Commission looks at recruiting, Title IX
The Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics met Jan. 22 to discuss several issues that are currently facing college sports. The two main topics of discussion were recruiting and Title IX, a federal law that requires universitites to give equal opportunities to men and women.
The commission members talked at length about the new state of affairs in college recruiting, which has changed with advances in technology.
Web sites like www.rivals.com rank high school players by position and grade level, allowing anonymous users to post comments about players and teams. Many feel that this is turning high school athletes into commodities.
Bill McGregor has been the football coach at DeMatha Catholic High School in Maryland since 1982. One of McGregor’s players, Kenny Tate, is one of the top-ranked players at his position in the country.
So what happens next year when he drops a pass or doesn’t score a 40-yard touchdown every game?
McGregor said. There’s so much pressure that’s being unduly transferred to these boys, and they don’t need it.
The commission also talked about the proliferation of recruiting by means of text-messages on cell phones and messages on students
MySpace or Facebook pages. Coaches are limited in the number of times that they can visit with a potential recruit, but are allowed to send as many electronic messages as they want.
The discussion on Title IX centered on the soaring expenses associated with the two big sports: football and basketball. Just this year, Nick Saban signed a $32 million, eight-year contract to coach the University of Alabama football team.
Because of the amount of money allotted to the big sports programs, other men’s sports like soccer and volleyball are cut so that the university can stay in compliance with Title IX, a scenario that recently happened at the University of Florida.
It’s going to get worse for male athletes before it gets better,
said Eric Pearson, chairman of the College Sports Council. I don’t see a quick fix.
