snuffy
06-11-2009, 02:03 PM
Woelk: NCAA must display some frontier justice
By Neill Woelk (Contact)
Thursday, June 11, 2009
http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2009/jun/11/ncaa-must-display-some-frontier-justice/
BOULDER, Colo. — One of my favorite movie lines of all time comes when the hero (John Wayne, of course) delivers this warning to the villain (Richard Boone):
"Now you understand. Anything goes wrong, anything at all ... your fault, my fault, nobody's fault ... it won't matter. I'm gonna blow your head off."
It's high time the NCAA started exercising a little of that frontier justice by dealing out some punishment that matters. Then maybe -- just maybe -- schools that benefit from blatant cheating and then claim ignorance when the NCAA comes calling would begin to keep a clean house.
You've heard the refrain. It rings from Tallahassee to Memphis to Los Angeles and points in between.
"Not our fault," they whine. "You can't punish us for something we didn't know about."
Baloney. Punishing schools where cheating has become part of the culture is the only way to drive the point home.
Examples are plentiful.
Start with Florida State, where the NCAA has threatened to take away 14 wins from venerable coach Bobby Bowden because of a widespread cheating scandal at FSU. More than 60 athletes were involved in the scandal -- including two dozen football players -- in 2006 and 2007.
FSU president T.K. Wetherell is shocked -- shocked! -- at the thought of Bowden being stripped of a few victories. Wetherell said the sanctions stripping Bowden of wins were "excessive and inappropriate." He said it was unfair to roughly 500 athletes and 52 coaches who had nothing to do with the cheating.
Bull. Wetherell's athletic department has carefully fashioned a mentality ofwinning at all costs that has permeated to every corner. The NCAA must send a message that such a mentality must change immediately -- and it better start at the top.
Move on to Southern Cal, where cheating seems to be as much a part of the culture as Traveler the mascot.
Story after story has been written about former Trojan Reggie Bush's alleged acceptance of improper benefits from a prospective agent.
But USC officials maintain -- without much credibility -- that they knew nothing of Bush's relationship with those agents.
Now, the NCAA has finally gotten involved, spurred in part, at least, by the recent allegations concerning former hoops coach Tim Floyd and his recruitment of O.J. Mayo. Floyd has been accused of paying someone to direct Mayo to USC -- and now he's resigned.
It's the very definition of a lack of institutional control.
And then there's Memphis.
It was recently reported that former Memphis star Derrick Rose had his SAT score canceled, something that came to light after Rose's first and only season at Memphis.
Of course, Memphis investigated and was "unable to find proof that the former player actually cheated on his SAT exam." Then, Memphis officials argued that even if the NCAA believes a former player cheated, the program should not be penalized because the school was unaware of any wrongdoing.
Nonsense.
What each of these schools is saying is that none of these issues are their fault. And every one of them is lying.
What the schools are really saying is that they've built a culture of winning at all costs -- and cheating is simply one of those costs. A wink and a nod and get it done is the unstated rule of thumb.
Not that coaches are innocent. All too often, coaching staffs perform a risk-benefit analysis, decide which rules can be stretched -- or broken -- and make decisions accordingly.
Lose one scholarship and gain a five-star QB? Worth the price.
And neither is the NCAA free of blame. Rather, the bloated bureaucracy is too much like the corrupt sheriff in the Old West town. Look the other way when the rich break the law, then punish the less-affluent.
I had to laugh recently when chief NCAA blowhard Myles Brand bloviated over APR punishment. Two schools -- Centenary and Tennessee-Chattanooga -- received the harshest penalties.
"It shows the depth and severity of the penalties," Brand boasted. "... we withhold them from postseason play, that's a big deal."
Yep, Myles beat up on a couple of lower-tier schools, then held it up as a shining example of how the NCAA punishes miscreants.
Trouble is, Brand's merry band of gutless wonders won't do the same to the big dogs. They'll take a few scholarships away from Florida State. They'll end up doing the same to USC -- if that much, and something similar at Memphis.
But don't count on any postseason bans.
Then those schools -- and plenty of others -- will continue to cultivate the culture of cheating. The art of breaking the rules will continue to be the cost of success, and the benefits will far outweigh the risks.
When will it change?
Not until the NCAA stops accepting ignorance as a defense and starts to punish schools where it hurts. In other words, not until the NCAA takes a little John Wayne advice to heart:
"Your fault ... my fault ... nobody's fault ... it won't matter."
