NCAA Panel to Re-Examine Recruiting Rules

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) _ To NCAA president Myles Brand, one recruiting visit that includes nudity, sex or violence is too many. <br><br>So with reports circulating that there's been far more than just

Friday, February 13th 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) _ To NCAA president Myles Brand, one recruiting visit that includes nudity, sex or violence is too many.

So with reports circulating that there's been far more than just one, Brand responded Thursday by ordering a task force to re-examine the organization's recruiting rules.

``We say you can't have inappropriate recruiting activities, but how exactly do you translate that? That's the question we have to answer right now,'' Brand said.

More specific rules also would make it easier for the NCAA to punish such incidents. Brand indicated the penalties could be severe.

``It could rise to the level of major infractions, from the loss of scholarships to the loss of postseason play,'' Brand said.

NCAA vice president David Berst, the group's former head of enforcement, will lead the task force. He'll have a panel of between eight and 13 members.

Brand wants a report in about 60 days, in time for changes to be discussed at the NCAA convention in April. He expects the new rules to be in place by next year's recruiting season.

Brand said the NCAA's old way of doing things would've taken more than a year. He proudly described this as the swiftest response to any situation in his 13-month tenure.

``It's what I want to do as president of the NCAA when serious issues that affect student-athlete well-being come up,'' Brand said. ``This may not be the last one I so approach. It's a different way of dealing with issues than in the past.''

In the most prominent recruiting scandal, three women are suing the University of Colorado, saying they were raped at or after an off-campus party for football recruits in December 2001.

A newspaper story about Colorado football players allegedly hiring strippers for recruits uncovered the head of a Colorado-based stripper agency, who said his firm has supplied topless dancers at campuses in Colorado, Texas and Nevada.

On Tuesday, Miami signee Willie Williams surrendered to authorities because of charges stemming from his trip to Gainesville, Fla., over Super Bowl weekend. He's accused of setting off three fire extinguishers in his hotel, grabbing a woman against her will and hitting a man at a bar in a span of five hours.

Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger applauded Brand's swift response.

``The enterprise of college athletics is obviously suffering from this,'' Geiger said. ``Let's do our best to get it right and get it right now.''

Brand said it was ``an interesting coincidence'' that he took an ethical stand hours before he, Geiger, Texas football coach Mack Brown and former SEC commissioner Roy Kramer, the founder of the Bowl Championship Series, took part in a public discussion on ethics in college sports.

``But ethical concerns are really at the heart of what the NCAA and college sports are all about,'' said Brand, who in his previous job as president of Indiana University also took a stand against basketball coach Bob Knight.

``College sports is not a business. It's about educating young men and women in the field and in the classroom. And that has serious ethical implications.''

More than 1,000 people attended the two-hour ethics conference held Thursday night on the TCU campus.

The liveliest moments centered on the BCS, which was to be expected considering TCU fought most of last season to earn a spot in one of the lucrative games. The Horned Frogs had an uphill battle because they were in a non-BCS conference.

Kramer defused any tension by opening by saying fans should thank him for all the publicity his system brought the school, drawing laughter and applause. Brown was so awed that he opened his remarks by commenting on the tame reaction.

``That was unbelievable,'' he said, smiling. ``I've heard these people cuss you all year.''