Basketball world ponders recruiting reform

Most people agree men's college basketball recruiting, particularly summer recruiting, is in dire need of reform. The problem is no one can propose a solution that satisfies everyone involved. The dilemma has become so complex, it could be a word problem on this year's SAT.

-- Bob Hurley, boys' basketball coach at St. Anthony's High School in Jersey City, N.J.

Confusing, isn't it? This is the problem facing those in charge of redefining the way summer recruiting is handled in Div. I basketball. There are so many problems with the way it is done now, it is hard to know where to begin.

"I think that the big picture is that summer basketball for elite high school athletes has some big problems," said Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delaney. "It is one of the top three or four issues confronting the NCAA. There has been a lot written about it but it is not as high on the radar screen as I'd like to see it. The solution is not obvious."

The issue suffered another setback earlier this month when the NCAA Management Council declined to act on the most recent reform proposal. The proposal would have limited the number of days in the summer, from 23 to 14, which college coaches would have to evaluate players. It also would have prevented NCAA coaches from attending events not sanctioned by high school or junior college associations during the year.

The Council sent it back to the NCAA Academics, Eligibility and Compliance Committee to rework the proposal because the focus was too narrow.

"It's a very complicated issue," said Iowa Athletic Director Bob Bowlsby, who is the chairman of the Management Council. "It is the council's opinion that we have to take as broad a perspective as possible."

The original proposal was drawn up by the Coaches Congress of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, on which Penn State coach Jerry Dunn serves. Dunn, like most college coaches, said he'd like to see control over the recruiting process put back in the hands of the high school coaches. The summer camps have brought with them people not completely concerned with the well being of the athlete.

"We're all trying to get to a point where high school coaches have control over the players," Purdue coach Gene Keady said. "We have nothing against the coaches in (Amateur Athletic Union) ball or summer basketball. It's just that the players are not being told the right things or handled the right away. Their priorities are not in order."

Those who are running summer basketball at the moment don't feel the proposed legislation would affect them in any way. Bobby Dodd, president of the AAU, said it won't hurt the AAU "one iota." Dodd said very few college coaches attend the AAU National Championships over the summer.

The people who look like they would be hurt the worst are those in charge of the camps run by shoe companies, like Nike and Adidas. These camps have become big business in recent years, attracting elite athletes and college coaches from across the country. But they, like Dodd, don't feel threatened.

"It won't affect us at all," said George Raveling, director of Nike camps. "(The camps) weren't run to enhance recruiting. The camps are meant to provide a competitive opportunity for athletes."

Many high school and college coaches scoff at this. Bob Hurley, boys' basketball coach at St. Anthony's High School in Jersey City, N.J., said he sees plenty of outlets for boys to shoot hoops in the summer without Nike's involvement and feels Nike and other shoe companies have other not-so-philanthropic motives.

"It's about getting the elite athlete and getting their apparel and shoes on him," Hurley, whose team is consistently a national power, said. "They want to build a relationship that will translate into the next Kobe Bryant."

Hurley said no one from the NCAA has ever approached him to talk about his feelings on the issue, but Delaney said there has been an effort to get feedback from the National Federation of High School Coaches.

The proposal is currently at a standstill until the Compliance Cabinet meets in February. At that time, it will redefine the proposal and then send it back to the Management Council which can act on it in July. Some were hoping to get the legislation enacted before this summer, but that hope diminished toward the end of last year, Bowlsby said. It now looks like the earliest these changes could go into effect would be the summer of 1999.

Some people have expressed disappointment in the amount of time it has taken the NCAA to get anything on the books. But Shane Lyons, a senior representative with NCAA membership services, said the issue is not losing momentum.

"Some people are concerned that this is losing some steam," Lyons said. "I don't feel that way. I think the council is concerned with jumping into something too quick."

If the council does approve the legislation in July, it would then move on to the NCAA Board of Directors, on which University President Graham Spanier sits. Spanier said in an E-mail this issue is an important one to the board, and he is concerned in particular with the commercial influences which currently surround summer basketball.

Like that high school junior who reads and re-reads his problem on the SATs, administrators and coaches are going over and over the problems facing the game and coming up just short when it comes to a solution.

"It's the intersection of five or six things," Delaney said. "There is no clear jurisdiction in the summer. Then there's the intersection of college recruiting with high school competition. There's shoe company involvement and coaches not connected with education. It's going to require action on several fronts."