The National Collegiate Athletic Association
(NCAA) is the governing body of college athletics. It is made up of
colleges and universities. It is also the legislative body on rules and
regulations dealing with athletic programs of its members. Tennessee State
'University is a member of the association. The, association is controlled
by college and university administrators. There is also a group called the
National Association of Basketball Coaches that lobby the NCAA to have the rules
and regulations discussed and debated before they are enacted. "An
offspring of the National Association of Basketball Coaches is the Black Coaches
Association which was formed several years ago. The Black Coaches
Association felt that some of the rules and regulations proposed and enacted
dealing with the reduction and restriction on the number of scholarships
an institution could offer "even though those rules had been adopted by the
universities as cost containment measures," said Frankie Allen, head basketball
coach at TSU, whose team won the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) Championship
in men's basketball last year. Obviously, it cost a lost of money to
run an athletic program, continued Allen, "So in men's basketball, the NCAA
decreased the number of athletic scholarships by two, from 15 to 13." In
football, the NCAA decreased the number of scholarships by as many as 17
in IAA over the next two years, related Allen. While "this all sounds good,
with everybody trying to get the most out of their money, the National
Association of Basketball Coaches [looked] at it as a basketball issue of cost
containment." Much of the protest by the Black Coaches Association against these
restrictions "fell on deft ears, many believing that the coaches were simply
trying to get more scholarships, to have more players, so that they could win
more games." This was not the issue as far as many members of the Black
Coaches Association were concerned, said Allen. Some of the leading black
coaches in the United States called a conference on the issue in Washington,
D.C. in 1993, that Allen attended. Other participants included Southern
California Coach George Ravelin, John Thompson of Georgetown, Nolan
Richardson of the University of Arkansas, and Clem Haskins of the
University of Minnesota To this group the issue was more of a social issue
than a basketball issue, said Allen. "George Raveling did a study and
found that 99 percent of all black athletes who receive scholarships in higher
education receive them in football and basketball." Thus, "when you reduce [the
scholarships] in these two sports," continued Allen, "there is a possibility
that over a ten year period there might be anywhere from 6,000 to 7,000 young
black males restricted from having the opportunity to go to college, and get a
college education." While there are other ways to get a college education,
he conceded, "if you look in the black community, every coach attending the
conference had been afforded the opportunity to go to college through an
athletic scholarship." Allen cited his own scholarship opportunities. He
was the first in his family to attend college. "That was provided by an
athletic scholarship to a small school in Virginia called Roanoke College." His
team won the conference championship and went to the NCAA Division II
Championships. He was the all-time leading scorer and rebounder at
Roanoke College, "and these records still prevail today." He was also the
all-time leading scorer in the state of Virginia for all of college basketball.
This issue has a special impact on historically black colleges and
universities such as Tennessee State. It is, in reality, an issue of
access to higher education, said Allen. "When you restrict people from the
opportunity to go to college, they have to make alternative plans. "When
you talk about violence, crime, drugs, and a lost generation of black males, the
BCA felt that as role models they had to be accountable and speak to this
issue -- as a social issue. We felt that college presidents and people at
the NCAA had not realized the impact of this decision. I believe this
issue will be resolved and there will be a restoration of scholarships" in these
areas.
In fact, the BCA raised the level of awareness on the scholarship issue by taking
their case to Congress. "We went to Washington, DC to get support from the
Congressional Black Caucus on this issue," said Allen. After the meeting
with the Caucus, the BCA received the full support from the Caucus on this issue,"
said Allen. The Caucus formed a task force to meet with members of the NCAA
to discuss this issue.
A second
major issue at this meeting was the NCAA's rules and regulations regarding the
involvement of coaches in the community and how much involvement they can
have with their own team, said Allen. These rules regulate the activities
of coaches in the community. "There are certain times even when you can go
into the community to speak to youth groups. The NCAA believes that there
might be a recruitable athlete at such gatherings. For instance," he
continued, "if the Boys Club called on me to speak and perhaps bring a
player with me, there are certain times of the year when we cannot do
that. If they are in the ninth grade, they may be regarded as recruitable
athletes." In fact, "there are only certain times of the year when, you can
have a team meeting with your own players, the same players who want to come to
you and talk about whatever, there are only certain times of the year this can
be done." These are the young men "that we are trying to reach. I don't
think any coach is trying to gain an unfair [recruiting] advantage but if some
one in the community feels that a coach could be a role model, he could make a
difference in this young man's life, all coaches in particular, but black
coaches especially, feel that we have an obligation and duty to do these things
in the community in which we reside." These rules have good intent,
concluded Allen, "but often their blanket, across the board application, do more
harm than good. "
Dr. James Haney, Writer
*As Seen in the "Taking Time to Comment" Column of the
Metropolitan Times,
