Top Stories

Bigger Changes in Store for the NCAA Next Year

In January, the Division I Board of Directors will look at 27 proposals from the Rules Working Group. Many of those proposals will be some of the biggest changes ever contemplated to the NCAA manual. While they are likely to sail through the Board of Directors, there will be a major battle over a few […]

Posted in Bylaws


How the NCAA Banned Cream Cheese

The NCAA is rewriting its rule book over the next couple of years. Starting in January, the Board of Directors will begin voting in actual proposals from the Rules Working Group to slim down a manual that while not actually near the size of the tax code, is still voluminous and unwieldy. When it comes […]

Posted in Bylaw Blog, Bylaws


Which Graduation Rate is the Right Graduation Rate?

One would think “how many football players graduated” would be an easy question to answer. It is easy enough to find the actual number, but calculating the rate football players graduated and whether they graduated is complicated by politics as well as math. At this point there are enough different methods that no matter what […]

Posted in Bylaw Blog, Bylaws


The NCAA Should Help One of Its Biggest Critics Joe Nocera

The news that New York Times columnist Joe Nocera is writing a book about college sports is likely to be greeted with anxious anticipation by those who do not like the NCAA. Mr. Nocera has been one of the NCAA’s harshest and most vocal critics, alongside Taylor Branch and Jay Bilas. Mr. Branch made waves last […]

Posted in Bylaw Blog, Bylaws


Maybe Harvey Perlman Was Right

There is a reason that reaching discovery is a major landmark in any legal case. At the start of a lawsuit, a plaintiff has only a theory of recovery. What appears in a complaint or pleading are just allegations. Discovery starts the process of testing that theory and finding out how many of those allegations […]

Posted in Bylaw Blog, Bylaws


Why is Oversigning Accepted in Basketball?

For the past two or three years, oversigning in football has been one of the biggest hot button issues in the NCAA. It has lead to legislative changes in both of the last two years, with the end result being a stricter set of limits on how many football prospects a school can sign, as […]

Posted in Bylaw Blog, Bylaws


Rejected NCAA Proposal Makes UNC Case More Complex

In 2011, facing rapidly accelerating changes in how courses at colleges were being offered, NCAA schools decided to change the regulation of nontraditional courses including online and independent study courses. Previously, extension courses were allowed so long as the school considered enrollment in the courses as regular enrollment and correspondence courses, in addition to being outdated, […]

Posted in Bylaw Blog, Bylaws, NCAA Penalties


NCAA Shows Just How Serious The Nine-Hour Rule Is

The NCAA’s new nine-hour rule showed that the NCAA members are getting serious about football graduation rates. Football became the second sport, after baseball, to get sport–specific academic rules. But as with any rule change in the NCAA, there is always the question of how far the Association is willing to go with a new […]

Posted in Bylaw Blog, Bylaws, College Football


How the NCAA Could Could Get Lance Thomas to Talk

The news that former Duke men’s basketball player Lance Thomas is being sued over not paying for almost $100,000 of jewelry he purchased as a senior in college looks like another Reggie Bush-type case. Most of the initial reaction has focused on how Thomas could afford the $30,000 down payment he made on the jewelry, […]

Posted in Bylaws, NCAA Penalties


Kickstarting Unofficial Visits

Back in the good old days that probably never existed, top athletes were thought to be relatively passive in their recruitment. They sat back and worked on their school work and played in high school while coaches did the legwork to recruitment. Coaches showed up at their games, reached out on the phone, visited prospects […]

Posted in Bylaw Blog, Bylaws



Are you ready for the NEXT STEP!