Bill would allow colleges to sue students who break agent rules

ATLANTA - Georgia colleges would have greater power to sue student athletes who break rules about sports agents under a bill endorsed by the NCAA. <br> <br> The University of Georgia is among the schools pushing for lawmakers to revise the state&#39;s rules about sports agents to give them greater power to sue for damages if a student causes the school to forfeit games or bowl winnings <br> <br> Students are required to sign an affidavit saying they&#39;re amateurs before playing in an NCAA tournament or bowl game. If students lie, saying they&#39;re amateurs when in fact they&#39;ve retained an agent or taken money from one, a school could be sanctioned or required to forfeit. <br> <br> ``There have been attempts to make agents accountable, but there&#39;s been no attempt to make the athlete accountable,&#39;&#39; said Hoke Wilder, an assistant athletic director at Georgia. <br> <br> The NCAA is asking all states to pass a similar bill so that the rules for sports agents are the same everywhere. The bill would establish the Georgia Uniform Athlete Agents Act, joining 28 other states that have either passed or are considering similar legislation. <br> <br> ``In reality, few schools would ever sue a student. It wouldn&#39;t exactly be good for recruiting,&#39;&#39; said Lisa Dehon, a consultant for the NCAA who is pushing the bill. ``But this might help students understand they&#39;re responsible for knowing the law, and it might be a deterrent not to get involved with the wrong people.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> The rules themselves would not change from current Georgia law. Athletes would still have 72 hours, or before their next competition, to inform the school they&#39;ve signed with an agent. Agents would still have to show athletes a large-print statement that they endanger their college eligibility by signing with an agent. <br> <br> ``Schools are often put in a very difficult position because they want to find out when something goes wrong, but investigating brings so much bad publicity,&#39;&#39; Dehon said. ``This puts the state in charge and makes all the rules the same, so it&#39;s good for the schools.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> A uniform law also would save agents from having to learn a different set of rules and pay different application fees in each state, said Rep. Louise McBee, D-Athens, who sponsored the bill. <br> <br> ``That&#39;s the strength of it. If every state had the same guidelines it would much easier to know when a rule has been broken,&#39;&#39; McBee said. <br> <br> An Atlanta-based agent who represents former Georgia Tech football coach George O&#39;Leary, Jack Reale, said agents favor having states streamline their licensing rules. <br> <br> ``It would greatly simplify matters if all states had the same requirements,&#39;&#39; Reale said. ``It&#39;s a tremendous burden on the agents to know all the procedures for all the states.&#39;&#39;

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