Jerry G. Bawcom, president

University of Mary Hardin-Baylor

The New York Times

Discussing the impact of his school’s decision to add football in 1997:

"When male students, even nonathletes, are making a choice on which college to attend, we’ve proven that having a football team will make more of them choose you. Before 1998, we had little luck getting kids from the big high schools around Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston or San Antonio. Then we got some football players from those areas, and we won our share of football games. Now we go to those Dallas-Fort Worth schools and the kids know us. They’ve come in bunches. We’ve doubled the number of students living on campus."

Mike Kemp, head football coach

Utica College

The New York Times

"Hockey, lacrosse and tennis players, they all have money and 1,500 SAT scores. Those kids are going to college somewhere. But I come across high school football players from blue-collar backgrounds, and as seniors in high school, they’re not sure what they’re going to do. They’re considering a college here or there. But if you give them a chance to keep playing football, then they get motivated to come. (And once they come), we kind of trick them into seeing that getting an education is the real benefit."

Dennis Felton, head men’s basketball coach

University of Georgia

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"There are so many NCAA rules that just defy being good people to each other. They defy just being normal people to each other, just being polite, saying ‘Hi’ and shaking hands. It makes for an uncomfortable existence."

Tom Izzo, head men’s basketball coach

Michigan State University

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"So what, you walk by a guy, you say ‘Hello.’ They (the NCAA) almost want to eliminate that. Why? Doesn’t everybody know why we’re here?"

Murray Bartow, head men’s basketball coach

East Tennessee State University

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"It’s become much more strict the last few years. The NCAA has stepped in more. They have much stricter guidelines, even this year over last. You’d better not be standing in the doorway or traffic areas where kids come in and out. You know where to be and where not to be."

Blaine Taylor, head men’s basketball coach

Old Dominion University

St Louis Post-Dispatch

"It was almost a joke by the end of July. You couldn’t leave before the end of the game. Coaches would just be standing like a wedding reception to say ‘Hi.’ And you’d have handwritten notes to give the coach, and he’d give it to the kid."

John Brady, head men’s basketball coach

Louisiana State University

Dayton Daily News

"It’s a window-dressing rule. If they really want to commit to young people staying in college, don’t draft them until they’re 20 or until after their sophomore years. That’s a real statement."

John D’Argenio, athletics director

Siena College

Albany (New York) Times Union

"The people at the (Siena) career center tell us employers are now looking at these sites when they’re making hires. You think nobody’s looking at these sites, or it’s just your friends, and all of a sudden it costs you a job at a big financial institution."