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New NCAA president may beef up enforcement staff
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By Steve Wieberg
September 15, 2010
Seattle, WA — The incoming president of the NCAA intends to keep putting the squeeze on rules-breakers.
University of Washington President Mark Emmert, who takes leadership of the more than 1,000-school association Oct. 5, said Tuesday that he sees a recent spate of high-profile infractions cases "having an appropriate impact on the way people look at and think about playing within the rules." He applauded the efforts of an expanded NCAA enforcement staff and said it could be beefed up further.
He also pointed to the chilling effect of stiff sanctions recently handed down by the association's Committee on Infractions.
Though Emmert declined to speak specifically on Southern California's case, the committee raised eyebrows in June by slapping one of college football's signature programs with a two-year postseason ban, significant reductions in scholarship allotments and the erasure of records because of illicit extra benefits Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush and his family received from a San Diego businessman and former sports marketing agent. The school is appealing some of the sanctions. Bush said Tuesday that he is forfeiting his title as 2005 Heisman winner.
"The key is trying to get the penalties to line up with the bad behavior and getting others to change so that they play within the rules," Emmert said. "That's not easily done, but … I think recent cases have had a positive impact in that department. I'm quite confident in that."
Emmert, president at Washington since 2004 and, before that, chancellor at LSU, was selected in April from among four finalists to head the NCAA, succeeding the late Myles Brand. Though three weeks away from formally taking office, he has shaken up the NCAA's Indianapolis-based staff — releasing and reassigning several top executives — and said more moves are coming as he tries to "simplify the organizational structure" and cut costs.
Emmert wouldn't rule out reducing the NCAA's staff of almost 500, paralleling cost cutting at many individual schools. But he was emphatic Tuesday that such measures wouldn't extend to enforcement. That staff, Emmert said, potentially could grow.
Responding in part to the concerns of conference commissioners, the NCAA has beefed up enforcement efforts in men's basketball in particular. It broke off three investigators two years ago to focus solely on the sport and is putting three new investigators on the team this month.
That brings the overall number of NCAA investigators to 23, up from 12 in 2003.
College football, meanwhile, has seen a wave of agent-related cases that David Price, the NCAA's vice president for enforcement services, attributes to a 10-year push in that area. Emmert has been involved in discussions with coaches and NFL and NFL Players Association officials about illicit activity.
The NCAA has conducted — and in some instances completed — agent-related investigations at South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, Alabama and Georgia, among other schools.
Separately, Michigan is awaiting an infractions committee verdict on charges of violations related to football practices and workouts. Other cases are ongoing at Connecticut, West Virginia and Miami (Fla.).
• NCAA Football News Archive Index:
2010, 2009
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