Ethical conduct

Paul Dee, director of athletics

University of Miami (Florida)

Chronicle of Higher Education

Discussing school policies regarding student-athlete behavior:

“In any type of circumstance where there can be varying facts or varying degrees of involvement, then it is best not to have firm penalties. You have to have flexibility.”

 Steve Malchow, senior associate athletics director

University of Iowa

Chronicle of Higher Education

Discussing a policy implemented when he was an administrator at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, that took coaches out of the decision-making process in student-athlete conduct cases:

“(For serious offenses), we wanted to take any disciplinary action away from the coach. If it ended up being the star player and we had a key game coming up, that kind of clouds your judgment.”

Basketball proposal

Jamie Dixon, head men’s basketball coach

University of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Discussing a proposal that provides Division I basketball teams a 28-game schedule and annually exempts participation in one multiple-team event:

“It can be good, but it isn’t a cure-all. The current rule was supposed to level the playing field some — the two-in-four rule — but it really hasn’t. And I think this rule is supposed to help smaller conferences out; but if you really look at it, it could hurt them because the big-name schools are going to be eligible every year now.

“There could be more tournaments created and thus more opportunities, but that isn’t a guarantee. I think that is one thing they are banking on. But if you really look at it, there are only a few televised, major exempt events that give you the kind of competition you’d like to get.”

Lute Olson, head men’s basketball coach

University of Arizona

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“I like that we’re starting earlier and will have a chance to play more games, but I think it is ridiculous that we can’t work with these kids during the summer and in the offseason.

“I think it is clear that if you look at the European kids, they are a lot more advanced than the American players in terms of skills and fundamentals, and I think we need to do some things to rectify that as well. But this is a good start.”

Division III membership

Amy Hackett, athletics director

University of Puget Sound

Tacoma News Tribune

“We’ve just seen so much growth of Division III over the last 10 years. If they cap membership and don’t allow any further growth, that hurts us if there’s potential growth in the West. And so (how to handle membership growth) will be an important discussion for us over the next year, because it is critical for us from a financial and competitive standpoint that there be more Division III schools in the West. In the Northeast, they don’t need any more. But certain parts of the country are at a geographic disadvantage in terms of membership numbers.”

Funding athletics

Gary Walters, athletics director

Princeton University

Discussing NCAA President Myles Brand’s comments during his State of the Association speech that athletics departments should not shy away from revenue generation:

“For him to come out and to defend revenue enhancement in a straightforward way is totally consistent with the business of academia. We’re not walking around apologizing anymore.”

T. Boone Pickens, alumnus

Oklahoma State University

Associated Press

Discussing his recent $165 million contribution to Oklahoma State:

“What I keep coming back to is we’re in the Big 12, and it’s a tough conference. I want us to be competitive. How it impacts me? My name’s on the stadium.

“I don’t know what else they could do. I guess they could put it on each one of the seats.”