Posted on 02/13/2004 4:47:00 AM PST by Therapist
Calling allegations arising from recent college sports recruiting scandals "morally reprehensible," NCAA president Myles Brand on Thursday announced the formation of a task force to establish tougher standards.
"Given the information that is coming to light on some recruiting practices, I am taking immediate action to address the issue," Brand said.
The NCAA leader said he is responding because of allegations at Colorado and other universities. Colorado has been accused by Boulder County District Attorney Mary Keenan of using sex and alcohol to recruit athletes. CU head football coach Gary Barnett, athletic director Dick Tharp and president Betsy Hoffman have steadfastly denied those allegations.
Three women are suing the university, alleging they were raped during or after a party attended by CU football players and recruits in 2001.
"Some of what is being alleged is morally reprehensible and has no place in college sports," Brand said.
David Hansburg, director of CU football operations, said the university welcomes Brand's task force.
"It's kind of a vague, broad statement," he said. "But we welcome it because we feel like we've already been moving in that direction independently."
Hoffman issued a statement saying: "We are encouraged by Myles Brand's announcement. This is something that needs to be taken seriously because it is part of a whole national issue on college campuses. ... We will fully cooperate with any NCAA investigation."
The panel, which will be chaired by David Berst, the NCAA's vice president for Division I sports, will be formed immediately, Brand said.
Berst told The Associated Press that the panel would likely consist of eight to 10 people from the NCAA's national office and athletic administrators. The focus will be on football and men's basketball recruiting because of the pressure to win in those sports.
"This is an area we haven't regulated, and it's probably not sufficient to permit anything that's not prohibited by our rules," Berst said. "It seems to me there should be a better standard than that."
NCAA spokesman Jeff Howard added that once the panel is formed, it will begin looking into situations across the nation and report its findings and recommendations for change to the Division I Management Council meeting in April.
In addition to the allegations at CU, the University of Miami is facing scrutiny. Willie Williams, a top recruit, faces criminal charges for his alleged behavior during a recruiting trip to the University of Florida. Williams has been arrested 10 times, a record Miami said it did not know about before signing him last week.
In addition, recruits at Minnesota were reportedly taken to strip clubs last month, and San Diego State freshman running back Lynell Hamilton said he was offered marijuana, alcohol and sex during a recruiting trip to the University of Oregon last year.
"The task force that president Brand has initiated is geared toward the seriousness of the allegations that have been brought forth," Howard said. "This is not an initiative that is directed at one institution in particular as much as one to ensure the recruiting practices and policies that are in place meet the values that the association is based on."
Brand's task force was met with widespread approval at Colorado and around the nation.
"I agree with Myles Brand 100 percent," CU regent Jim Martin said. "This is a step in the right direction. They've been dealing with the nonissues. They need to spend their time and energy with complex issues that face these athletic programs across the country."
Peggy Jessel, an attorney for one of the three women suing CU, said she also approved of Brand's move.
"I think it's great," she said. "I'd like to think that the panel would produce something positive."
Colorado State athletic director Mark Driscoll said he was planning on reviewing all of CSU's recruiting policies but that Brand's move underscores its importance.
"With the heightened attention to recruiting, we have looked at everything we're doing," Driscoll said. "We don't have issues, to the best of our knowledge. The things that have been written about, we don't tolerate."
Former NCAA staff member Michael Glazier said it was a signal that the NCAA is ready to look at the problem as a whole.
"This is clearly a signal that the issue that CU is dealing with is not believed to be unique to CU," said Glazier, now a national expert in collegiate sports law who oversees Kansas-based Bond Schoeneck & King's sports law department. "They would not have put something like this together if they thought just one institution was having a problem."
Meanwhile, Colorado, although it is in the middle of the storm, has begun fielding calls from other universities about its recruiting procedures, which are arguably the strictest in the nation. Colorado is believed to be the only Division I school that institutes a curfew for recruits and the only one that has its athletes sign a behavioral contract prior to serving as hosts for recruits.
"And obviously we've been talking about how we're going to make it even better," Hansburg said. "We've received calls from other schools asking what we do already, which is kind of the irony in this whole thing."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.