NCAA Needs To Be Reformed From The Bottom Up And From The Top Down

 

"I have been vocal in the past regarding the need for integrity by NCAA member schools, athletics administrators, coaches and student-athletes," Emmert said. "That same commitment to integrity applies to all of us in the NCAA national office.

(From an ESPN.com story yesterday.)

One of the things that Dr. Mark Emmert, the current president of the NCAA, is big on is integrity and accountability. Remember, this is the person who unilaterally punished Penn State University for the institutional issues that plagued the upper university administration in their mishandling and covering up of the Jerry Sandusky situation on campus.

So it is safe to say that Emmert is a big believer in responsibility and making sure that the right thing is done in all circumstances. After all, as he said yesterday, the NCAA has to act with integrity.

in·teg·ri·ty

/ɪnˈtɛgrɪti/ Show Spelled [in-teg-ri-tee]  noun

1. adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.

 

The NCAA has long been a punching bag and a punchline. I've been known to rip the NCAA in some of my writing, although I've never gone as far as calling the organization a parasite. I do think it is a severely flawed organization, with a bloated rule book that is in desperate need of a re-do. Not tweaking. Not editing. It needs to be completely torn apart and rebuilt with an eye towards the 21st century and the role that intercollegiate athletics does play in the current paradigm of higher education.

 

It needs to be grounded in reality, not in some idealized, fetishized notion of amateurism that has become totemic.

 

Look, if the expectation going forward is that coaches are to be held accountable for the actions of their subordinates, then isn't it fair to expect that the head of the NCAA be kept informed of the actions of one of his most visible arms, the enforcement department?

 

I realize that there are a number of investigations taking place at institutions all around the country, but the University of Miami investigation was the most high profile of the open cases out there. If you don't believe so, then re-read Charles Robinson's initial report and tell me that this wasn't a priority case.

 

The NCAA has been investigating "The U" for the last two years. Apparently, if reports are to be believed, the investigative arm of the NCAA was ready to deliver notices of allegations very, very soon.

 

And then, all of a sudden, the NCAA has to backtrack and investigate itself because the attorney for Nevin Shapiro, somehow became involved in the investigation. The NCAA does not have subpoena power, and so the information that was gained by Shapiro's attorney during a deposition during the bankruptcy hearing for Shapiro, and provided to the NCAA, cannot be allowed.

 

Supposedly, this is only a small part of the overall case. However, the NCAA needs to see just how compromised the case is at this point in time.

 

I believe that it will be hard to move forward on this case because a cloud of suspicion will hang over the entirety of the case. Even if only one small part is tainted, I think it becomes difficult excise just the "tainted" parts and say that the rest of the case is hunky-dory.

 

Furthermore, coming on the heels of the Shabazz Muhammed situation, where the boyfriend of an NCAA investigator was called out for discussing the details of the case with a third party and essentially saying that a finding of Muhammed's guilt was decided before all of the information was actually, you know, collected and analyzed, it appears that the enforcement arm of the organization is a mess.

 

Right now, enforcement looks like they are jumping to conclusions, deciding guilt before thoroughly completing an investigation, and are willing to use any means necessary to gather evidence, even if it goes against their own rules.

 

How can you expect institutions to act with integrity and follow the labrynthine rules when the people that you have hired to enforce the rules, investigate violations and prosecute the offenders are committing violations themselves?

 

Maybe the problem is not just with enforcement. Maybe the problem just isn't with the rules.

 

The problems appear to go straight to the top.

 

As Jay Bilas of ESPN put it:

 

 

Isn't NCAA making head coaches, those in charge, responsible for assistants' actions? Uh, Mr. Emmert, about this happening on your watch...
— Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) January 23, 2013

 

In the two years plus that Emmert has been in charge:

 

• There was a shambolic investigation into Auburn and the recruitment of Cam Newton that ended with Newton being suspended and reinstated in about 25 minute because Cam didn't commit the violations, but his father did.

• There was the allowing the Ohio State football players who had sold their gold pants to play in the Sugar Bowl (aka the "Tattoo Five") because to not allow them to play would have hurt the Sugar Bowl somehow, so they were granted a special waiver to be allowed to play.

• Former USC assistant Todd McNair, the fall guy in the Reggie Bush case, was able to get a court to admit that the NCAA investigators violated their own rules in handling the investigation into McNair. The judge refused to throw out a lawsuit that McNair has filed against the NCAA.

• Emmert himself unilaterally decided to punish Penn State's football program for the crimes committed by Jerry Sandusky and the inaction of former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, former athletic director Dr. Tim Curley and former president Dr. Graham Spanier. The punishment meted out by Emmert, the harshest given to an insitution since the death penalty placed on SMU, was for a perceived lack of institutional control. The problem is that Emmert used powers that, well, upon a reading of the rules, don't really seem to exist.

Yes, investigators have been fired. The investigator from the Muhammed case referenced above has been relieved of duties, as has the person who apparently retained Shapiro's attorney from the Miami case.

Although on the heels of the latest trumpeting of change in the NCAA enforcement arm, in which coaches are to be held accountable for the actions of their subordinates, isn't it fair to hold Emmert to the same standard?

NCAA's Emmert: "In my 2+ years I've certainly never seen anything like this, and don't want to see it again." Boy, he sure says that a lot.
— Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) January 24, 2013

Given the spate of Level I and II violations that the enforcement arm seems to be committing of late, maybe a zero based review of the rulebook is not enough.

Sometimes, you have to blow it all up and start over. A mass change needs to occur, and that change should probably start at the top.