After last year’s disaster, UMaine prepared to try and comply again

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At first glance, not much has changed in the compliance office since the tumultuous days of late 1993 and early 1994 when the long, narrow room became like a black hole in the University of Maine athletic department in Orono.

Careers disappeared through this room. The reputation of an entire university was deflated through this room.

“Compliance,” as it is called, is still a converted janitor’s supply room located in the Memorial Gymnasium. There are no windows. This day an electric fan sits on the floor, blowing stale August air toward acting compliance coordinator Tammy Light and her student assistant, Denice Tucker, who are already well into the new work year with the recent arrival of the UM football team for preseason practice.

Here is the first visible change from last year. Though the faces are familiar, the jobs are new. Other familiar faces are missing.

Woody Carville, who ran Maine’s compliance operation out of this space for much of the past decade, is gone, retired after having his competence publicly questioned by UM administrators.

The absence of Mike Ploszek from the building is also palpable. The athletic director when eight UM student-athletes were discovered to be in violation of NCAA eligibility requirements eventually resigned amid charges he planned to conceal some of the violations.

Once Carville’s assistant, Light is now his replacement. Her eyes register sadness when she recalls the events she believes have changed everything in compliance – for the better.

“It was a painful way to get here,” said Light, who uncovered most of last year’s eligibility violations. “I think this is what Woody was trying to do for a lot of years. This was always his dream. It was made easy for me because of everything that happened. We got some attention from outside that the athletic department really needed help.”

Help with compliance is what the athletic department has received, according to Light. Plenty of help. The short list of aid includes:

Four new IBM computers, one each placed in the offices for financial aid, the registrar, academic support, and compliance. The computers link all four vital campus areas for determining and monitoring the eligibility of student-athletes under NCAA rules.

New software. Specifically, Maine is now using the comprehensive package developed and distributed at no cost by the NCAA for tracking the eligibility of student-athletes. Now, if a student-athlete’s credit hours or other records deviate from NCAA rules, a warning flashes on the screen.

An open-ended operating budget. “Compliance will get whatever they need to do the job right,” said Anne McCoy, the assistant athletic director who oversees the athletic budget. The total price tag won’t be known until the end of the academic year. McCoy said she believes some costs will be shared by other campus departments.

Help. At the direction of UM President Frederick Hutchinson and his assistant, Robert Whelan, compliance with NCAA regulations is no longer a two- or three-person operation. It has become a campus-wide responsibility.

“That’s the biggest change, getting more of the campus involved in a direct way,” said Whelan, who has been charged by Hutchinson with monitoring all aspects of compliance. “The main offices are taking more of an ownership role in compliance. It’s a more integrated campus effort.”

Light said this “integrated” effort is built upon increased communication among different areas of the campus that deal with student records, the backbone of monitoring compliance with NCAA rules.

The communication starts at the top – with the president and athletic director.

“I have a solid line of communication to the AD and a dotted line to the president,” said Light. “That means any time I need to talk with the AD, I get a response, whether it’s a phone call or a meeting. I have weekly meetings with Bob Whelan.”

To facilitate communication, a “core planning committee” has been formed. The committee consists of Light, Vice President for Enrollment Management Joyce Henckler, and representatives from the financial aid and academic support offices.

The overall concept is simple. Each office on campus will use its resources and expertise to participate in compliance.

Financial aid will monitor the financial aid of student-athletes.

The registrar’s office will monitor athletes’ academic eligibility.

Admissions will work with the new NCAA clearinghouse to determine initial eligibility.

The computer office will help by downloading any relevant information from the campus mainframe to the compliance computers so data will not have to be entered by hand as it was last year.

How do offices from other areas of campus feel about becoming more involved in NCAA compliance?

“It’s not something perceived as being out of our bailiwick,” answered Henckler. “My perception is it’s a shared responsibility. I see it as perfectly congruent with how we’ve worked in the past. I always believe the collective wisdom of the group is more powerful.”

Meanwhile, Light has retooled compliance’s methods for instructing student-athletes and coaches on all areas of NCAA rules such as amateurism, playing seasons, and conduct.

“I’ll be working with smaller groups than in the past. I’ll meet with one team at a time rather than in groups of three or four teams,” said Light, who plans to hold “captains’ conferences” during the year with team captains to discuss NCAA issues.

With the NCAA software linking all of the offices and putting the information at the fingertips of Light and Tucker, a system of checks and balances has been created that never existed before.

Maine isn’t making up the system as it goes along. A Kansas-based legal firm that specializes in matters of NCAA compliance has been hired through Hutchinson’s office to advise the university on setting up the new system. The firm of Bond, Schoeneck & King will be paid from unrestricted university funds, according to UMaine spokesman John Diamond.

Also, the NCAA has started its national eligibility clearinghouse for incoming freshmen. All relevant records of prospective NCAA student-athletes from around the world are reviewed by the clearinghouse, which subsequently rules if the individual is eligible or ineligible.

How is the new system working so far?

Light said it has already made obsolete the circumstances that led hockey coach Shawn Walsh to be suspended by the university for playing an ineligible freshman last winter.

“The NCAA clearinghouse prevents that,” she said.

The new system has already discovered one UM student-athlete who is ineligible this fall.

“The difference is we caught the error before the student-athlete participated in competition,” Light said, referring to the fact that Maine teams had to forfeit more than 40 games last year because student-athletes participated before their ineligibility was discovered.

The new system isn’t perfect. It can be cumbersome for coaches and student-athletes alike.

Jack Cosgrove, the UM football coach, said the process of putting his 24 incoming freshmen’s transcripts through the NCAA clearinghouse was awkward and time consuming.

“When we were handling it, I felt we had more control of it. Now, we’re relying on someone else,” Cosgrove said. “If we have a question, instead of talking with someone here in Orono, we have to get on the phone.”

The clearinghouse has been inundated, which may explain first-year bugs.

“I recently read in the NCAA News where they’ve processed 61,000 student-athletes, and that was awhile ago,” said Light.

As the new academic year begins, Light knows the question UM fans want answered is simply this: Will the new system prevent a repeat of last year?

Her answer:

“I’m just about as sure (athletes can be sure of their) academics as any other student on this campus would be because now it’s being handled by the body that deals with that.”

Twelve Commandments for Staying Eligible

These commandments are reprinted from Bear Facts, a new newsletter for student-athletes published by the University of Maine athletic department.

1. Thou shall not use drugs.

2. Thou shall not gamble nor provide information to people involved in organized gambling activity.

3. Thou shall not contract with an agent, orally or in writing.

4. Thou shall make satisfactory academic progress towards your degree and remember how few people make it to the pros.

5. Thou shall not sell complimentary admissions nor exchange them for any item of value, nor give them away to anyone except as NCAA rules allow.

6. Thou shall work for every dollar in employment arranged by or through the University, so that you are paid only for work actually performed and at the going rate of pay.

7. Thou shall not take advantage of being a student-athlete to get benefits from coaches or boosters not available to other students. In other words, `Thou shall not take a free lunch.’

8. Thou shall not take money for being a student-athlete.

9. Thou shall not promote commercial products or services.

10. Thou shall not take financial aid from any source other than parents, guardians, or the University.

11. Thou shall conduct thyself with class and honesty both on and off the field, court, pool, or rink.

12. Thou shall stay eligible by following the first 11 commandments.