INDIANAPOLIS – As the NCAA’s marquee event – the Final Four – geared up just blocks away, a reform-minded national group met in Indianapolis to discuss and object to commercialization in intercollegiate athletics.

Sixty-two professors, coaches and administrators from around the country convened for the seventh meeting of The Drake Group March 31 and April 1.

Formed from a conference in 1999 at Drake University in Des Moines, The Drake Group has worked to defend “academic integrity in the face of commercialized college sport,” according to the group’s Web site.

Presenters and panelists at this year’s event addressed topics such as hiring practices and the lack of black head football coaches, improving athletes’ graduation rates and the effect minimum age requirements in professional sports have on NCAA schools.

“The realism is, [college sports] isn’t about education,” said Floyd Keith, executive director of the Black Coaches Association, during a panel discussion on possible reforms. “It’s about wins and losses.”

Among The Drake Group’s core proposals for drastically reforming college sports and ensuring a greater focus on academics are the abolishment of separate academic advising departments for athletes and general students, a freshman ineligibility rule forcing incoming student athletes to sit out their first year on campus and a required 2.0 grade point average to remain eligible to play.

Steve Malchow, ISU associate athletic director, stressed the importance of making sure student athletes get degrees, but said creating rules singling out athletes on college campuses is not fair.

“I think you’re going up a slippery slope if you are establishing rules just for athletes and not for the rest of the student body,” he said.

“What is good for athletes would be good for the rest of the student body.”

Also debated over the weekend were the NCAA’s new academic standards and the year-old academic progress rate used to judge the academic performance of each NCAA team.

The rate received mixed reviews from the panel, but most agreed it was a step in the right direction in that team scores are hurt by athletes leaving early for the professional ranks that do not stay academically eligible during their final semester.

Malchow agreed that the rate stresses the importance of recruiting athletes dedicated to succeeding in the classroom.

“Coaches will be punished if you are bringing in athletes that have no intention of graduating and getting a degree,” he said. “That’s a good thing.”