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Few organizations in America are more scrutinized than the NCAA.
Controversy constantly follows the nation’s premier college athletic governing body. With nearly every decision handed down, particularly those which place sanctions on member schools whose athletic teams and programs have recklessly hydroplaned, the NCAA comes under fire. Seldom are its enforcement efforts universally lauded.
Sometimes the criticism seems justified. Other times, not.
Columnist Will Leitch of Sports On Earth once wrote: “The letters in the NCAA have been a snarling punchline for decades.”
Yet, behind all the backbiting is something few naysayers and pundits talk about or openly acknowledge: the NCAA is member controlled, member run.
Many believe the bad guys are an independent operation. Not so.
That idea is largely fueled by outspoken pundits such as Jay Bilas, the highly respected college basketball analyst for ESPN. He is also a former Duke basketball player as well as a former member of the NCAA’s Long Range Planning Committee. Rebuffed in his attempts to have his ideas implemented, Bilas now grinds away at his ax anytime the opportunity arises to slam dunk the Indianapolis-based institution. With an ESPN microphone in his hand, Bilas, who received a law degree from Duke, has nothing good to say on the topic of the NCAA and its enforcement of the rules.
Bilas is not alone in his brand bashing. High-profile coaches have taken it upon themselves to turn on the NCAA with vitriol that would embarrass anyone outside a locker room.
Chief among them was Jerry Tarkanian. Known affectionately by UNLV basketball loyalists as “Tark the Shark,” the late coach infamously went on the attack whenever the NCAA made a ruling, borderline or not.
Following a series of columns written by Tarkanian at Long Beach State in which he continually berated the organization, believing it was unfair and slanderous to him, Tarkanian sued the NCAA and won a $2.1 million settlement. Although vindicated in that case, Tarkanian was infamous for leading his basketball teams at UNLV and Fresno State directly into the cross hairs of the NCAA with numerous rules infractions. Seems the Tark was the kettle to the NCAA’s pot.
All the animosity, however, should be properly measured. It remains puzzling that when one opens the door to the NCAA, one discovers that no one inside the association’s office, not even president Mark Emmert, makes rules. That’s right. No one in the NCAA office makes a single rule.
Surprising? Well, therein is the rub and the paradox.
The NCAA is essentially an enforcement agency, the holder of the NCAA flame. It works to investigate rules offenders and then hand down preset punishments which are decided upon by — you guessed it — the member schools’ presidents, administrators, coaches and athletes.
Yet the NCAA, through its fact finding and gathering evidence, resulting in disciplinary action approved by the organization’s members, bears the brunt of the outside blows.
Is that fair?
There doubtlessly have been overreactions by the association. Case in point: the NCAA’s response to former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky’s abuse of young boys. But didn’t that case require prompt action? Few people disagreed with the quick response of the NCAA.
In hindsight, perhaps the NCAA did convict the school, especially the football program, before it was necessary, before the vaunted university had a chance to stand trial. Certainly, emerging evidence over the ensuing months and years proved that patience may have been a more prudent course. Nonetheless, sitting and waiting would most likely have been viewed as showing unfair favoritism to football icon Joe Paterno and a program that had until then displayed a squeaky-clean image.
Regardless of which path the NCAA chose, there was no winning in that awful set of circumstances. Yet, although Emmert was indeed the mouthpiece, all the decisions were driven by top-level committees composed of presidents of member institutions.
At present is the looming case of Ed O’Bannon, the final outcome of which could forever alter college athletics. That is, if it finds its way to a conclusion. The suit, brought by a group of former NCAA student-athletes, the most famous of whom is former UCLA basketball player Ed O’Bannon, argues that the NCAA benefited from the athletes’ images without permission or compensation. It has been a time-consuming, litigious mess. The publicity has not served to bolster the NCAA’s standing across the country.
Meanwhile the NCAA and its members are acting aggressively to enact rules demonstrating their willingness to change, particularly in the area of benefits for student-athletes at the Division I level. These are moves which, at least for now, have kept the wolves from breaking down the front door on Washington Street in Indianapolis.
National Scouting Report is dedicated to finding scholarship opportunities for athletes who possess the talent, desire, and motivation to compete at the collegiate level. We’ve helped connect thousands of athletes with their perfect college.