NCAA president Mark Emmert has called for a retreat. But that's just the description given a meeting he will have with 50 or so college officials from across the country starting today. He's actually hoping to move forward with some ideas on reform for college athletics.
SEC commissioner Mike Slive spent his welcome address at the league's football media days speaking of reform, not the SEC's five straight national championships. ACC commissioner John Swofford basically agreed with Slive's call for reform and suggested Slive's ideas deserve serious consideration.
But how do such ideas rest with commissioners and officials of non-automatic qualifier conferences such as the Sun Belt Conference? The Press-Register asked commissioner Wright Waters his thoughts on the subject in a recent interview.
Why do you believe the competitive aspect of college football may be in trouble?
A. We've got schools next year that are going to have $120 million budgets, $130 million budgets. And we have schools in the same division whose budgets are $20 million. Can they still compete against each other or are we just buying wins? ... We've got to look at where does the financial model start interfering with the competitive model. And I don't believe there is such a thing as a level playing field. I don't believe in the tooth fairy, and I don't believe in some other things.
Do you believe other non-AQ commissioners feel the same way?
I think there's probably concern. I don't know that we've gotten together and said this is what we believe in and this is what's best for our schools. So often times all of us get sucked in with trying to compete within the current structure. But with Emmert having this retreat for college presidents, I'm hoping that some of these issues will be put on the table and we'll look at it from a big world picture of what do we believe in? What are our values? And if the presidents can tell us what our values are supposed to be and then turn to the professionals in the field -- the athletic directors, the commissioners and the coaches -- and say, 'OK, make it work within these values,' we'd all be a lot better off.
How much of what commissioner Slive presented do you agree with?
I think some of it is really good. In fact, I sent Mike an email and said you probably have more friends calling for this reform than you realize. This is not just an SEC issue, this is our's, too. Mike talked about hitting the rest button on recruiting. You know what? I agree with that. Our recruiting rules have their roots in the 1970s. Since that time, we just keep adding a rule and adding a rule. It's time to say, 'hey, it's 2011 and let's start projecting what 2020 is going to look like.'
What would you like to see happen?
No. 1, I think we have to have a national evaluation of our grant and where does our scholarship fit in comparison to other scholarships on campus that require the same time demands and similar talents? And then I think we can make a really good decision on where our grants fit. I want our grants to be competitive on campus. I think we have to go to four-year agreements, maybe five-year agreements. I think the one-year agreement that we've had for a long time just doesn't work today.
I'd like to see an honest-to-God discussion, a really good discussion, on whether freshmen ought to be eligible or not. I don't think we should be a farm system for the NFL. I think our product is strong enough and if our product is strong enough by having JV teams and freshmen ineligible, I'm all for it.
Because of people protecting their own interests, do you think there will be more separation between the so-called haves and have-nots? Do you feel the Sun Belt and other similar leagues will have a voice at the retreat?
I think that's why you're hearing a lot of commissioners speak out now about their hopes for this meeting, because they're doing it in a way to urge the discussion. And I think there are a lot of people in intercollegiate athletics right now, particularly the older guys, who are saying this is not as much fun as it used to be, and I'm concerned about the future of athletics. And that's why I hope the presidents will come out of that meeting telling us where the values are that we ought to be embracing. And I hope the presidents will hold us as practitioners to a very high standard of making sure that we not only embrace their values, but we have a product that embraces their values. I'd like for them to tell me how they see athletics fitting into American higher education.
What is your expectation for what will come out of this retreat?
First, I applaud president Emmert for having it. I think it's an incredibly gutsy move to have a discussion, because there's a lot of different parties out there. Division I has now gotten to the point where it's coaching 350 members. That's a lot of different views on these issues. ... I hope that they can get back to value-driven decisions rather than financial-driven decisions, and that's going to take some education of a lot of different people. We've got presidents on campus that are saying, 'Balance your budget, balance your budget.' Well, that's very difficult on some campuses given the financial issues that are out there. ... If we can get back to some value-driven decisions I think we can get this thing back to where it ought to be.
What would be the ultimate result or steps for the Sun Belt?
I don't know that we're driving this train. We're on this train. And we're a player on this train, but I'm not sure we're the engineer for this train. And I think that what we have to do is be part of the conversation and make sure that our voice is heard. If we can get this conversation to the point of let's get back focused on competition, on games, on taking care of kids, on that conversation, then we have a chance of being competitive and that will help the game and that will ultimately help everybody.
But if this conversation starts focusing on how much money we're going to have to spend, then I think you may be seeing the beginning of a whole new intercollegiate athletics, something that who knows where it goes? I like the competition. When a UL-Monroe can go to Alabama and win, I think that's good. When Troy can host Missouri and win, I think that's good for the sport. I think we need to get back focused on the competition. Missouri losing to Troy has not hurt Missouri one bit, but it has sure helped Troy.
By: Tommy Hicks, Press Register
http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2011/08/qa_sun_belt_commissioner_wrigh.html
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