Columnist Ron Kantowski: NCAA tries to get tough with academic reform bluff

Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2005 | 9:44 a.m.

Ron Kantowski is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4088.

This column is dedicated to the landmark NCAA reform package that was announced this week in suburban Dallas ... so enjoy the rest of the sports section.

For the one or two still reading, NCAA president Myles Brand says this is a big deal, like trading what Jay Stewart has in the box for what's behind door No. 2 on "Let's Make a Deal." This new edict, the first phase of which was approved Monday, supposedly is going to put the student back in student-athlete.

I'm not buying it, Monty, and I'm not the only one.

The national media must be skeptical, too, because it is covering this alleged major story the way it does when some Big 12 school drops wrestling. In other words, virtually ignoring it.

On ESPN.com Tuesday morning, "NCAA passes landmark academic reform plan," was the last link on the list of the day's top sports stories, ranking behind "Moss likely facing $5,000 fine for moon dance," and another story about his Afro constituting an airspace violation.

What Myles Brand and his cronies don't understand is that the general public, at least the portion of it that buys tickets to college football and basketball games, hasn't paid attention to this issue since Texas last ran the Wishbone.

It cares not one whit about Joe College's grade-point average. It cares two whits about his scoring average and three whits about his passing efficiency rating, especially if young College is being recruited by Nebraska.

And if he doesn't ace his SATs or leaves school early for the pros, so what? The alumni will cheer just as loudly for the guy who replaces him.

Sad commentary? Perhaps. But when it comes to graduation rates, the NCAA has cried "wolf" for so long that not even North Carolina State fans are heeding the warning.

We've been hearing about academic reform for a long time. Since Georgetown was good, even. So why is it that graduation rates are still a problem?

What generally happens is that a bunch of college football and basketball fans disguised as chancellors and provosts meet somewhere where the weather is nice after the bowl games and before March Madness to approve a bunch of landmark academic reforms that are then taken to some sort of board of directors to approve.

Once everybody is through approving everything, they start playing games again. And as usual, Fresno State manages to sneak a few more underachievers past the admissions board and Cincinnati's graduation rate flat lines. By then, it's time for the college football and basketball fans disguised as chancellors and provosts to reconvene where the weather is nice and approve a bunch of reforms that supposedly are more stringent than the last ones.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat if necessary. Maybe the NCAA's athlete-students aren't going to class anymore, but at least their hair smells terrific.

As for this latest bit of grandstanding, er, the landmark academic reform package that most are ignoring, the NCAA has approved the first phase of penalties that will be meted out after its so-called Academic Progress Rate (APR) is set.

Beginning next fall, schools will begin losing scholarships when its teams fall below the APR, which will be based on a 50-percent graduation rate over a five-year period.

According to the APR guideline, roughly a third of the NCAA's football-playing schools, 25 percent of its baseball teams and 20 percent of its men's basketball teams would lose scholarships if the legislation were in effect today.

Sounds pretty compelling -- until you learn there will be a 10-percent cap on forsaken scholarships. Which means Fresno State will lose no more than nine football scholarships and Cincinnati two basketball scholarships in a worst-case scenario.

The last time I checked, Bob Huggins was only playing seven or eight guys. This isn't going to put his program in mothballs.

After scholarships are taken away, teams will have a year to improve their APR and get their free rides back. Those that don't will be considered repeat offenders and face a second level of "historical" penalties which will be more severe. Those sanctions have yet to be announced but reportedly, it will take at least four years of not going to class to shut down a program.

Maybe this new APR thing will be sponsored by Polident. Because like every other legal standard in a society where attorneys drive cars with fancy hood ornaments, it doesn't have any teeth.

That's why I don't see where these new guidelines are going to succeed where the present ones have failed. When was the last time anybody received the NCAA death penalty? SMU football in '87? And even that was reduced by a year.

Basically, Princeton and Stanford and Duke will continue to graduate their players while everybody else will just steer them into easy classes that any simpleton can pass to circumvent the APR, this year's Prop 48. Or BCS. You know, something that sounds like a step in the right direction but when you break it down, is more like moving sideways.

On paper, it will look like the graduation rates are improving, and Myles Brand and his cronies will take a bow. In reality, what it probably means is that the guys who can't sink baskets in the NBA will at least be able to weave them when they get cut by the Clippers.