Peterson expects ‘significant changes’ from NCAA basketball commission

Georgia Tech president G.P. “Bud” Peterson believes that college basketball is in need of major restructuring. Beyond his role leading an ACC school, he speaks with considerable authority as the chair of the NCAA’s board of governors, the highest governing body in the NCAA.

“We’re not in a position where you can put a few band-aids on this, patch it up and send it back out to play,” Peterson said Thursday. “I think there’s probably some pretty significant changes (that are necessary).”

Peterson spoke with the AJC regarding his role on the Commission on College Basketball, which the NCAA established to make recommendations on policy, rules and structure for Division I men’s basketball to improve the game’s integrity and the well-being of players.

The group is led by former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and includes Hawks co-owner (and former NBA star) Grant Hill, basketball Hall of Famer David Robinson, Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith and former Florida AD Jeremy Foley. The NCAA formed the commission in the wake of the FBI investigation into corruption in the game. Peterson sits in on the group as the board of governors chair. He and NCAA president Mark Emmert joined the group at the request of Rice.

“Secretary Rice, it was very important to her that the NCAA take this very seriously,” Peterson said. “She didn’t want to get involved unless (the NCAA) did, and it’s one of the reasons she asked that Mark and I serve as ex-officio members.”

Among the topics that the group has been charged with developing a recommendation on is the NBA’s “one-and-done” rule, and considering what options the NCAA has to influence that dynamic.

“One of the challenges is, if you’re playing a lot of junior and senior players, you’re probably not very good,” Peterson said. “So I think there’ll be significant changes.”

Other subjects that the group is looking at are schools’ relationships with apparel companies, the influence of grassroots (or AAU) basketball and the place of agents and advisers in the game. The commission is expected to deliver a final briefing in April. At the NCAA convention last week, Emmert said “we have to have those changes in place by tipoff of next year.”

While Peterson said he doesn’t expect the recommendations to be specific, “I think they’re going to challenge the NCAA to address what they see as some of the major challenges and give us some guidance, but I don’t think they’ll be very prescriptive.”

One recommendation that Peterson would not embrace: Paying college athletes.

“That’s not consistent with the amateur model that the NCAA has, and I’d like to think that we wouldn’t move to that,” he said. “That’s a whole different space and puts colleges and universities in a whole different place, so I’m not supportive of paying student-athletes.”

His stance is that a college scholarship has great value, that athletes receiving coaching and exposure and that they gain experience through the experience of intercollegiate competition.