Spring Break
Another lousy report card for NCAA Tournament field
By: Jim Litke — The Associated Press
Issue date: 3/25/04 Section: Sports
And then there's this: If a 50 percent graduation rate was required for postseason eligibility - something the do-gooders on the Knight Commission proposed in 2001 - exactly three first-round games would have gone off with the lineups on the floor: Gonzaga vs. Valparaiso, North Carolina vs. Air Force, and Mississippi State vs. Monmouth.
But it gets worse.
On the Boston Globe's Web site last week, columnist Derrick Z. Jackson broke down the numbers for African-Americans on scholarship. He found the 37 schools that hid behind the privacy rules to avoid publishing their 2003 graduation rates for blacks averaged just 19.7 percent in the 2002 report. No surprise there, since 13 of the 37 had black graduation rates of zero in 2002.
''When we bring kids to our campuses and fail to educate them in the numbers we're seeing here,'' said Richard Lapchick, who heads the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida, ''all we're doing is using them up.''
The search for a scapegoat usually lands on the doorstep of the NCAA, conveniently forgetting the organization simply administers the policies set by member schools. University presidents have been calling those shots for almost 10 years, and as the latest numbers prove, the pace of reform is still at a crawl.
At first, with initiatives like Prop 48, they tried to raise graduation rates by putting the burden squarely on the kids' shoulders. Those moves nudged the rates upward, but not nearly enough. And with new chief Myles Brand feeling the heat from a lengthening list of embarrassments - everything from conference raids to recruiting scandals and ''Coaches Gone Wild'' videos have landed on his desk - a consensus is finally emerging to hold the schools accountable instead.
This latest mess has already convinced the NCAA to force members to report their 2003 graduation rates in full. That voluntary compliance will allow the organization to sidestep federal restrictions and make the information public late this summer.
''Without continued full publication of the graduation rates - especially those at the low end - we will lose the ability to expose those athletics programs which are failing to educate their student-athletes,'' Brand said.
Even more promising than public pressure, though, is the so-called ''incentive-disincentive'' proposal that will be put to a vote by the NCAA board in late April. As currently envisioned, the graduation rate for scholarship athletes would have to be within a few percentage points of the general student body or schools would face penalties ranging from a warning, to loss of scholarships, and possibly even a ban on postseason play.
Assuming the measure is approved, another four years likely would pass before the penalties were phased in. It's a long way away, but it's a start. And as any parent would tell you, it's never too early to make kid stick his nose in a book.
But it gets worse.
On the Boston Globe's Web site last week, columnist Derrick Z. Jackson broke down the numbers for African-Americans on scholarship. He found the 37 schools that hid behind the privacy rules to avoid publishing their 2003 graduation rates for blacks averaged just 19.7 percent in the 2002 report. No surprise there, since 13 of the 37 had black graduation rates of zero in 2002.
''When we bring kids to our campuses and fail to educate them in the numbers we're seeing here,'' said Richard Lapchick, who heads the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida, ''all we're doing is using them up.''
The search for a scapegoat usually lands on the doorstep of the NCAA, conveniently forgetting the organization simply administers the policies set by member schools. University presidents have been calling those shots for almost 10 years, and as the latest numbers prove, the pace of reform is still at a crawl.
At first, with initiatives like Prop 48, they tried to raise graduation rates by putting the burden squarely on the kids' shoulders. Those moves nudged the rates upward, but not nearly enough. And with new chief Myles Brand feeling the heat from a lengthening list of embarrassments - everything from conference raids to recruiting scandals and ''Coaches Gone Wild'' videos have landed on his desk - a consensus is finally emerging to hold the schools accountable instead.
This latest mess has already convinced the NCAA to force members to report their 2003 graduation rates in full. That voluntary compliance will allow the organization to sidestep federal restrictions and make the information public late this summer.
''Without continued full publication of the graduation rates - especially those at the low end - we will lose the ability to expose those athletics programs which are failing to educate their student-athletes,'' Brand said.
Even more promising than public pressure, though, is the so-called ''incentive-disincentive'' proposal that will be put to a vote by the NCAA board in late April. As currently envisioned, the graduation rate for scholarship athletes would have to be within a few percentage points of the general student body or schools would face penalties ranging from a warning, to loss of scholarships, and possibly even a ban on postseason play.
Assuming the measure is approved, another four years likely would pass before the penalties were phased in. It's a long way away, but it's a start. And as any parent would tell you, it's never too early to make kid stick his nose in a book.
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