INDIANAPOLIS --- The NCAA Division I Management Council had an opportunity to review and discuss  legislative proposal packages developed by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) that will be the foundation for improved recruiting and access measures in men’s and women’s intercollegiate basketball.  The Council concluded its fall meeting in Indianapolis yesterday evening.

The packages come on the heels of an “ethics summit” held by the NABC last year, and a challenge by NCAA president Myles Brand to basketball coaches recommending changes in NCAA policy to improve the academic and social well-being of student-athletes.  The collaboration among the NABC, WBCA and NCAA national office is consistent with the NCAA’s Strategic Plan and the initiatives for the association to work more closely with its constituents and stakeholders.

The charge of both the NABC and the WBCA projects has been to review all aspects of basketball recruiting, which include key recruiting dates; the current climate in recruiting; and the access for coaches to build relationships with prospective student-athletes.  

The NABC submitted 11 recruiting proposals to the Management Council.  Jim Haney, executive director of the NABC, also provided the Management Council with details of his organization’s Guardian of the Game plan, which focuses on four pillars--advocacy, education, service and leadership.  Additionally, Haney spoke about the NABC’s mission to help Division I men’s basketball coaches assume more accountability and responsibility for their recruiting efforts in an attempt to improve graduation rates; meet enhanced eligibility standards; and increase the retention of student-athletes on college campuses.  

Beth Bass, chief executive officer of the WBCA, spoke on behalf of the WBCA Special Committee on Recruiting and Access, providing the Management Council with fundamental principles for women’s basketball recruiting.  In addition to developing a better structure for recruiting measures, the WBCA also considered measures to reduce threats to the eligibility of women’s basketball student-athletes and ways to help women’s basketball student-athletes become better prepared in their social, academic and athletic endeavors.  The WBCA submitted 22 proposals for Management Council discussion.

In January, the Council will be asked to provide initial approval to allow the two legislative packages to move forward into a 60 day comment period.  If the proposals receive support in January, they will move to second consideration by the Council in April.  If they receive second approval, they will then be forwarded to the Division I Board of Directors for final adoption at its April 2005 meeting in Indianapolis.  

In other news, the Council received an update on the Division I Committee on Academic Performance’s (CAP) academic performance program (APP).  The CAP has begun collecting academic progress rate data and is poised to make decisions on several key items.  Among the major CAP discussion items are: the cut points on contemporaneous penalties; how to utilize the academic progress rate (APR) scale in the evaluation of teams; a method for accommodating the differences in academic semester and quarter APR scores; and the public release of data based on one year of APR data.  There will be no penalties applied this year, although institutions will receive notice of their performance.   More than 85 percent of Division I member institutions have already provided data for the APP.  The CAP will meet in Indianapolis October 26-27, 2004.

The Council also selected Jacqueline P. Blackett, senior associate director of athletics at Columbia University-Barnard College (Ivy League), as the incoming chair of the Academics/Eligibility/Compliance (AEC) cabinet.