By Neill Woelk (Contact)
Thursday, June 11, 2009
http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2009/jun/11/ncaa-must-display-some-frontier-justice/
BOULDER, Colo. — One of my favorite movie lines of all time comes when the hero (John Wayne, of course) delivers this warning to the villain (Richard Boone):
"Now you understand. Anything goes wrong, anything at all ... your fault, my fault, nobody's fault ... it won't matter. I'm gonna blow your head off."
It's high time the NCAA started exercising a little of that frontier justice by dealing out some punishment that matters. Then maybe -- just maybe -- schools that benefit from blatant cheating and then claim ignorance when the NCAA comes calling would begin to keep a clean house.
You've heard the refrain. It rings from Tallahassee to Memphis to Los Angeles and points in between.
"Not our fault," they whine. "You can't punish us for something we didn't know about."
Baloney. Punishing schools where cheating has become part of the culture is the only way to drive the point home.
Examples are plentiful.
Start with Florida State, where the NCAA has threatened to take away 14 wins from venerable coach Bobby Bowden because of a widespread cheating scandal at FSU. More than 60 athletes were involved in the scandal -- including two dozen football players -- in 2006 and 2007.
FSU president T.K. Wetherell is shocked -- shocked! -- at the thought of Bowden being stripped of a few victories. Wetherell said the sanctions stripping Bowden of wins were "excessive and inappropriate." He said it was unfair to roughly 500 athletes and 52 coaches who had nothing to do with the cheating.
Bull. Wetherell's athletic department has carefully fashioned a mentality ofwinning at all costs that has permeated to every corner. The NCAA must send a message that such a mentality must change immediately -- and it better start at the top.
Move on to Southern Cal, where cheating seems to be as much a part of the culture as Traveler the mascot.
Story after story has been written about former Trojan Reggie Bush's alleged acceptance of improper benefits from a prospective agent.
But USC officials maintain -- without much credibility -- that they knew nothing of Bush's relationship with those agents.
Now, the NCAA has finally gotten involved, spurred in part, at least, by the recent allegations concerning former hoops coach Tim Floyd and his recruitment of O.J. Mayo. Floyd has been accused of paying someone to direct Mayo to USC -- and now he's resigned.
It's the very definition of a lack of institutional control.
And then there's Memphis.
It was recently reported that former Memphis star Derrick Rose had his SAT score canceled, something that came to light after Rose's first and only season at Memphis.
Of course, Memphis investigated and was "unable to find proof that the former player actually cheated on his SAT exam." Then, Memphis officials argued that even if the NCAA believes a former player cheated, the program should not be penalized because the school was unaware of any wrongdoing.
Nonsense.
What each of these schools is saying is that none of these issues are their fault. And every one of them is lying.
What the schools are really saying is that they've built a culture of winning at all costs -- and cheating is simply one of those costs. A wink and a nod and get it done is the unstated rule of thumb.
Not that coaches are innocent. All too often, coaching staffs perform a risk-benefit analysis, decide which rules can be stretched -- or broken -- and make decisions accordingly.
Lose one scholarship and gain a five-star QB? Worth the price.
And neither is the NCAA free of blame. Rather, the bloated bureaucracy is too much like the corrupt sheriff in the Old West town. Look the other way when the rich break the law, then punish the less-affluent.
I had to laugh recently when chief NCAA blowhard Myles Brand bloviated over APR punishment. Two schools -- Centenary and Tennessee-Chattanooga -- received the harshest penalties.
"It shows the depth and severity of the penalties," Brand boasted. "... we withhold them from postseason play, that's a big deal."
Yep, Myles beat up on a couple of lower-tier schools, then held it up as a shining example of how the NCAA punishes miscreants.
Trouble is, Brand's merry band of gutless wonders won't do the same to the big dogs. They'll take a few scholarships away from Florida State. They'll end up doing the same to USC -- if that much, and something similar at Memphis.
But don't count on any postseason bans.
Then those schools -- and plenty of others -- will continue to cultivate the culture of cheating. The art of breaking the rules will continue to be the cost of success, and the benefits will far outweigh the risks.
When will it change?
Not until the NCAA stops accepting ignorance as a defense and starts to punish schools where it hurts. In other words, not until the NCAA takes a little John Wayne advice to heart:
"Your fault ... my fault ... nobody's fault ... it won't matter."