Selective enforcement once again: NCAA strikes again

[Northeast Stinger]

NCAA: "No. But Congress can."

Not directed at you but I think some on here missed the emphasis of my post. I wasn’t commenting on the NCAA so much as I was commenting on the players’ sense of entitlement now that NIL is in place with such loosey goosey adherence by some schools to rules that also seem ambiguous.

 

[RonJohn]

And the follow-up:

Tennessee Chancellor Donde Plowman responds to NCAA

Tennessee Chancellor Donde Plowman sent a letter to NCAA President Charlie Baker on Monday in regards to the inquiry with her school.

www.on3.com

I don't have any sympathy for Tennessee. However, I think her letter to the NCAA is spot on. The NCAA has been extremely vague about NIL rules. If you have "rules" that you want to enforce, then they should be written as rules to be enforced. There shouldn't be "guidelines" and memoranda about "interpretation" of "guidelines". I would compare what has been happening with the following speeding scenario:
Understand that speeding is an issue. Issue a notice to the public that people should not speed. Issue new interpretation that people shouldn't drive faster than what is reasonable. Then issue speeding tickets to cars going XX miles per hour.

The only "guidance" that I have seen from the NCAA is basically that athletic associations can follow state laws regarding NIL. I don't know what the NIL law is in Tennessee, or even if there is one. If a state doesn't have an NIL law, does that mean that student athletes in that state can't receive NIL? Does that mean that students are more free from NCAA repercussions regarding NIL? I don't like where things are, but IF the NCAA wants to enforce anything they should be very clear about what is allowed/not allowed and what will be enforced. I haven't seen any of that from them.

 

[roadkill]

I don't have any sympathy for Tennessee. However, I think her letter to the NCAA is spot on. The NCAA has been extremely vague about NIL rules. If you have "rules" that you want to enforce, then they should be written as rules to be enforced. There shouldn't be "guidelines" and memoranda about "interpretation" of "guidelines". I would compare what has been happening with the following speeding scenario:
Understand that speeding is an issue. Issue a notice to the public that people should not speed. Issue new interpretation that people shouldn't drive faster than what is reasonable. Then issue speeding tickets to cars going XX miles per hour.

The only "guidance" that I have seen from the NCAA is basically that athletic associations can follow state laws regarding NIL. I don't know what the NIL law is in Tennessee, or even if there is one. If a state doesn't have an NIL law, does that mean that student athletes in that state can't receive NIL? Does that mean that students are more free from NCAA repercussions regarding NIL? I don't like where things are, but IF the NCAA wants to enforce anything they should be very clear about what is allowed/not allowed and what will be enforced. I haven't seen any of that from them.

Agree that the Tenn. Chancellor’s scathing letter is on point.

In typical NCAA fashion, they appear clueless as to external happenings in the athletic landscape, make a bunch of rules that are either silly, unenforceable, too late, constantly changing, or a combination of all of the above. Then the NCAA sends an enforcement team that acts like amateurs with an agenda.

We’ve seen this movie before, and perhaps the Tennessee situation may be what’s needed to actually spur needed changes. But I’m not holding my breath.

 

[GaTech4ever]

I don’t follow closely but as I recall, NCAA for a long time turned a blind eye toward criminal issues. They limited their involvement to academic issues and “amateurism” (player payment) issues. They set an “unprecedented” precedent when they piled on to Penn State during the molestation cases. I guess the NCAA determined that everyone was so outraged that they could insert themselves without repercussions. That’s typical of their enforcement policies….
Maybe the UGA case gets to the point where collective outrage paves the way for NCAA to pile on, but I doubt it. I would expect them to go back to their blind eye guidance on criminal matters and claim that it is “outside of their purview”

None of it makes sense. Remember when Reuben Houston was facing felony drug charges and a judge reinstated him to the team?

 

[SOWEGA Jacket]

If anyone thinks anything is going to happen to Tennessee, Colorado, or any other team then you are wrong. The NCAA can’t enforce jaywalking today, And it’s awesome to see them completely de-nutted.

 

[CEB]

None of it makes sense. Remember when Reuben Houston was facing felony drug charges and a judge reinstated him to the team?

I had forgotten that… I remember him having the drug charges but I don’t remember the details on reinstatement.

 

[forensicbuzz]

If anyone thinks anything is going to happen to Tennessee, Colorado, or any other team then you are wrong. The NCAA can’t enforce jaywalking today, And it’s awesome to see them completely de-nutted.

