NCAA prez lauds Tar Heel teams

The University exemplifies leadership in intercollegiate athletics, especially during the current period of academic reform, NCAA President Myles Brand said Tuesday evening in front of about 250 spectators in Koury Auditorium.

Brand, the keynote speaker for the Carolina Leadership Academy’s first anniversary celebration, expressed his concerns about the future of college athletics.

After his lecture, he participated in a roundtable discussion with other prominent figures, including Chancellor James Moeser, ACC Commissioner John Swofford and former UNC-system President Bill Friday.

“The Carolina Leadership Academy is quite special,” Brand said, praising UNC-Chapel Hill’s leadership school for student athletes. “If we can use it as a model, that would be terrific.”

Brand, in his third year as president, outlined the NCAA’s new tool for gauging student athletes in the classroom, the Academic Progress Rate. Beginning in the 2005-06 academic year, all teams in all NCAA sports must meet minimum requirements or face sanctions, such as the loss of scholarships.

“We’re serious about academic reform. You’re going to have to be a student first and then an athlete,” he said. “This is real reform, not just lip service.”

On a scale of zero to 1,000, a score of 925, which represents a 50 percent expected graduation rate, will be the minimum necessary to avoid punishment. Preliminary reports were published this academic year, and UNC-CH’s men’s basketball team finished at the top of the rankings with a perfect score.

“If you want to conduct intercollegiate athletics the right way, look at Chapel Hill,” Friday said.

Brand also expressed his belief that athletics departments need to demonstrate fiscal responsibility.

To do that, he said, departments must increase the responsibility of schools’ presidents, slow the spiral of spending to encourage winning and integrate athletics into campuses as a whole.

But Moeser highlighted a key problem with fiscal prudence: Sports teams expect to win.

“I don’t really see a way to control these spiraling costs because of the need to be competitive,” he said. “There’s an arms race. … In every aspect of the University, we compete for the best.”

Brand said he advocates for fiscally responsible actions because when a university begins to be defined by its athletics, its academic mission faces a crisis. “(These actions) must add value to the university’s mission,” he said. “It means using the resources in ways that go beyond the job of winning.”

The Carolina Leadership Academy, led by Jeff Janssen, aims to develop student athletes’ leadership through interactive workshops, one-on-one coaching, peer mentoring and educational resources.

“Janssen and the things he taught us really influenced our success this season,” said senior Carey Fetting-Smith, a member of the women’s field hockey team that won the ACC tournament and finished 21-2 last season.

The last time Brand, Moeser and Athletics Director Dick Baddour met, they stood on the floor of the Edward Jones Dome to celebrate athletic excellence. Tuesday, they gathered to celebrate UNC’s mission to instill a sense of leadership in its student-athletes.

“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other,” Brand said. “From the leadership of Bill Friday to Dean Smith … the University of North Carolina is the example for leadership.”

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu