Ivy presidents announce recruitment changes

The 2002 Penn football team anticipated some setbacks coming into the fall season. With the loss of 16 returning starters, including quarterback Gavin Hoffman and running back Kris Ryan, the Quakers knew there would be rebuilding to do.

However, what they did not anticipate was the hit they would take off the field over the summer.

On June 17, the Council of Ivy Group Presidents announced that the Ivy League's policy towards recruitment would be changed.

The presidents made three major decisions in regards to Ivy athletics policies.

The first change, which directly affects Ivy League football, states that the number of football recruits allowed over a four-year period will drop. In the past, Ancient Eight football squads were permitted to recruit 35 players per year, with the restriction that no team could exceed 140 players in four years.

However, starting with the class of 2007, the number of recruits who may enroll in one Ivy League school in a four year period must drop to 120 -- which averages out to 30 players per year.

One more change was directly targeted at football. This regulation, which is effective in the fall of 2003, limits the number of football coaches per squad.

Currently, each Ivy school is allowed six full-time and six part-time coaches. In one year, the coaching staff will have to restructure itself so that there are seven full-time and only three part-time coaches.

Lastly, each sport at an Ivy League institution must set aside at least seven weeks during the academic year in which its athletes will have no required athletic activity. Voluntary activity with coaching supervision, common in many sports, will also not be allowed.

Penn head football coach Al Bagnoli was upset by the decision and the forced changes he will have to make in upcoming seasons.

"It is not a healthy situation," Bagnoli said in an interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian on Aug. 1. "[The changes] have some long-term ramifications that are not in the best interest of the athletes. I understand the issues, the admission slots, the Title IX implications, but we are a unique league here."

Although it may not directly affect the current members of the Penn football team, they too are upset by the decisions made by the Ivy Presidents.

"I don't know what the Presidents were thinking," Penn senior linebacker and captain Matt Dukes said. "No one is happy about [the changes] on the football team. This has a huge negative impact on the program.

"If you want to find problems, look at the big Division I schools. Why are you punching us for it?"

The presidents began discussion of major changes after the 2001 release of former Princeton President William Bowen and James Shulman's book, The Game of Life. The book uses empirical data to prove that athletes receive special treatment during the admissions process.

The data also shows, by studying the academic performances of walkons and recruited athletes, that recruited athletes for high-profile sport -- such as football -- tend to not perform as well in the classroom.

"There are guys that can handle academics and football and succeed in both," Penn senior running back and defensive back Stephen Faulk said. Faulk, who is also one of Penn's four captains, was disappointed by the decision.

"We're struggling to compete with other schools in the country," Dukes added. "We already don't have scholarships -- we need some leverage."

These changes may be just the beginning of an entire movement away from competitive athletics in the Ivy League.

At the conclusion of the their summer meeting, the Ivy Presidents left their decision open-ended, stating that "[the Council] will undertake further data collection and analysis."

Bowen and Shulman, the co-authors of The Game of Life, have another book in the works.

"The [upcoming] book is by Bowen and his colleagues again and it looks further at this issue and compares, over time, recruited and non-recruited athletes within the same sport," Rodin told The Daily Pennsylvanian on June 27.

Rodin also mentioned that the book addresses the amount of time that athletes dedicate to their sport.

"Its about whether in the off-season, for those sports that have off-season, that there couldn't be a little more time off for the students to focus on their academic work fully," Rodin said.

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