They put FSU on probation with several sanctions. I'm hearing they're about to drop the hammer on Florida. Now Tennessee? It will be interesting to see if any of this pans out. They have already punished FSU.

 

[slugboy]

Tennessee is getting ready for a tussle. They’re going to fight the NCAA.

Did the NCAA pick a fight with Tennessee that it can't win?

Tennessee chancellor Donde Plowman fired back at the NCAA after meeting with NCAA investigators on Monday in a case involving NIL.

www.on3.com

 

[awbuzz]

BREAKING: Deion Sanders & Colorado Buffaloes Facing 11 NCAA Violations After First Season Together

Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes are facing 11 NCAA violations following Coach Prime's first season in charge of the program.

www.totalprosports.com

So you, if you’re a HC at a big enough program or garner enough media attention, you can more less do as you please and slap yourself on the wrist and thenself report to NCAA and say no worries we’ve already punished ourselves. Nothing to se here. Plus if the NCAA comes down on CU very hard you pull “ace up your sleeve “ of how the deck is stacked against you and you’re a victim of a system that is designed to keep you down. Some of these comments are tongue in cheek. However I am fairly confident that having recruits (perhaps even athletes who aren’t even officially in the portal from other teams) visit your campus is premeditated and the benefit of getting them on campus in the flesh (ASAP) outweighs the consequences that are to be delivered by NCAA especially when the sports and social media world are pumping your name at any given moment. Seems ludicrous that the NCAA wouldn’t come down hard on that alone because of the mess and gray areas of the portal an enticing players to come to your school.

Wow! They are re really tough on themselves... a WHOLE DAY of portal activity in December!!!

 

[slugboy]

A few months ago, someone shared info that the NCAA thought NIL collectives are OK. Maybe they don’t think that:

 

[L41k18]

The states of Tenn & Va have filed lawsuits against the NCAA ban on using NIL for recruiting. The courts have consistently ruled in the athete's favor (as they should, this being America). The NCAA - if not completely dead - is close.
That should be cause for rejoicing.

 

[MWBATL]

The states of Tenn & Va have filed lawsuits against the NCAA ban on using NIL for recruiting. The courts have consistently ruled in the athete's favor (as they should, this being America). The NCAA - if not completely dead - is close.
That should be cause for rejoicing.

While I certainly don’t care for the NCAA, the law of unintended consequences is about to burst onto college sports…in a big way.

 

[leatherneckjacket]

I do love how the folks at Tennessee seem to think they are completely altruistic and without fault. They have had dirty football and basketball programs for the past few decades and always willing to bend / break the rules. Also, falling on your sword after you were cheating does make you a shining example of how sports programs should be properly run. Next time, do not cheat in the first place.

 

[Vespidae]

I do love how the folks at Tennessee seem to think they are completely altruistic and without fault. They have had dirty football and basketball programs for the past few decades and always willing to bend / break the rules. Also, falling on your sword after you were cheating does make you a shining example of how sports programs should be properly run. Next time, do not cheat in the first place.

I’m following this as many of friends are involved at UT or with the football team there.

My understanding is that a player signed with a collective and received payment before being recruited by UT. UT states that a) that’s not against the rules, because b) there are no rules, and c) the NCAA is setting a guideline and enforcing it as rule for past behavior. (Ex post facto).

The NCAA is seeking Congress to grant antitrust exemptions but it doesn’t look like they will act. The NCAA may not survive the lawsuit.

 

[awbuzz]

The NCAA, courts, Congress, etc. let the genie out of the bottle without setting up reasonable guardrails and "rules".
It has metastasized beyond the theoretical intent of allowing student athletes being able to make $ doing things like YouTube, opening a side business, endorsing a product, etc., i.e. something that a reasonable person would consider legitimate.
Players being "given" thousands, tens and hundreds of thousands for some, for "doing nothing" is "pay to play".

 

[stinger78]

The NCAA, courts, Congress, etc. let the genie out of the bottle without setting up reasonable guardrails and "rules".
It has metastasized beyond the theoretical intent of allowing student athletes being able to make $ doing things like YouTube, opening a side business, endorsing a product, etc., i.e. something that a reasonable person would consider legitimate.
Players being "given" thousands, tens and hundreds of thousands for some, for "doing nothing" is "pay to play".

