Some Ind. High Schools Losing $2K On Obscure Rule

An NCAA men’s basketball bylaw approved in April prohibiting “nonscholastic events” on campuses has resulted in confusion among colleges, event operators and high schools, and caused the cancellation of several high school basketball events, some just days before they were to take place. The cancellations have cost high schools as much as $2,000, according to athletic directors.

The latest was “Big Rivals Weekend” at Hinkle Fieldhouse, planned as a six-game high school event organized by Ray Compton of Compton Strategies. Compton became aware of the problem Thursday night when an Indiana University compliance officer called him — after a conversation with the NCAA — to say it looked unlikely that his company would be able to host a six-game high school event at Assembly Hall in January.

Compton then contacted Butler athletic director Barry Collier. On Friday, after failing to secure a waiver from the NCAA, Compton canceled the event. He called it one of the “biggest disappointments of my professional career.”

“My thing is, why didn’t anybody know about the rule?” he said. “Purdue, Butler, IU and Valparaiso all had events scheduled like this. I don’t understand why people weren’t aware of it.”

In an email, NCAA associate director of public and media relations Stacey Osburn wrote that “the NCAA has been working with campuses and conferences regarding this issue, because violations of the rule penalize the host institution. The NCAA and its member schools have had numerous contacts with event operators about its details and implementation.”

The bylaw, proposed in October 2009 and adopted in April, was created to keep colleges from using these events as recruiting opportunities. A nonscholastic event is “defined based on the entity or person conducting the event, not by the event participants.” Which means the Indiana High School Athletic Association, which was also unaware of the rule until last week, is clear to host the girls basketball state finals at Indiana State and the boys regional this year at Hinkle. Non-college arenas such as Conseco Fieldhouse are not affected.

The Super Hoops New Year Classic, scheduled for Purdue’s Mackey Arena on Jan. 7, could be moved to a high school venue, likely Lafayette Jeff. But two of the six games will not go on as scheduled due to teams’ disinterest in playing at a venue other than Mackey.

Super Hoops organizer Jim Fouts wrote in an email that “this rule makes no sense.”

“College coaches can run their summer shootouts and bring in over 60 varsity school teams and run a team camp, but we can’t have 12 teams come for one day and play six games,” he wrote. “Out of the 12 teams we had to play at Mackey, only one player is committed to play for Purdue (Bryson Scott of Fort Wayne Northrop). So (143 of 144) players will probably never have the chance to play at Mackey.”

Lebanon was scheduled to play in events at Butler, Purdue and Valparaiso. Though the status of the Valparaiso game is still in question, Lebanon athletic director Phil Levine said his school probably missed out on $2,000 it could have made on ticket sales due to the late cancellations, a considerable amount for cash-strapped athletic departments.

“I can understand what they are trying to do with the rule,” Levine said. “But it’s not like Ray Compton was going to (Butler coach) Brad Stevens and asking him which players to bring to Hinkle. It’s just a disappointment finding out at the last minute like we did.”

Osborn of the NCAA wrote that some NCAA members may seek to override the bylaw.