SPORTS
Presidents had their way at NCAA convention
By Robert Weber
Emerald Spoils Reporter
Presidents of colleges and
universities across the country
came to last week's NCAA con
vention in Nashville. Tenn
with a long list of reforms and
something to prove to the rest
of the nation.
They left with smiles on their
faces, just about everything on
their list enacted and the
knowledge that they were, once
again, in charge.
"If they offered legislation, it
passed," Rill Byrne. Oregon's
athletic director said. "They
were there in force and they
were organized.
“They wanted to show that
they were the boss." Byrne
said. "I always thought they
were."
The legislation that Byrne is
talking about falls into three
main categories: cost-cutting,
limiting time commitments on
athletes and a restructuring of
Division I athletics.
The biggest and most contro
versial area of reform involves
cost-cutting, with coaching
staffs and scholarships absorb
ing the hardest hits.
By August of 1992. Division I
schools will be allowed no
mom than eight full-time assis
tant football coaches. Oregon's
football staff currently has nine
full-time assistants, so Duck
Coach Rich Brooks will have to
get along without the services
of one full-time coach.
Scholarships were cut by 10
percent for all Division I sports
over the next three years. Ore
gon's 95 football scholarships
will bo trimmed to .85 over the
next three seasons while the
men's basketball scholarships
will be lowered to 13 over the
next two years, two (ewer than
they have now.
Byrne isn't happy about the
cuts, but he said something had
to be done
"You hate to see this hap
pen. ’ Byrne said, "but only \2
schools in the country arc oper
ating in the black and we're not
one of them."
back into student-athletes at the
convention by approving a
20hour limit for playing and
practicing per week for in-sea
son athletes and an eight-hour
a week limit for off-season ath
letes.
"I was very interested and
supportive of reducing time re
quirements for student-ath
7 get angry when people take cheap shots at
the athletic department. College athletics gets a
black eye that it doesn’t deserve. ’
— Myles Brand
"There an* two ways to re
duce expenses — cut personnel
and cut scholarships and we
did iMith." he said
The NCAA also took a big
step toward potting the student
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letes." Byrne said.
The time limits won't dra
matically affect programs at the
University. Byrne said, be
cause, "the sports most affect
ed by the time limits are swim
ming. water polo, diving and
gymnastics, and we don't have
any of those sports,” Byrne
said.
Byrne said another reason for
the stronger effort by the 44
momber NCAA Presidents
Commission was that they had
lost key votes in previous con
ventions and weren't going to
let it happen again.
University President Myles
Brand agreed with Byrne's
statement saying. "In 19H7, a
similar attempt to reform was
made but the athletic directors
of some schools and confer
ences managed to derail the
agenda. There was some con
cern that this could happen
again.
"There was a feeling that if
the presidents couldn't control
the agenda that Congress
would." Brand said.
He was <)uick to note that the
athletic directors and confer
ences who opposed these re
forms didn't include most of
the schools on the West Coast.
"The Southeastern Confer
ence and other southern confer
ences do not share the same
opinion as the Pac-10 and Big
10 conferences," Brand said.
In addition to the threat of in
tervention by Congress and the
ghost of conventions past, the
commission also faced their tar
nished reputation.
"1 get angry when people
take cheap shots at the athletic
department." Brand said. "Col
lege athletics gets a black eye
that it doesn't deserve.
"Everytime UNL.V, Oklaho
ma. l-'lorida. Illinois or Mary
land does something wrong,
the other 105 schools pay for
it."
STUDENTS
Continued from Page 5
ney said.
Al the University, tuition in
creased ;tr> percent during the
last recession, and several pro
grams were eliminated or con
solidated with others.
"Preserving quality is be
coming very difficult." Man
ning said.
Despite the gloomy figures.
Manning and Stickel said they
share Pinckney's optimism for
the current legislative session.
"It could be a positive
change for the system." Man
ning said. "Property taxes were
an unfair burden on property
owners and also made it diffi
cult to fund K-12 education and
higher education."
OSL's top priority will be to
find replacement revenue to
make up for the property tax
funds that will no longer be
available for higher education
funding. Pinckney said.
Among the options for re
placement funding are a gross
receipts tax on business rev
enue. an increase in state cor
porate income tax. a change in
the structure of the state's per
sonal income tax and a sales
tax.
"I have concerns about going
strictly to a sales tax." Pinck
ney said. "The poorer you are
the more you pay." which
would especially affect stu
dents. she said.
OSI. is part of a coalition of
rr
human services organisations
sponsoring informational ses
sions on tax reform in Salem
this weekend. A "tax and
budget teach-in" will be held
at Willamette University l-aw
School on Saturday morning
before a march and rally on the
steps of the ('.apitol at 1 p.m.
The Heart of Oregon Coali
tion. which includes groups
such as the Oregon Public Em
ployees Union and Ecumenical
Ministries of Oregun. should
also provide support for higher
education this session. Pinck
ney said.
By presenting a united front,
coalition members hope to con
vince legislators of the impor
tance of all state and local gov
ernment services, she said.
"We re agreeing to not say.
‘cut them, not us' " she said.
But most of all. student pow
er is "absolutely critical" for
success in the Legislature,
Pinckney said.
OSL is sponsoring a state
wide student lobby day in the
Capitol on Feb. 5, when it
plans to have teams of students
visit legislators and present
.hem with petitions.
Stickel and Manning said
they are trying to arrange trans
portation for 1.000 students
from the University to “fill the
steps of the Capitol" at a rally
to be held that day.
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