This. The NCAA could have gotten around this had they exercised foresight and acted ahead of the court decisions. We all saw this coming.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

The NCAA, courts, Congress, etc. let the genie out of the bottle without setting up reasonable guardrails and "rules".
It has metastasized beyond the theoretical intent of allowing student athletes being able to make $ doing things like YouTube, opening a side business, endorsing a product, etc., i.e. something that a reasonable person would consider legitimate.
Players being "given" thousands, tens and hundreds of thousands for some, for "doing nothing" is "pay to play".

Yep. Pay to play. And whatever the market will bear.

 

[slugboy]

The NCAA, courts, Congress, etc. let the genie out of the bottle without setting up reasonable guardrails and "rules".
It has metastasized beyond the theoretical intent of allowing student athletes being able to make $ doing things like YouTube, opening a side business, endorsing a product, etc., i.e. something that a reasonable person would consider legitimate.
Players being "given" thousands, tens and hundreds of thousands for some, for "doing nothing" is "pay to play".

And Congress could have fixed this at any time. Lots of people are looking for other people to fix problems.

The NCAA is passive because they’re might be afraid of getting sued, but that might be the best solution for the NCAA. If they can show in front of Congress and the public that college sports need oversight but the NCAA’s hands are tied, then they could get help. Sometimes people only act in an emergency.

But, if the NCAA does nothing, the public only sees a do-nothing NCAA.

There’s always the chance they win the lawsuit and they do have power. Not trying anything is waiving authority

 

[Vespidae]

Yep. Pay to play. And whatever the market will bear.

A former D1 player told me this:

You have to pay players, at least ... something. There is too much work involved preparing for football and many of the players come from less advantaged areas, so they will be ripe for exploitation. His idea was to have each recruiting class (e.g., Class of 2024, 2025, etc) be awarded a percentage of the football budget; e.g., X% of the gate; Y% of the media, etc. And as long as you remain with the team, you will earn that and it will pay out over time. However, if you transfer ... you resign your funds (which are distributed to the remaining players) and you join the NEXT class at the destination school. So, players have to really evaluate if it is worth it to transfer or not.

He says it is folly to pay QB's millions through NIL when it is the OL and receivers that make a QB possible. He prefers a more distributed method because it would be better for overall team morale. (He was a team captain and says that role today is increasingly meaningless as the sport has become everyman for himself.)

In his view, the portal is what is killing the game and you need to take steps to reduce player mobility. He is also a coach and says it is very difficult to coach a team when players only meet for the first time at Spring practice. Some even later than that.

That said, he lamented the fact that while he was part of a group advising NIL at the NCAA, the NCAA showed little to no interest in creating a system that makes sense. There really are no rules and it's increasingly going to be pay to play.

There apparently have been proposals after proposals with no action by the NCAA. Which is the core issue. They really do need a Commissioner of CFB to run it. It is devolving into "whatever the market will bear" ... absolutely.

 

[RonJohn]

The NCAA, courts, Congress, etc. let the genie out of the bottle without setting up reasonable guardrails and "rules".
It has metastasized beyond the theoretical intent of allowing student athletes being able to make $ doing things like YouTube, opening a side business, endorsing a product, etc., i.e. something that a reasonable person would consider legitimate.
Players being "given" thousands, tens and hundreds of thousands for some, for "doing nothing" is "pay to play".

I would say it is the NCAA that did it, not the courts or Congress. Congress hasn't "done" anything. The courts only told the NCAA that it couldn't continue doing what it was doing. The NCAA had inane rules and refused to even consider changing them. The NCAA allowed things like Herschel's Trans Am by non-investigation, but had rules that an ambitious student-athlete who started their own business in high school had to decide between continuing the business and playing college sports. The NCAA would not allow a person like Olivia Dunne, who could have made millions of dollars per year before she attended LSU, to make any money if they wanted to play college sports. If the NCAA had done the right things decades ago, we wouldn't be in the current mess. State legislatures and courts have only told the NCAA that they couldn't continue their current processes.

AFTER courts and state legislatures told the NCAA that, the NCAA basically did nothing. State laws were years away from going into effect, and the NCAA didn't release any guidance until just before the laws went into effect. The guidance they did release was very vague and didn't really say what schools were allowed to do. The NCAA failed for decades to take action on it's own. When courts and state legislatures told the NCAA that they had to take action, they failed to set any guidelines. The problems are all because of the NCAA.