Breakdown: NCAA Changes – Accountability and New Voices
On Wednesday, the NCAA released their changes to their rules. In reality, it is a sweeping reform that touches a lot of different areas but really might not effect as much as they might have intended. Some of these are for the better, most are not or ineffective.
With a lot of these geared towards high school and entry level to college, we decided to take a massive look at these new rules and regulations and give our take on what to expect and if there is any real backing for them in this multi-part series.
The rules listed below are as stated in the press release from the NCAA.
Stronger President and Chancellor Accountability
New Rule: University presidents and chancellors will be personally accountable for their athletics program following the rules. Presidents and chancellors join all athletics staff members in affirming the athletics program meets obligations for monitoring rules compliance, which is required to be eligible for the postseason. Also, schools are required to cooperate fully during NCAA investigations and take appropriate corrective action. – NCAA
What It Means: This is the prime example of accomplishing nothing. Not that they shouldn’t be accountably, they absolutely should. However, what does it think they are actually going to do to the President of say, Ohio State. With the Urban Meyer stuff going on, are they going to suspend him with how this was handled? No, they have no ability to do it. Anything they could really do would be centered around the team in question and would be a ban or suspension or something of that ilk. So, good in theory but in practice I don’t see anything that they can do that wouldn’t ultimately effect those below the President, namely the Athletic Director or head coach which is already in place.
Public Voices
New Rule: Public members not affiliated with the NCAA or member schools will join the NCAA Board of Governors to bring fresh perspectives and independent judgment. Pending adoption at the NCAA Convention in January, five independent members will be added to the NCAA Board of Governors, which is responsible for oversight of the entire Association. Each member will be nominated by the Board of Governors Executive Committee, approved by the full board and serve a three-year term, which can be renewed once. The terms of the independent board members are longer than those served by school representatives. One member, voted on annually by all the independent members, will serve as a lead independent member and can serve in that role for no more than three years. – NCAA
What It Means: This isn’t a big deal either. When the NCAA appointed the Rice Commission, they messed that up by not having anyone involved that actually had any background knowledge of how relationships work between AAU programs and agents and shoe companies, which was the whole point. If you aren’t going to figure that out with something so obvious, then this is going to be about the same. They showed their hands before with not wanting those types of people involved.