INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Responding to recent scandals, the NCAA will look into making its recruiting rules more stringent and punishing violators more severely.

NCAA president Myles Brand announced Thursday that he’s forming a new task force because he’s concerned that recent allegations could tarnish the organization’s image.

In the most prominent case, three women are suing the University of Colorado, saying they were raped at or after an off-campus party for football recruits in December 2001.

At the University of Miami, a top football recruit is facing criminal charges after surrendering to authorities Tuesday.

Willie Williams’ record has 10 arrests – a record the university said it didn’t know about when it signed him to a national letter-of-intent Feb. 4.

Brand took over the NCAA in 2003 as a reformer.

“It’s one thing for consenting adults on their own time to do what they like,” Brand said. “But to use promiscuity and sex as part of the recruiting effort strikes me as morally reprehensible.”

Brand said NCAA vice president David Berst, the group’s former head of enforcement, will lead the task force. Members of the NCAA’s national office and school athletic administrators are expected to be named to the panel.

Berst told The Associated Press that the group would likely consist of eight to 10 people and that administrators from the football and men’s basketball coaches associations may be included. Brand said the group could be as large as 13.

The focus, Berst said, would be primarily on football and men’s basketball because of the increased pressure to win in those sports by attracting better athletes.

“This is an area we haven’t regulated and it’s probably not sufficient to permit anything that’s not prohibited by our rules,” Berst said. “It seems to me there should be a better standard than that.”

While Berst declined comment on the Colorado and Miami cases, he acknowledged that the NCAA had no rules regarding background checks or limitations about how recruits could be entertained on recruiting trips.

The NCAA does, however, restrict the amount of money a school can spend on recruits.

Berst said he did not have enough information yet to determine if either school violated current NCAA rules. But after the task force completes its work, Brand hopes new rules will also include stronger penalties for violators.

“It could rise to the level of major infractions, from the loss of scholarships to the loss of postseason play,” Brand said.

Brand indicated he wanted to make a quick, decisive statement about resolving the problems now rather than waiting for another scandal to be uncovered, calling one incident, too many.

But the toughest job may belong to Berst, whose task force will try to devise standards for recruiting conduct – something the NCAA has not previously legislated.

“When you get into that sort of discussion, whether it’s immature, boorish, abusive or whatever word you want to attach to it, it’s time to look at the rules,” Berst said, referring to the alleged behavior.

The committee is expected to provide a status report to the NCAA’s Management Council at its April meeting. Berst said the task force could also propose rules changes.

Brand said he hoped the Management Council would adopt any recommendations in April so that the new rules would be in place next fall.

Berst said Brand approached him in the last few days.

“If you’re asking about the necessity of having to do something like this, it is a sad day,” Berst said.

AP-ES-02-12-04 2025EST