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NCAA News Archive - 2007
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Division I men’s basketball to get academic treatment
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By Greg Johnson
The NCAA News
The NCAA News
On the heels of a successful process to recommend changes that improve the academic culture in college baseball, NCAA President Myles Brand has announced a project team to carry out similar orders in men’s basketball.
The Division I Men’s Basketball Academic Enhancement Group will begin meeting in August to assess factors that contribute to the current academic climate in men’s basketball and develop strategies to enhance performance and graduation rates. Dan Guerrero, director of athletics at the University of California, Los Angeles, will chair the 27-member group that includes four presidents, seven head coaches, four commissioners, eight athletics directors, three faculty athletics representatives and an administrator from the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
The presidents on the group are Walter Harrison of the University of Hartford, Sidney Ribeau of Bowling Green State University, Stephen Weber of San Diego State University and Robert Buininks of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
Brand has asked the enhancement group to submit recommendations and proposals to the Division I Board of Directors by the end of 2008.
“It is essential that NCAA constituent groups work together to evaluate the causes and develop meaningful strategies to improve academic performance in men’s basketball,” Brand said. “Academic reform is here to stay and we need to work together to aggressively develop and implement solutions that ensure basketball student-athletes are as successful in the classroom as they are on the court.”
Specifically, the enhancement group will:
Crucial in the working group’s recommendations were data showing that many baseball student-athletes entered college with solid academic credentials but slipped once enrolled. Baseball also exhibited a high transfer rate, which led to the Board adopting a working group recommendation to eliminate the one-time transfer exception.
Men’s basketball, along with women’s basketball, football and men’s ice hockey, already requires a year in residence after transfer.
Brand said the men’s basketball group will study the academic climate in the sport carefully. “We are not interested in changing the people who play on the court,” he said. “We are interested in helping those who play be successful.”
As chair, Guerrero will borrow from his experience as a member of the baseball working group.
“Our job was to move forward with recommendations that could be evaluated by the Board of Directors and would in fact have an impact on the sport,” Guerrero said of the baseball group’s charge. “We identified those issues unique to baseball. We will do the same with men’s basketball.”
Guerrero also is a current member of the Division I Men’s Basketball Committee.
Brand said the basketball group will use the baseball group as a model.
“One of the lessons we learned with baseball is there are issues specific to the sport that when addressed are more likely to lead to success,” Brand said. “We want to make sure we have a strong foundation in the research necessary to understand what drives academic performance in basketball. Once that is accomplished, the working group can make specific recommendations to the Board about what is necessary to improve.”
Brand said the basketball group will meet August 10 in Indianapolis. The group will provide updates regularly to the Board during the course of the project.
The Division I Men’s Basketball Academic Enhancement Group will begin meeting in August to assess factors that contribute to the current academic climate in men’s basketball and develop strategies to enhance performance and graduation rates. Dan Guerrero, director of athletics at the University of California, Los Angeles, will chair the 27-member group that includes four presidents, seven head coaches, four commissioners, eight athletics directors, three faculty athletics representatives and an administrator from the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
The presidents on the group are Walter Harrison of the University of Hartford, Sidney Ribeau of Bowling Green State University, Stephen Weber of San Diego State University and Robert Buininks of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
Brand has asked the enhancement group to submit recommendations and proposals to the Division I Board of Directors by the end of 2008.
“It is essential that NCAA constituent groups work together to evaluate the causes and develop meaningful strategies to improve academic performance in men’s basketball,” Brand said. “Academic reform is here to stay and we need to work together to aggressively develop and implement solutions that ensure basketball student-athletes are as successful in the classroom as they are on the court.”
Specifically, the enhancement group will:
- Analyze available data, research and literature regarding academic performance trends in Division I men’s basketball;
- Identify characteristics and factors that may impair student-athletes’ academic performance;
- Identify changes that would enhance academic performance and graduation rates; and
- Communicate with and seek reaction from the NCAA governance structure, the NABC membership and conference offices.
Crucial in the working group’s recommendations were data showing that many baseball student-athletes entered college with solid academic credentials but slipped once enrolled. Baseball also exhibited a high transfer rate, which led to the Board adopting a working group recommendation to eliminate the one-time transfer exception.
Men’s basketball, along with women’s basketball, football and men’s ice hockey, already requires a year in residence after transfer.
Brand said the men’s basketball group will study the academic climate in the sport carefully. “We are not interested in changing the people who play on the court,” he said. “We are interested in helping those who play be successful.”
As chair, Guerrero will borrow from his experience as a member of the baseball working group.
“Our job was to move forward with recommendations that could be evaluated by the Board of Directors and would in fact have an impact on the sport,” Guerrero said of the baseball group’s charge. “We identified those issues unique to baseball. We will do the same with men’s basketball.”
Guerrero also is a current member of the Division I Men’s Basketball Committee.
Brand said the basketball group will use the baseball group as a model.
“One of the lessons we learned with baseball is there are issues specific to the sport that when addressed are more likely to lead to success,” Brand said. “We want to make sure we have a strong foundation in the research necessary to understand what drives academic performance in basketball. Once that is accomplished, the working group can make specific recommendations to the Board about what is necessary to improve.”
Brand said the basketball group will meet August 10 in Indianapolis. The group will provide updates regularly to the Board during the course of the project.
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