NCAA lightens up a little

Richard Rosenblatt

Wednesday, Jan. 15, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- For years, the NCAA has taken a beating from critics as well as its own members. Kooky rules, paranoia, cheating. Too much bureaucracy.

Even NCAA executive director Cedric Dempsey scolded membership, imploring them to get their act together at the 91st NCAA Convention.

By Tuesday, when the convention came to a close, the NCAA's stuffy old image seemed to give way to a wave of optimism, punctuated by several historic decisions -- such as allowing athletes to work part-time and granting a fourth-year of eligibility to partial qualifiers.

"Have you ever seen a convention like this?" outgoing NCAA president Gene Corrigan asked. "You never want to think you have a pat hand going into anything. Sure, there was a little contention here, a little contention there, but I think we settled everything."

From restructuring the way the NCAA conducts business -- no longer will there be a one-school, one-vote mentality when it comes to the big schools -- to giving athletes a chance to work and then challenging them to think twice about the NBA draft, the delegates followed Dempsey's plea for sanity and voted in landmark legislation.

"I think what this convention said is we're going to try and trust each other," Dempsey said. "That we want this to work out."

Also Tuesday, the delegates voted to:

* Give financial protection to all men's and women's NCAA championships in Olympic sports. Many, especially men's volleyball and gymnastics, were in danger of losing their funding.

* Prohibit coaches and administrators from taking part in any gambling activity associated with pro sports contests.

* Authorize NCAA testing of athletes testing positive for banned drugs by non-NCAA athletic organizations.

* Turn down a measure to let basketball recruiters make unlimited phone calls to prospects 48 hours before and after the first day of the national signing period.

* Allow Midnight Madness -- first official day of college basketball practice -- to occur on the Saturday closest to Oct. 15 rather than on the exact date.

* Prohibit unrestricted calls to basketball recruits.