NCAA – Page 4 – North Platte Post Archive

NCAA Graduation Rates Improve as Critics Cry Foul

Posted on October 28, 2014

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — College athletes are graduating at record numbers and with better rates than non-athletes, according to new statistics released Tuesday by the NCAA.

The annual report shows 84 percent of freshmen players who entered school in 2007-08 earned degrees within six years. That’s a 2 percentage point increase over the previous one-year record high, set in 2006-07. The four-year average is 82 percent, also a record.

NCAA President Mark Emmert calls it the best academic performance since the NCAA started tracking numbers with the 1995-96 freshmen.

Four-year federal numbers, which cover freshmen classes from 2004-07, show 65 percent of athletes graduate compared with 64 percent of non-athletes. The NCAA includes transfer students who leave school in good academic standing and earn a degree elsewhere. The feds do not count transfers.

Concussion Study says NCAA Needs Improvement

Posted on October 22, 2014

BOSTON (AP) — Colleges remain inconsistent in the way they handle athletes’ concussions, according to a Harvard University study that comes more than four years after the NCAA began requiring schools to educate their players about the risks of head trauma and develop plans to keep injured athletes off the field.

In a survey that included responses from 907 of the NCAA’s 1,066 members, researchers found that nearly one in five schools either don’t have the required concussion management plan or have done such a poor job in educating their coaches, medical staff and compliance officers that they are not sure one exists.

The study was co-written by Harvard researcher Christine Baugh and published this week in the American Journal of Sports Medicine.

Whopper of a Bill for NCAA in O’Bannon Lawsuit

Posted on October 22, 2014

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The bill has come in for former UCLA basketball star Ed O’Bannon’s successful court challenge of the NCAA — and it’s a whopper.

Lawyers for O’Bannon want more than $50 million from the NCAA in attorney fees and other costs as part of the price of winning an antitrust lawsuit that took five years to make its way to trial.

The proposed award means individual lawyers would end up with far more than the $5,000 a year the judge in the case ruled that football players in FBS schools and Division I men’s basketball players could receive as compensation for the rights to their names, images and likenesses.

In a filing late Tuesday night, lead counsel Michael Hausfeld asked for payments of up to $985 an hour for senior attorneys in the case.

Emmert Says Scholarship Changes Coming Up

Posted on October 21, 2014

CHICAGO (AP) — NCAA President Mark Emmert says sweeping changes in scholarship regulations could be in place as early as the next academic year. He also says there is no talk about allowing compensation for autographs and signed memorabilia.

Emmert made his remarks at a luncheon on Monday. Georgia running back Todd Gurley is suspended while the school investigates possible violations of NCAA rules involving autographs and memorabilia, and Florida State is reviewing whether star quarterback Jameis Winston received improper benefits from a large number of autographs being sold online.

Regarding regulations covering autographs and memorabilia, Emmert says “There’s not anyone talking about change in that rule right now. All of those things will be debated by all of the conferences and the member presidents going forward.”

NCAA President has Wish List for Power 5

Posted on October 8, 2014

DANBURY, Conn. (AP) — Now that the Power Five conferences have their autonomy, NCAA President Mark Emmert has a wish list he’d like them to tackle right away.

Emmert, speaking after a lecture at Western Connecticut State University, said Wednesday he would like the conferences to make sure the entire cost of attending school is covered by athletic scholarships. He says he’d also like the Power 5 to extend the length of scholarships to allow students to come back and finish their degrees, provide insurance to cover all medical expenses for athletes and relax the rules governing contact with agents.

Emmert says he also would like to see the conferences immediately change the rules dealing with concussions. He says every team should be required to have a medical professional on the sidelines and responsible for implementing concussion protocols. He says there also needs to be more clearly defined accountability if those protocols are not followed.

NCAA Reform Package Survives Override Period

Posted on October 7, 2014

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The NCAA reform plan that transfers more power to the five richest football conferences has sailed through a 60-day override period.

The organization says 27 schools requested an override of the 16-2 decision by the NCAA Board of Directors on Aug. 7 to allow the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC to unilaterally change some of the rules that have applied to all Division I schools for years. If 75 schools had voted for an override, the board would have been required to reconsider the plan.

The result of the override period was announced on Monday.

The NCAA says much of the plan goes into effect next year. It says the new governance structure “provides student-athletes with a vote at every level of decision-making in Division I.”

Bradley, Drexel, Elon, Indiana State and Vermont were among the schools that requested an override.

