Report: NCAA president urges support of 4-year scholarships

NCAA president Mark Emmert is urging Division I presidents to support implementation of new four-year scholarship legislation, which has met resistance since it was passed, CBSSports.com reported Monday.

???It [override of the legislation] will take away the opportunity for multi-year support for thousands of student-athletes,??? Emmert wrote in the letter obtained by CBSSports.com. ???As we are a presidentially led Association, it is important that you direct what the vote of your institution will be. I encourage you to defeat the override of this proposal.???

In October, the NCAA approved legislation for a four-year scholarship, which would replace the existing rule that only requires schools to issue one-year renewable scholarships.

However, 82 schools signed an override petition to prevent the legislation from being enacted.

The petition required the NCAA board of directors to reconsider. It will take 222 schools out of 355 in Division I to override the measure.

Presidents can vote online next week from Feb. 13 through Feb. 17. ????

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany has encouraged support of the four-year scholarship measure, and at least eight Big Ten schools reportedly awarded four-year scholarships on National Signing Day last week.

Auburn officials said their school also awarded four-year scholarships to its latest recruiting class.

The proposal would still allow scholarships to be revoked year-to-year due to academic or off-field issues.

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