Published: March 2, 2011
By: Armen Keteyian & Jeff Benedict
The NCAA's annual convention in January featured sessions focusing on topics ranging from academic accountability to achieving gender equity. One subject the NCAA may soon be discussing is the recruiting of players with criminal records. When presented with the SI/CBS News findings and asked if schools should conduct criminal background checks on recruits, new NCAA president Mark Emmert was open to digging deeper. "I'd certainly welcome a good debate about what this data means and how we can best address it," said Emmert.
A few days earlier, at the American Football Coaches Association's annual convention, several top college coaches expressed curiosity and concern over the findings of the investigation. Many thought it would be a good step for conferences to mandate background checks. That would prevent any school from gaining a recruiting advantage by not requiring prospects to submit to the background checks.