Shift In Ncaa Policy Involves Big Risks

Executive director Cedric Dempsey and his allies have dragged a nervous NCAA into a risky experiment called “trust.”

And if Dempsey is right and NCAA schools are willing to refrain from cheating, college sports might be ready to send its fat, ponderous rulebook to the junk heap.

This latest turn could leave the athletes the biggest winners, with greater rights than ever. They might even gain a modest share of money through monthly stipends, endorsements, personal appearances and loans.

But what if Dempsey is wrong, and “trust” is not so attractive? What if recruiters and boosters take advantage of the athletes’ right-to-work rule narrowly adopted this week at the last full NCAA convention?

Will renewed paranoia reign? Will the rulebook bulge even more while the NCAA enforcement division begins hiring extra help?

“I’m not going to take that attitude,” Dempsey said. “It’s going to work. We’re going to make it work.”

Not since 1983 when Proposition 48 was adopted, setting academic requirements for freshman eligibility, has the NCAA taken such a major shift in policy.

The potential for abuse in athletes holding part-time jobs is vast.

“Sure, there could be bogus jobs,” said Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany, an NCAA investigator 20 years ago. “Sure, that would open up a can of worms. But I think we have to start living with cans of worms.”

Added Washington State president Sam Smith: “We’ll watch it for a couple of years and see what happens.”