Tough talking commissioners tout change

CHICAGO (AP)—This is what conference commissioners do these days.

They talk about how college football is at a crossroads. They use phrases like tipping point, when referring to a year filled with scandals and embarrassments from Southern California to Ohio State.

They toss around ideas like raising academic standards for student-athletes, going back to the days when freshmen were ineligible and handing out scholarships that can’t be pulled after one year and would include a little spending money to make up for the fact that the kids receiving them can’t hold jobs.

They talk about the need to rewrite the NCAA rule book to provide more clarity, to close loopholes and to get rid of regulations that are outdated, confusing or vague. They talk about making penalties harsh enough to deter future cheaters.

Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive started it last week at his league’s football media days, laying out an ambitious agenda to revamp college athletics.

Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner John Swofford was next. It was Swofford whose state of the game speech included the terms “tipping point” and “crossroads.”

So on Thursday at the Big Ten media days in Chicago, it was Jim Delany’s turn.

Delany is at once sharp as a knife and blunt as a hammer and he might just be the most powerful commissioner in college athletics.

The highlights of his speech included him at his straight-talking best.

Talking about the system and structure of college sports he said, “It could probably fairly be described as a system established in the `50s and stuck in the `70s.”

“I think that there’s going to be a need to really look at it, look at it seriously, upgrade it for the 21st century so that we’re going to be able to continue to put forward teams sponsored by institutions of higher education without being embarrassed by the actions that occur off the field, not on the field.”

Delaney said he couldn’t remember a time in his three decades working in college sports, “where we’ve had more questions about various programs, whether it be on the agent side, the recruitment side, or the academic side. We’ve had two of them in this conference, and that’s two too many, as far as I’m concerned.”

In the wake of the Ohio State scandal that led to the ouster of coach Jim Tressel, Delany said he gathered his coaches in Chicago to send a message.

“I wanted to call them together today and speak to them candidly and from the heart, explain to them that in many ways the game is as healthy as it’s ever been. But also, in my view, we have as a conference been hurt by the two institutions that have been involved in NCAA allegations and findings, and that I wanted to let them know that I expected them to lead their programs in a way that wouldn’t put us in that circumstance again.

“I felt very comfortable with a very candid reaction. I think everybody understands where we’re going and why we’re going in that direction.”

Delany praised NCAA President Mark Emmert, who has also been touting change. He called for the conferences to work together to improve the structure of college sports. And he threw his support behind Slive’s ideas, which included raising the GPA requirement for incoming freshmen to attain eligibility to 2.5 and doing away with one-year renewable scholarships.

All this talk of reform should be encouraging, should be welcome news to fans of college sports, especially college football. Yes, the sport has never been more popular, but as Slive pointed out, the fans are growing increasingly skeptical of the product. They assume that cheating is simply part of the package of big-time athletics. And considering both of the teams that played in the BCS national championship game last season,Auburn and Oregon, are facing NCAA investigations it’s hard to argue against that point.

It’s also hard for anyone to take all this tough talk seriously, precisely because the sport has never been more popular, never been more profitable—at least for the conferences, schools and coaches.

Why change now when the stadiums are full and the TV rating are high?

Until dramatic changes are actually made, changes that can rein in a win-at-any-cost culture, we all have the right to remain skeptical when the commissioners start talking tough.

Ralph D. Russo can be followed at Twitter.com/ralphdrussoAP.