NCAA Panel to Examine Path of College Sports
By Mark Alesia, Indianapolis Star, June 13, 2005

The chairman of a committee of school presidents looking at the future of college sports ended the group's first meeting last Friday by pledging to seek input from numerous sources, although at least one doesn't appear to be welcome.

"We're not going to go in the closet and come back in 12 months and say, 'Here's our report,' " said Peter Likins, president of the University of Arizona. The NCAA Presidential Task Force on the Future of Division I Athletics, which met in Tucson, Ariz., involves about 48 presidents -- none from Indiana -- assigned to one of four subcommittees: academics, fiscal responsibility, presidential leadership and athlete well being.

Likins said the group will focus on "best practices" instead of NCAA legislation. He said he thinks college sports is "under stress, but not in crisis. We see the trends of recent years as not sustainable."

A consistent theme of NCAA president Myles Brand has been that revenue sources can't keep up with the rate of spending in college athletic departments. Concerning the involvement of the Drake group, Brand called the Drake Group "self-appointed," "radical" and "uncomfortable with the success of intercollegiate athletics." He said another faculty group, the Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics, is a more legitimate faculty voice because it's composed of elected faculty senate members.

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