Division III philosophy

Phillip C. Stone, president
Bridgewater College (Virginia)
Chronicle of Higher Education

Discussing athletics-integration issues in Division III:

"I'm still idealistic and naïve enough that I honestly believe we ought to create an environment where athletes can have a balanced life and have some variety in their lives."

Hurricane Katrina

Rick Dickson, director of athletics
Tulane University
Los Angeles Times

"I think we've seen, in particular in (NCAA President) Myles Brand's tenure, those things that maybe historically got logjammed and didn't get addressed, somebody will stop to say, 'Hey, wait a minute, what are we doing here?' It seems to me the organization is more attuned and the antennae are out, so when we get bogged down in the mud, somebody will step back and say, 'What are we doing?' "

Rick Greenspan, director of athletics
Indiana University, Bloomington
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

Discussing alleged transfer inquiries from coaches to student-athletes from schools affected by Hurricane Katrina:

"Will some disingenuous people use these circumstances to a competitive advantage? I think what you see in any time of trauma or crisis, some people will. There's Mother Nature and there's human nature, and sometimes human nature is to act in a way that we would prefer people not to. ...

"What I've seen is (the NCAA is) going to instruct coaches, student-athletes, administrators to make sure that these young people are provided every fair and reasonable assistance necessary to deal with, in some cases, loss of life, and certainly property and all the rest. It's the only reasonable thing to do. That being said, will there be some unethical people and some opportunistic people that might take advantage of that for competitive purposes? That's probably the case, but I think this falls under that old saying that you can't legislate morality."

Gene Marsh, chair
Division I Committee on Infractions
Los Angeles Times

Discussing the need for flexibility in NCAA rules after the storm:

"I think we are bending or ignoring every rule in the book when it comes to getting these kids enrolled (at other universities). We have kids in some cases with absolutely no resources, and the university is waiving tuition.

"If the universities can make that happen and not worry too much about rules, I would expect the NCAA to do the same. The mentality people have right now in trying to do all they can is not in any way driven by some knucklehead who wants to do something because somebody's a football player.

"Some people have only the shirt on their backs. God help anybody who comes complaining with the NCAA rule book in their hand. If they do that on this, they sure won't get any attention from me."

Lester Ricard, football student-athlete
Tulane University
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Discussing Tulane's decision to not cancel its football season:

"I don't care who we play. I don't care where we play. If they ask us to play in a parking lot, that will be fine with us. It never occurred to us that they might want to cancel the season. This team has to play football."