Date: June 12, 2008
Contact: Marc Lebovitz
Assistant Professor Chad McEvoy of Illinois State University has been summoned to Washington, D.C. next week. The Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics has invited the School of Kinesiology and Recreation faculty member to serve as a panelist on a session titled “NCAA Infractions: An Examination of Trends, Recommendations to Restructure Penalties and Challenges.”
McEvoy, who is coordinator of the school’s sports management program, has conducted statistical research on penalties imposed on colleges and universities for NCAA rules violations and if they affect team performances. His research indicates that they don’t. Usually the panelists at Knight Commission sessions are university presidents, head coaches and attorneys. When a Knight Commission officer heard McEvoy’s presentation at the College Sports Research Institute annual conference last spring, she asked him to participate in this session.
“I used to work in college sports before I got my doctorate, so I was interested in this topic,” McEvoy said. “When I read an article that said these penalties were not working, I decided to do my own research.” On-field performances, he found, did not decline for teams that were penalized.
If the purpose of NCAA penalties is to impose a competitive disadvantage on teams that violated rules in order to deter future violations, and if there is no decrease in team performance, do the penalties need to be reviewed and revised? That is what the Knight Commission session, with McEvoy’s contribution, will have to discuss.
McEvoy is a doctoral graduate of the University of Northern Colorado. He has his M.S. degree from the University of Massachusetts and bachelor’s degree from Iowa State.
