put forth in the recently approved NCAA strategic plan.

Commission Chair William C. Friday went so far as to say the NCAA should govern postseason football in order to ensure the overall health of college sports.

"This objective should command the immediate attention of the Division I Board of Directors," said the president emeritus at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Friday's comment was delivered after a post-meeting news conference.

Wally Renfro, senior advisor to NCAA President Myles Brand, said Friday's position is contrary to what most Division I-A institutions and presidents have voiced.

"The NCAA has no role in postseason football at this time," Renfro reiterated.

Commercialization concerns

The Commission also emphasized its recommendation from its 2001 report, "A Call to Action," to base revenue distribution not on winning and losing but on improving academic performance, enhancing athletes' collegiate experiences and achieving gender equity.

The Knight Commission heard from college football coaches, antitrust experts and members of NCAA committees.

Former football coaches Bill Curry and R.C. Slocum lamented the reality that coaches are evaluated solely on wins and losses and that the current emphasis on winning is inconsistent with the role of athletics as an integral part of the educational process. The coaches noted that although presidents emphasize the academic performance and social development of the athletes, coaches rarely are evaluated for their achievements in those areas.

The Commission also heard testimony about antitrust laws and their application to college athletics. Gary Roberts, director of the sports law program at Tulane University Law School, advocated that the Commission support an antitrust exemption to control expenses and rein in the commercialization of big-time college sports. The Commission will continue to consider whether an antitrust exemption may be the best avenue to achieve control and meaningful reform of college sports.

Finally, the Commission reviewed the most recent report of the NCAA Task Force on Recruiting. Commission members said they firmly believe that only wholesale reform of recruiting rules and practices can lead to a recruitment process grounded in the academic missions of colleges and universities.

"The overarching theme we heard today is that the emphasis on winning and revenue generation are the driving forces in big-time college sports," said Hodding Carter III, Knight Foundation president and CEO. "Those forces are totally inconsistent with the educational principles and aspirations of the nation's colleges and universities. They must be addressed by collective action that can firmly establish the primacy of academic integrity and break the dynamic between winning and revenue that now dominates intercollegiate athletics."

Joining Friday and Carter at the meeting were commissioners Michael F. Adams, president of the University of Georgia; Carol Cartwright, president of Kent State University; Mary Sue Coleman, president of the University of Michigan; Len Elmore, ESPN analyst and president of Pivot Productions; Elson Floyd, president of the University of Missouri system; Adam Herbert, president of Indiana University, Bloomington; Harold Shapiro, president emeritus of Princeton University; Gerald Turner, president of Southern Methodist University; and Charles E. Young, former president of the University of Florida. Thomas K. Hearn, president of Wake Forest University, was unable to attend.

The Commission welcomed two new members: Peter Likins, president of the University of Arizona, and Clifton R. Wharton, former chair and CEO of TIAA-CREF. Wharton also served as a member of the original Knight Commission.

The Commission plans to conduct a news conference this summer to review work it commissioned related to the effects of winning on alumni giving and the quality of a university's admissions pool.