When Scott Shafer stepped to the podium for a press conference after practice Thursday, he had not read the report for the NCAA’s most recent ruling. But he knew enough about it to soften up for the programs that gave him a start. 

The NCAA approved a new governance structure for Division I that gives unprecedented legislative autonomy to the five power conferences — the Southeastern Conference, Big Ten, Big 12, Pacific-12 and Syracuse’s Atlantic Coast Conference.

“I grew up in the mid-American Conference,” he said. “Unfortunately, for those types of teams that I grew up coaching, I think it’ll be a little more difficult for them.

“The flip side of it is if you’re in the power five and you have an opportunity to upgrade everything that you’re doing. There’s a lot of financial differences between the two. Now that I’m on this side of the fence… I do look back and say, ‘Man, that’s a tough deal.’”

The new structure allows the five power conferences the freedom to govern themselves and drastically change the outlook of college sports. The conferences will be able to make decisions on cost-of-attendance stipends, insurance benefits for players, staff sizes, recruiting rules and required hours spent on individual sports, according to an article on ESPN.com.

Other possible changes could involve loosening restrictions on contact between players and agents, allowing players to pursue outside paid career opportunities and funding expenses for the families of players to attend postseason games, the article said.

Shafer coached at three mid-major programs in the first 16 years of his coaching career — before coaching at Stanford, Michigan and eventually Syracuse — and feels for the schools across the country that were left out. For now they’re left out, but the approval will permit smaller conferences the chance to adopt the rules depending on the budget of a given conference’s programs. 

But now that Shafer is with a power conference program, he can appreciate what Thursday’s news means for his team.

“I think you’re going to see a balancing act going on as you work through it,” Shafer said. “But I think it’s a great thing for the ACC and a great thing for Syracuse University. It’s just the reality of where football is going.”

Published on August 7, 2014 at 8:36 pm

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