New NCAA Rule Will Help Junior Colleges

By Eric Prisbell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 12, 2007

When Ryan Swanson, the men's basketball coach at Hutchinson Community College in Kansas, recruits a player, he routinely begins by asking, "Why aren't you going to prep school?" If the player suggests prep school is an option, Swanson has typically stopped pursuing him because he knows he doesn't stand a chance.

That approach likely will change because of a new NCAA rule that will prohibit players from attending prep schools for a year to correct deficiencies in their academic transcripts following four years of high school.

"It's big," said Jeff Kidder, the coach of Indian Hills Community College in Ottumwa, Iowa. "Everyone is aware of it. It's a whole different ballgame in recruiting. These kids can't automatically say, 'I'm going to prep school.' "

Kidder said two players who seemed destined for prep school a month ago are reconsidering his school.

Several other junior college coaches said they are quickly disseminating information to high school and AAU coaches to educate players on the new legislation because some expect a "feeding frenzy" late this summer over unsigned players.

Junior college, once a popular two-year destination for talented players who lacked the academic credentials to be eligible to compete immediately at four-year universities, was a stop for future NBA standouts such as Steve Francis, Shawn Marion and J.R. Rider. But over the past decade, the proliferation of prep schools -- some legitimate institutions, some fraudulent entities known as diploma mills -- has drained junior colleges of talent. One year at a prep school left players with four years of athletic eligibility at a four-year university, as opposed to two years of eligibility after two years at a junior college.

The NCAA's new rule states that upon entering ninth grade, athletes have four years to meet the eligibility standards in core academic courses to participate in college athletics; following those four years, they may take only one additional core course at any high school recognized by the NCAA. And beginning in 2008, recruits also will need to complete 16 core courses instead of 14, which will make it harder for players to become academically eligible after four years of high school.

"When you combine those two rules, you are going to see a different landscape for a few years while high school students adjust to that," said Brian Hoberecht, the coach at Dodge City (Kan.) Community College.

"It is going to help the junior colleges," said Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim, the president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Yet he called the rule "one of the worst ever passed" because if players fall behind during their freshman year in high school, there is not enough time to catch up within a four-year window. Boeheim added that the rule could have the unintended consequence of eliminating "the poor kid who is not a good student," which is why Boeheim is working with other Division I coaches to push for an amendment.

Several junior college coaches praised the NCAA's attempt to eliminate fraudulent prep schools, though they also said the majority of prep schools were legitimate. But many junior college coaches acknowledged they will benefit personally from the legislation because better players likely will attend junior colleges.

Dennis Helms, the Odessa (Tex.) College coach whose former players include 1991 No. 1 draft pick Larry Johnson, was blunt, saying: "We would not complain a bit if they somehow come up with a rule that figures out how Kevin Durant would come play for you. That would be okay."

In the past, coaches at four-year colleges often steered recruits with troubled academics to junior colleges to boost their credentials. Once prep schools became more popular, some coaches at four-year schools helped push players to specific prep schools so the players could improve their academics and preserve their four years of college eligibility.

"All of a sudden, instead of people trying to place players with you, you now had to go out and try to really recruit against Division I schools who were trying to put a kid in a prep school," said Paul Swanson, the coach at Pensacola (Fla.) Junior College.

For the four-year school, "if you can put someone somewhere for one year and get him back for four, it was a simple business decision. You knew which [prep] schools were legit and which were not, so not only was it hurting you, it was hurting the young man."

A decade ago, coaches said, the best junior college teams in the Midwest usually had five players who could play for major Division I programs. In recent years, the better teams usually had two players of that caliber. Wabash Valley (Ill.) College Coach Dan Sparks, who coached Marion in junior college, said close to 100 college coaches used to attend the national tournament each year. That number, he said, has been cut in half.

Paul Swanson and others said the emergence of fraudulent prep schools was a major topic at recent summer meetings for junior college coaches.

Junior college coaches had watched the practice become "progressively worse," he said, and "suddenly they were popping up everywhere."

In a response to the trend, he submitted a proposal two years ago to the NABC that detailed how players would be able to stay at a junior college one year to repair their academic deficiencies before being eligible at a Division I school.

Ryan Swanson added: "I have seen the transcripts. Kids with a 1.0 for 3 1/2 years go to some place and get a 4.0. That used to bother me, kids having this perception that prep school was some fantasy where you went and automatically became eligible."

The Washington Post reported in February 2006 that Lutheran Christian Academy in Philadelphia, which sent players to Georgetown and George Washington among other programs, was operated out of a community center, had no textbooks and had only one full-time employee, a former sanitation worker with no college degree. The New York Times reported in November 2005 that University High, a correspondence school in Miami, offered diplomas to students despite having no classes or instructors.

"We saw the NCAA not doing anything yet to legislate or police some of the prep schools that we knew were not doing the right things," Ryan Swanson said. "We were upset that the system rewarded kids for dropping out of school. We were upset because we felt the NCAA viewed us as the ugly, red-headed stepchild."

Coaches don't know if junior college basketball will return to the level of 15 years ago, but they expect more talent to be spread across the country and for it to have added relevance on the national recruiting scene.

"I think it may come back," Kidder said, "and it's not because people want it to come back. It's because the NCAA has made it that much more difficult for these guys, with this rule closing up all these sweatshop places."