How the Mighty Have Fallen

The more that comes out surrounding the Ohio State violations, the less surprising it is.

It isn’t surprising that the Cartel, er, I mean NCAA wanted to ignore it during bowl season, allowing the players that violated the rules to get punished this season rather than suspended in their bowl game. Afterall, the NCAA doesn’t actually care about the student athlete, only money.

It isn’t surprising that the signature vest wearing Tressel knew more than what came out back in December. Similarly, it isn’t surprising that the school is more than willing to put all the blame on the Director of Compliance, Doug Archie, despite praising him endlessly up until the moment they were caught.

It isn’t surprising that Small squealed on his former teammates, and is now retracting it. Being kicked out of the “sacred brotherhood” can’t be fun, too bad he was dumb enough to allow his interview to be taped.

At this point, the NCAA should have no other choice than to pursue severe sanctions, a la USC, and consider finding that OSU demonstrated a lack of institutional control. A charge that they had no problems placing on Boise State, when the school self reported women’s tennis team violations. However, Boise State isn’t in the same league as OSU, and following in it’s tradition on financially driven decisions, it will not risk OSU and USC both playing meaningless seasons at relatively the same time.

But really, despite the double standard, that won’t be surprising either.

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Fighting Sioux, Five Years Later

The fight over the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux trademarks is a story I have been following ever since the NCAA’s Hostile and Abusive standard came out in 2005.

Most recently, last week the North Dakota Supreme Court has ruled that Board of Higher Education can retire the trademarks, and at the Board’s meeting, the motion to reconsider the vote from last May was not seconded. Therefore, UND will change its logo and nickname, like many schools before it.

The logo will be retired, there is no more fighting it. The biggest issue for UND will be the cost to remove the logo from Ralph Engelstad Arena, where the logo is prominent in the floors, walls and seats. Last May, I wrote about how sponsors needed to step in and help the University with this burden; sponsors can be the hero to students and alums by helping cover the tremendous costs.

The massive rehab to the Arena means that meeting the August 2010 deadline is improbable. But like it or not, the University will transition away from the Fighting Sioux – UND just needs to put it in the past and move on as quickly as it can.

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Students First?

When the U.S. Secretary of Education said that there needs to be a ban on post-season play for schools that can’t meet 40% graduation rates for their athletes, the NCAA was quick to scoff saying that it would penalize schools based on old data.

The study from the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at UCF, using data from the 99-00 through 02-03 academic years, sited numerous schools that would miss the tourney according to the linked ESPN article:

“The men’s basketball teams that would barred from postseason play this year if Duncan’s idea were adopted: Maryland (8 percent graduation rate), California (20 percent), Arkansas-Pine Bluff (29 percent), Washington (29 percent), Tennessee (30 percent), Kentucky, Baylor (36 percent), Missouri (36 percent), New Mexico State (36 percent), Clemson (37 percent), Georgia Tech (38 percent) and Louisville (38 percent).”

I’m sorry, but 8% Maryland? 8%? And note, the numbers do not go down for players who transfer or go to the NBA provided that the players are in good academic standing at the time because the UCF study uses the Graduation Success Rates and Academic Progress Rates, as reported by the NCAA (for full results, click here). Old data or not, I have a hard time believing that Maryland’s 8% graduation rate significantly improved.

Is this the best system? Derrick Rose and Memphis are a prime example of the consequences of the current situation, where schools overlook the fact that some of their athletes aren’t qualified and take the risk of being sanctioned. Perhaps using this data isn’t the right answer, but the NCAA needs to do more than what is being done right now.

Regardless of the common “athletes are students first” mantra that the NCAA likes to spout when it is convenient, the universities and the NCAA have no problems exploiting athletes if it fattens their pockets. Conversely, athletes have no problems showcasing their skills on a national level before cutting and running to the NBA.

I see a huge opportunity for the NBA D-League to step up in this situation. Lets end the charade, if you’re going to college because of the NBA’s year out/19 requirement, why do a one and done with a university? Instead opt to get paid in the D-League. Unfortunately, unless the D-League could generate the interest that March Madness does, athletes will continue to opt for the larger stage. Perhaps getting some of the best high school athletes in the country could generate some interest in the D-League. And on the other hand, with the parity created, it may create more interest in the tourney, as there would be the potential for more NIU over Kansas type upsets.

It’s up to the NCAA and it’s member schools ensure that their athletes are indeed students first.

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Jumping the USC Ship

The cynic in me thinks that Pete Carroll leaving USC for Seattle has less to do with his desire to coach in the pros and more to do with jumping ship before the storm hits.

Lets speculate for a minute… USC just self-imposed sanctions because of the O.J. Mayo violations. Those sanctions include forfeiting all victories and money from that season, forgoing postseason play, losing scholarships and curtailing its recruiting. That’s not just a slap on the wrist. Couple that with the Reggie Bush investigation that is ongoing, and penalties that could be imposed on the football program – or worse, an NCAA finding of lack of institutional control – and USC’s athletic department faces a pretty substantial hit.

Perhaps by self-imposing serious sanctions for basketball, USC is hoping that the sanctions placed on the football program are lessened. But I have a feeling that Carroll knows it won’t be that easy for the Trojans, and before the program he worked so hard to create is destroyed, he’d rather walk away and let someone else deal with the mess he left behind.

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Punishing the Coaches as much as Student Athletes

While taking Amateur Sports Law in school I really disliked how the NCAA exploited student athletes then used the fact they they were students first (academic integrity) and it preserved balance to win cases. It burned me that in a lot of cases, despite the courts finding that there is an unreasonable restraint on the athletes, academic integrity and competitive balance outweighs the restraint.

Right now, Brian Kelly leaving Cincinnati  for Notre Dame has me reliving some of my frustrations.  Football players are recruited by coaches – they get sold into a program and a certain style of coaching – so when those coaches leave for another school, why are we punishing the athletes? I’m sure in some cases, the tipping point for their decision is the history and legacy of the program, but if you don’t like the coach, you’re not playing there.

Let the athletes who signed on to the program because of Kelly get to go play somewhere else without losing a year now that their coach abandoned them, or change it so that the coaches are deterred/punished by sitting out a year, like the athletes. Now I understand that the courts do not like these type of anti-compete clauses because it unreasonably prohibits employment – so structure it so that it doesn’t unreasonably prohibit employment, or argue that it is reasonable because it protects competitive balance. The NCAA clearly knows how to leverage that argument.

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