Pac-12 Notifies NCAA of its Proposal for Athletes

Posted on October 1, 2014October 1, 2014

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Pac-12 Conference has notified the NCAA of its proposal to provide more benefits to athletes under the new governance model for the five major conferences.

The Pac-12’s announcement Wednesday comes on the first day the NCAA established for the power conferences to offer suggestions. The league’s university presidents and chancellors first proposed their ideas in a letter to colleagues across the country in May.

The proposals include a stipend to cover the full cost of attendance, increasing medical support and reviewing the time demands for athletes.

The Pac-12 says its presidents and chancellors will explore how to implement the proposed reforms at its board meeting Oct. 27, including by each institution, conference-wide action or among the five major conferences.

Any rule changes that occur would not start until the 2015-2016 academic year.

NCAA Boss Says Domestic Violence a School Issue

Posted on September 23, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — NCAA President Mark Emmert believes it is the responsibility of individual schools to handle issues of domestic violence and sexual assault, and that a spate of recent cases reflect greater societal problems.

Emmert spoke Tuesday with a group of reporters before delivering a lecture at Kansas City’s Rockhurst University about the future of college sports.

While domestic violence has become a major issue for the NFL, similar issues have popped up on college campuses. Just this week, Tennessee dismissed a freshman running back who reportedly struck an ex-girlfriend at a party over the weekend.

Emmert also stood by his recent pronouncement to a group of Division I faculty athletic representatives that the Penn State scandal was handled as well as it could have been “under the circumstances.”

Unclear Future for Guarantee Games in Playoff Era

Posted on September 12, 2014

These first few weeks of the college football season feature dozens of smaller programs collecting big paychecks by hitting the road for games against major-conference teams.

There’s no guarantee these games — at least the ones involving Football Championship Subdivision programs — will be as common in the playoff era.

With an eye toward television audiences, the Big Ten is discouraging its teams from scheduling FCS foes. The Southeastern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference are requiring members to play at least one nonconference game against a team from the Power Five leagues.

FCS athletic directors are taking a wait-and-see approach about what could happen down the road. Chattanooga athletic director David Blackburn says he’s “preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.”

Big Ten Statement on NCAA Lifting Penn State’s Postseason Ban

Posted on September 8, 2014

Rosemont, Ill. – The Big Ten Conference, through its Council of Presidents and Chancellors (COPC), has agreed today to restore Penn State’s eligibility for the Big Ten Football Championship Game. The agreement follows the announcement today, by the NCAA, to further modify sanctions set forth in the Consent Decree entered into with Penn State on July 23, 2012, including the elimination of Penn State’s postseason football ban, effective immediately, and the restoration of its full complement of football scholarships beginning with the 2015-16 academic year. As a result of the announcement, based strongly on recommendations by Independent Athletics Integrity Monitor Senator George Mitchell, Penn State will be eligible to compete in both the Big Ten Football Championship Game and a bowl game, beginning with the current season.

The $60 million fine, vacation of wins from 1998-2011, Athletics Integrity Agreement (AIA), and five-year probation initially imposed by the NCAA will remain in effect, as will the official censure, five-year probation and monetary fine equal to Penn State’s Big Ten bowl revenue share during the probationary period initially imposed by the Big Ten COPC.

The NCAA’s decision to modify the Consent Decree was based on recommendations by Senator Mitchell, who has been serving since August 2012 as the independent Athletics Integrity Monitor responsible for overseeing Penn State’s implementation of the reforms set forth in the AIA. The AIA was entered into on August 29, 2012, by the NCAA, the Big Ten and Penn State as one of the requirements of the Consent Decree.

As a party to the AIA, the Big Ten COPC met with Senator Mitchell on Monday, September 8, and received his report on Penn State’s progress. Senator Mitchell’s briefing included a recommendation that the NCAA reduce the postseason ban effective immediately and restore full scholarship availability beginning with the 2015-16 academic year. Mitchell’s recommendation was based on the significant progress Penn State has continually made in its compliance and reform efforts over the last two years and focused exclusively on NCAA penalties that directly impacted student-athletes.

“Following our briefing with Senator Mitchell, the COPC reached consensus agreement to support his latest recommendation and also agreed to restore the school’s eligibility for the Big Ten Football Championship Game, which ran concurrently with the NCAA postseason bowl ban” said COPC Chair and Iowa President Sally Mason. “We support the NCAA announcement acting on that recommendation, thank Senator Mitchell for his dedicated service and appreciate Penn State’s ongoing commitment to improvement.”