The NCAA released a statement after drawing flak on the new certification requirements that they established for player agents who wants to handle collegiate players entering the NBA Draft.
The NCAA recently released a memo that agents should have a bachelor's degree, NBPA certification for at least the last three years, and professional liability insurance. They also required an in-person exam in November in Indianapolis.
Among the new criteria, the NCAA was criticized for requiring a college degree. Most fans believe that it was placed solely to disallow Rich Paul from representing college players moving forward. Rich Paul, the popular agent of LeBron James, has no college degree.
In a statement, the NCAA insisted that the new rules were put into place to put a premium on the importance of earning a degree. They also said that they just want to make sure that student-athletes will get the best advice possible from professionals before turning pro.
“Although some can and have been successful without a college degree, as a higher education organization, the NCAA values a college education and continues to emphasize the importance of earning a degree. We were guided by recommendations from the Commission on College Basketball — which spoke with the agent and advisor community — that the NCAA certification process should be more stringent than current processes. With this in mind, we benchmarked our new rules against requirements for other organizations that certify agents, like the NBPA, which also requires agents to have a bachelor's degree. While different and distinct, our rules taken together, which is the manner they were meant to be examined, provide a clear opportunity for our student-athletes to receive excellent advice from knowledgeable professionals on either the college or professional path they choose,” the statement read.”
It's certainly quite a statement from the NCAA.
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