New college hoops drill: Improve scoring in class

The changes - part of a larger reform package introduced by the NCAA board of directors in 2002 - are not universally embraced by coaches or outside critics. But they come as welcome news to Leon Symanski, a graduate of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and a member of the Rebels' 1987 Final Four team. Mr. Symanski graduated with a degree in business management and went on to finish law school, but he says he saw teammates run into trouble when they couldn't keep up academically.

"A lot of the guys came from diverse backgrounds and didn't really 'get' what they needed to do academically," he says. "Coach [Jerry] Tarkanian recruited a lot of different guys to fill a lot of different roles, and the reasons didn't always take academics into account."

"I owe a lot to UNLV," he adds. "But I think penalties are a good idea, because it's really not fair to the athletes to recruit them into this environment and then not offer them any support once they get there."

The NCAA's recent action is "a great step," says Thomas Hearn Jr., president of Wake Forest University and chairman of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, the group that first called for an overhaul of the college sports system in 1991. "Our hope is that this completes the transition from the time when everything in college athletics had to do with remaining eligible, and nothing to do with degrees.... While we realize that it will take some time to get these new regulations implemented, we're very pleased, and we think that it will change behaviors."

Opponents of the league's approach paint a different picture. The NCAA's reforms are little more than window dressing covering up systemic problems that go all the way to the top, charges Linda Bensel-Meyers, director of The Drake Group. The watchdog organization has been pushing for an increased academic presence in college sports. But in its 2002 changes, she points out, the NCAA actually removed a requirement that new recruits achieve a particular standardized test score.

"By lowering the admissions standards while raising the academic requirements for students - these changes are just going to serve as incentive to weaken the academic system at many universities," she says. "It will really put the institutions against a brick wall, forcing them to choose between being in the business of college sports or defending their academic principles."

But for Greg Anthony, an 11-year NBA veteran who left UNLV before graduation in 1991 only to return after retirement to complete his B.A., there's more to it than requirements. Schools should also focus on the quality of the education they offer student athletes, rather than simply handing them general-studies diplomas.

"There's been a lot of focus on graduation rates," he says, "but just because you have a degree doesn't mean you'll be able to use it. I'd rather see players getting degrees that will be of real benefit to them."

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