NCAA overrides alternative schedule rule

NEW ORLEANS--It didn't take long for word to spread among attendees arriving for the National Golf Coaches Association's annual convention in the Crescent City: Roughly 470 miles away in Nashville, Tenn., the NCAA voted to overturn Proposal 2006-87, which allowed college golf teams to play a schedule consisting of nine three-day tournaments as an alternative to 24 days of competition.

At the NCAA Convention, Division I delegates voted 190-95 to override the controversial measure, which had been approved at last year's NCAA Convention and ratified by the Management Council in April, to the surprise (and disappointment) of many college golf coaches. The rule was in effect for the 2007-08 season and will remain so for the rest of the academic year but not going forward. It is only the third proposal to be defeated in an override vote since the legislative process changed in 2006.

Conversely, the NCAA failed to overturn a proposal also approved last year that prohibited text messaging and other forms of electronic communications between coaches and recruits.