Phil Martelli says proposed changes in recruiting calendar are a good start to fixing college basketball; envisions growth of high school events and combines

By ADAM ZAGORIA

AVALON, N.J. — Longtime St. Joe’s head coach Phil Martelli believes the proposed changes in the NCAA recruiting calendar are a good first step toward fixing the problems that led to the FBI investigation of bribery in the sport and the arrest of 10 people, including four Division 1 assistant coaches, last fall.

And Martelli envisions an increased emphasis on high school events in June — such as camps, leagues and potentially combines — as college coaches get less access to sneaker-sponsored events in July.

“From a coach’s view, when that initial report came out, it wasn’t four coaches that were indicted, all coaches were indicted,” Martelli, who serves on the Subcommittee for Non-Scholastic Basketball and also on the Men’s Basketball Oversight Committee, told me at his basketball camp here. “Everybody looked like the problem. This is an attempt to say, ‘We have to fix it, we have to fix it.’

“We know that what happened can’t happen again,” Martelli added. “The [Rice] Commission was very clear. The Commission said there will be change or they’ll take over. So at least to this point in time the NCAA coaches have had a say in the change that was to come. Otherwise, we were going to be sitting on the side.”