NCAA Considers Reforming College Sports

Texas Tech quarterback Seth Doege, center, is tackled by Oklahoma defenders Ronnell Lewis, left, and Frank Alexander, right, in Norman, Okla. (AP)

The NCAA isn’t ready to consider paying student athletes, but the organization’s board of directors is weighing a plan aimed at boosting scholarship aid so it more closely reflects the actual coast of attending college.

Another proposal would extend the length of scholarships. Right now, coaches can decide whether to renew them on a year to year basis.

The discussions within the NCAA come after historian Taylor Branch’s widely read article in The Atlantic magazine, arguing that student athletes should be paid because they generate billions of dollars for the NCAA and universities.

Brad Wolverton, reporter for the Chronicle of Higher Education, writes that the proposals under consideration this week “are the results of months of discussion by several NCAA committees charged with overhauling rules to deal with widespread problems at the elite level of college sports. ”

• Here & Now: Historian Taylor Branch On “The Shame Of College Sports”

Guest:

• Brad Wolverton, reporter for the Chronicle of Higher Education