Academic Reform to Be Closely Examined

But John Bruno, the school's faculty athletic representative, said the program expects to avoid penalty because the NCAA approved its academic improvement plan, which includes increasing the number of tutors and assigning an academic support person to travel with the men's basketball team.

David Ridpath, the executive director of reform-minded Drake Group, said it would "look pretty bad" from a public relations standpoint if no high-profile programs lose scholarships, but if that occurs, "I wouldn't necessarily think anything else other than the big programs have the resources to make sure they meet the score, quite frankly, by any means they can. There are certain things that can be done -- if you have the academic improvement plan -- to tweak the process. I'm not saying that is necessarily unfair, but it does lend the question of how credible is this."

Speaking to the disparity in academic resources, Cubit said if Western Michigan had "15 academic people running around, chasing kids to class, I would be far more successful than if I have two people on campus dealing with about 400 student-athletes. We're not going to hire the same amount of people as Texas or Tennessee."

Sanctions can also have significant ramifications at mid-level basketball programs. Consider Wyoming Coach Heath Schroyer, who in the spring of last year took over a Cowboys program that, he said, had the lowest APR of any men's or women's team in the Mountain West Conference. He said APR has become one of the top issues a coach should consider when taking over a program because his program has been punished because of the actions of players he never met.

"It is a balancing act," said Schroyer, who played high school basketball at DeMatha. "The years of giving everyone to your academic adviser and trying to keep them eligible is gone. Coaches are doing a lot of due diligence because the APR affects you on the basketball floor."

Brand has said the APR is not intended to punish programs as much as it is designed to change a culture. But Ridpath and others maintain concerns about programs funneling athletes to easier majors and athletic departments managing APR scores rather than offering athletes the best available education.

"It will be hard for me to look at that [announcement] and say they [schools] are really on the right track," Ridpath said. "There are too many loopholes. The model itself has not changed. We have not changed what the goal is: They have to win games. Period. Typically, savvy people find ways to get around all of these things."