Big 12 Conference presidents have earmarked more money for enhanced NCAA compliance checks and other regulatory efforts.

League presidents approved $150,000 in additional regulatory spending for compliance audits at each university by an outside firm, enhanced drug testing and an ongoing program to prevent and monitor gambling.

“You can probably never put too much money into compliance,” said Kansas University chancellor Robert Hemenway who attended the two-day presidents meeting earlier this week in Irving, Texas. “And we felt we needed a bit stronger drug testing.”

Compared with the record $105 million that will be distributed to Big 12 schools, the extra money is a minuscule amount. Nevertheless, Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg said it will send a symbolic message to coaches, athletes and others about oversight.

“The presidents just sensed that it was time to send a very clear signal about how serious we want to be about these issues,” Oklahoma State president David Schmidly said. “We’ve had a few issues. Let’s get them corrected, be proactive and make it clear that we intend to have the best compliance environment possible.”

The presidents were concerned about mainly off-the-field problems the past 18 months. Weiberg didn’t point out specific incidents, saying many were publicly known.

Past compliance checks by the Big 12 of member universities, each which has its own NCAA compliance officers, were voluntary in nature. Specialized outside firms now will conduct the checks.

“This will have more of an audit feel to it,” Weiberg said. “It’s a more serious attempt to take a look at systems on campus. It’s not intended to be a gotcha system, but it’s more intended if we see deficiencies to let schools know expectations that things will be corrected.”

Weiberg and Schmidly, chair of the Big 12 board, said more money and enhancements were possible when the program is evaluated in the future. Every school will go through a compliance check within the next three years.

The presidents also approved the league’s plan for instant replay in football, and the money required for its implementation.

Weiberg said that with the NCAA’s approval of a 12th game starting in 2006, the league would look at nine- and 10-game conference models. Still, he said there was no push to increase from the current eight conference games.