NCAA Eligibility Center - Launched 11/01/2007

NCAA creates Eligibility Center to consolidate certifications

The Association has announced the creation of an NCAA Eligibility Center that will bring the initial-eligibility and amateurism certification functions together under one roof beginning later this year. The change is expected to provide increased efficiency and enhanced customer service to the membership, prospective student-athletes and their parents.Currently, the NCAA’s initial-eligibility certification process is administered by American College Testing (ACT), Inc., an independent, nonprofit organization in Iowa City, Iowa. The contract’s approaching expiration (October 31, 2007) provided an opportunity for the national office to examine options available for the future of academic and amateurism certification.
ACT was informed January 22 of the decision.“There is a broader vision for how we can interact with student-athletes and bring them into the NCAA family,” said Kevin Lennon, NCAA vice president for membership services. “We want to provide a better understanding of what the NCAA is about. We’re excited about bringing a new vision beyond the transactional nature of a clearinghouse and exposing prospects and parents to more NCAA values, specifically gambling education, drug-testing education and what it means to be successful in college.”Lennon said bringing the processes in-house will better integrate the academic and amateurism functions the NCAA provides before a student-athlete enrolls in college. The new center also will afford increased use of technology and direct access to data by staff members.
In addition, combining initial-eligibility and amateurism certification procedures will improve service to the membership and the public and relay to prospects and their parents both the core values of the NCAA and its commitment to higher education.NCAA senior staff collaborated with an outside consultant to conduct a comprehensive analysis before opting to create the Eligibility Center. The action aligns with elements of the Association’s strategic plan, which calls for the national office and its functions to be operate in an “accountable, effective and efficient manner.” Todd Leyden, who spent 17 years with the international professional services firm Arthur Andersen before starting his own management consulting and financial management business, has been named president of the center, which will be established as a limited liability corporation, similar to the structure of the National Invitation Tournament. Leyden will report to a board of directors composed of NCAA senior staff, including Lennon.
The LLC will not develop policy or hear appeals. Those functions will remain with the NCAA membership services staff and membership committees.Lennon and the membership services staff will evaluate the quality of services provided by the LLC, and the board will complete all personnel transactions. Officials anticipate that some NCAA staff will move to the Eligibility Center.The Association benefits from an experienced leader in Leyden. During his time at Andersen and his own firm, Leyden led a number of strategic initiatives for organizations such as Simon Property Group; Clarian; Ivy Tech; the City of Indianapolis; and Indiana University, Bloomington. Len­non said Leyden’s vision and expertise will provide “the strong leadership necessary to run an effective process.”Other specifics of the plan are still being finalized. NCAA staff will seek membership feedback on what features they value about the current process and what they would like to see added with the creation of the new center. The search for feedback could occur in several formats, including focus groups, surveys and discussions within the governance structure.Lennon said the solid business plan, strong leadership and transition team should create a smooth transition and avoid some of the growing pains that the NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse experienced when it was established in the mid-1990s. While similar challenges aren’t anticipated because the processes already are in place, Lennon acknowledged a likely adjustment period while the Eligibility Center staff, the membership and prospective student-athletes grow accustomed to the change.“Any time you make a change like this, there are going to be challenges,” Lennon said. “But this is also a great opportunity to look at how we have been doing things — from programming and interactions to customer service. We look at this as a real opportunity to examine our processes over the transition period.”Once the transition is made, Lennon said he anticipates the NCAA Eligibility Center providing a higher level of service and greater flexibility within the certification process, as well as providing the Association with some cost savings.

VCC College Recruting Webinar Series To Launch January 13, 2008

Webinar Series To Launch January 13, 2008

Join Tom Kovic in an interactive online presentation series on the college recruiting process. Each presentation series will be conducted over a 4 week period, beginning January 13, 2008. Online PowerPoint presentations will be held live, each Sunday evening and followed by 1/2 hour of round table discussions at the conclusion of each presentation via conference call.

Detailed information will be available in the very near future with a direct link to the webinar page. Registration will be limited to 20 participants for each monthly series and begins November 30, 2007.
For a brief video introduction visit: http://victoryrecruiting.com/video/vccwebinar1.wmv


www.baseballclick.com

LOUISIANA STATE WINS NCAA DIVISION I RECRUITING TITLE

Baseballnews.com reports:
LOUISIANA STATE WINS NCAA DIVISION I RECRUITING TITLE
TUCSON, Ariz. — For the second time in the last four years, Louisiana State University has been ranked No. 1 in Collegiate Baseball newspaper’s annual rundown of NCAA Division I baseball recruiting classes.
This marks the 25th consecutive year that Collegiate Baseball has evaluated recruiting classes in this division which were brought in this fall.
LSU’s recruiting haul is simply amazing when you consider that nine players were drafted and includes eight high school All-Americans and three first team junior college All-Americans among the 19 players the Tigers brought in.
"We had the most drafted players in the nation end up in school, the most prospects from the Top 200 in the nation end up in school and the most players ranked in the Top 100 end up in school," said LSU Recruiting Coordinator Terry Rooney.
"We also had seven players earn All-American honors that were not even drafted (11 in total)."
LSU Head Coach Paul Mainieri was impressed with the class as well.
"It is very rare for a school to have as many as nine drafted signees actually enroll at the university," Mainieri said.
"It is a very unusual occurrence, something that I would characterize as remarkable. It is my hope that history will show that this class had a major effect on re-establishing LSU as one of the elite college baseball programs in the country."
The star-studded class includes:
RHP Anthony Ranaudo, St. Rose H.S. (Jackson, N.J.), an 11th round pick by the Texas Rangers.
INF Matt Clark, Riverside C.C. (Calif.), 28th round pick by the Pirates.
OF Chad Jones, Southern Lab H.S. (Baton Rouge, LA), 13th round pick by the Astros.
INF/OF Rene Escobar, Riverside C.C. (Calif.), 30th round pick by the Braves.
OF Leon Landry, Baker H.S. (Baker, LA), 36th round pick by the Reds.
INF D.J. Le Mahieu, Brother Rice H.S. (Bloomfield Hills, MI), 41st round pick by the Tigers.
RHP Jordan Brown, Meridian C.C. (MS), 45th round pick by the Reds.
LHP Ryan Verdugo, Skagit College (WA), 47th round pick by the Giants.
INF Matt Gaudet, Delgado C.C. (LA), 40th round pick by Tampa Bay in 2005.
RHP Ben Alsup, Ruston H.S. (LA), High School All-American.
C Micah Gibbs, Pfugerville H.S. (TX), High School All-American.
SS Derek Helenihi, Ohlone College (CA), JC All-American.
RHP Taylor Martin, St. Michael H.S. (Baton Rouge, LA), H.S. All-American.
OF Cody Reine, Walker H.S. (Walker, LA), Louisville Slugger H.S. All-American.
RHP Austin Ross, Captain Shreve H.S. (Shreveport, LA), H.S. All-American.
RHP Daniel Bradshaw, Ouachita Christian H.S. (West Monroe, LA), Louisiana Pitcher of Year and All-American.
RHP/INF Taylor Davis, Panola College (TX).
OF/C Johnny Dishon, Bridge City H.S. (Beaumont, TX).
RHP Jordan Nicholson, Ruston H.S. (Ruston, LA).
The following are the top 40 rankings of NCAA Division I recruiting classes for 2007 as determined by the staff of Collegiate Baseball newspaper. A complete rundown of the top 10 classes is in the Oct. 1, 2007 edition of Collegiate Baseball.

http://www.baseballnews.com/recruiting/recruiting_results.htm