PRESIDENT’S ATHLETIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING

November 15, 2005

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Members Present:  Mark Boyer, Bruce Cohen, Dolan Evanovich, , Larry Gramling, Jeff Hathaway, Joel Lagare, Skip Lowe, Frank Munschel, Nancy Rodriguez, Bill Shultz, Susan Spiggle, Linda Strausbaugh, Gaye Tuchman, Dana Wilder, Janet Williams for John Saddlemire, Paul Young, Mike Zito, Pat Babcock; UConn Legal Counsel Rick Evrard

The minutes from the October 19, 2005 meeting were approved. 

The PAAC Executive Committee agreed to leave the Division of Athletics Mission as presented at April meeting.  Copy attached.

There were no standing committee reports.

Comments by Rick Evrard

PAAC Legal Counsel, Rick Evrard addressed the Committee.  His firm has just concluded a four year review cycle with the Division of Athletics . His firm reviews  sixteen facets of compliance in a  four year cycle. He mentioned that UConn’s compliance program is among the top 5 percent across the country. Last year they completed the cycle, and this year they are reviewing the issue of recruitment from an NCAA violation standpoint. The review will involve interviews with student athletes and coaches to explore recruiting practices and whether there are ways to make minor changes in the system to ensure compliance. UConn tries to make sure that systems are in place to have red flags go up to signal possible problems. NCAA strictly regulates the number of contacts—even by phone—that an institution can have with a prospective student-athlete recruit.  There are also restrictions on the number of times that an institution can watch prospects play to evaluate them and the number of times that the institution can pay for prospects to come to campus.  Vigilance and good record keeping are critical in monitoring compliance.

As part of the recruitment process review Rick’s firm will review samples of documents, monitor mechanism for recruitment, and submit a report to the Division of Athletics.. He discussed the recruitment process and legal implications of certain actions in the process.

Other trends

He mentioned that the NCAA is very critical of how coaches manage programs. There are more and more issues of potential academic fraud that are coming to attention within the Athletics community across universities.  He discussed in detail various aspects of selection of athletes and reiterated some important rules governing the recruitment process.

Report from Athletic Director

The Division of Athletics continues to monitor compliance issues. They work very closely with Rick Evrard’s firm and monitor the compliance situation throughout the country. He emphasized that compliance is everybody’s responsibility; anyone in the Bursar’s office, parking, Registrar’s office, dining halls could commit an act that put UConn in noncompliance.  The bulk of NCAA investigations come from anonymous tips.  The UConn Division of Athletics extensively screens potential hires’ backgrounds to avoid the possibility of any compliance problems.

Big East school presidents and athletic directors met recently at their annual meeting.  They developed a new policy of student athlete transfers within the conference.

The next meeting is scheduled for December 14, 2005.