NCAA Leaders Enact Changes To College Basketball

INDIANAPOLIS, IN — Almost a year after several arrests were made in a federal investigation into college basketball recruiting fraud, the NCAA's Board of Governors and Division I Board of Directors announced Wednesday the several necessary changes being put into place. In a statement from NCAA leaders, the significant changes are a response to the recommendations issued in April from the Commission on College Basketball, seven months after several assistant college basketball coaches and other organization members were arrested for federal bribery, fraud and other corruption charges, including former Indiana Pacers player and coach Chuck Person.

"These changes will promote integrity in the game, strengthen accountability and prioritize the interests of student-athletes over every other factor," NCAA leaders said in a statement, adding that the approved changes will:

• Provide college basketball players more freedom and flexibility to decide their future.
• Minimize the leverage of outside influences on high school recruits and college athletes.
• Add fresh perspective and independent judgment to NCAA decision-making at the highest level of policymaking and in investigations and case resolution.
• Strengthen accountability and deter future rule-breaking with harsher penalties for those who break the rules.

"Today’s actions renew our commitment to our core purpose — preparing students for a lifetime of opportunity," NCAA leaders said. "Change doesn’t end here. We will continue to work in all of these areas and continue to pursue collaboration with outside organizations, including the NBA, the National Basketball Players Association, apparel companies and USA Basketball." (- Mark Emmert, NCAA president; G.P. “Bud” Peterson, NCAA Board of Governors chair and Georgia Tech president; Eric Kaler, Division I Board of Directors chair and University of Minnesota, Twin Cities president)

Read the rest of the announcement at NCAA.org/commitment.

In September 2017, a U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York said in a statement that federal prosecutors and the F.B.I. have been investigating situations when money was used in a criminal manner to influence NCAA basketball coaches and student-athletes and others to get professional commitments from athletes.

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(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)