Forget about strippers and booze.
The two buzzwords the NCAA wants the public to associate with recruiting are these: Entitlement and accountability.
A sense of entitlement, NCAA officials say, has led football recruits to behave badly on campus visits, leading to embarrassing tales at schools such as Colorado, Minnesota and Florida.
The NCAA wants member institutions to have accountability for what takes place during those visits.
“Accountability is the key for full-blown success,” NCAA President Myles Brand said.
The NCAA Division I Management Council met Tuesday in Indianapolis to discuss recommendations submitted by the 18-member NCAA Task Force on Recruiting.
The panel suggested banning elaborate meals and hotel suites for recruits, plus fancy cars that transport them around campus.
“How should one travel to an institution?” asked David Berst, chairman of the task force. “Is it all right to have a limousine painted with the school’s colors with three TVs inside? The answer may be that it’s not appropriate.
“We need to take a deep breath and see if we can attack the sense of entitlement. Why do we continue to treat prospects as celebrities rather than ensure that they make informed decisions on what school they want to attend?”
The task force also wants schools to ban so-called game-day simulations in which the recruit’s name appears on a video scoreboard and the back of a uniform.
Schools are likely to be asked to adopt a written policy for conduct during recruiting visits. Hosts might have to sign a pledge promising to behave, and schools would have to enforce the rules.
“Each institution is different–some are urban, some rural, some large, small, public, private,” Brand said. “You [can’t] deal with these issues by posting an NCAA compliance policeman on every campus.”
The task force, though, did not recommend reducing the 48-hour time period for the official visit or the number of official visits (five) a recruit can take.
Allowing schools to pay for the airfare of a recruit’s parents is still under discussion, Brand said. Current rules allow schools to pay for parents’ food, lodging and car transportation.
After the Management Council considers the report, the NCAA’s Board of Directors will examine it April 29.
Recommendations then will be circulated among the 31 Division I conferences, before a final report is produced in July.
The NCAA is likely to pass legislation in August, so the new policies can take effect for the next football recruiting cycle.
