NCAA is sitting a dangerous president with decision

[jbcarol]

Roy Kramer on Paul Finebaum's show Friday was asked about the NCAA sanctions for Penn State.

"Every time you set precedent, you better be very careful".

[jbcarol]

A Penn State trustee cited a need for due process in telling the NCAA on Monday that he intends to appeal college sports governing body's strict sanctions on the university for the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

Trustee Ryan McCombie said earlier Monday in a letter to fellow board members that he planned to take the action and sought an NCAA hearing. He invited other trustees to join in the appeal.

[urkillnmesmalls]

A Penn State trustee cited a need for due process in telling the NCAA on Monday that he intends to appeal college sports governing body's strict sanctions on the university for the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

Trustee Ryan McCombie said earlier Monday in a letter to fellow board members that he planned to take the action and sought an NCAA hearing. He invited other trustees to join in the appeal.

They discussed this briefly on ESPN a few minutes ago, and they had an "expert" on there talking about this recent movement.  He suggested that the BOT from PSU knows they don't have much chance with a direct appeal, since it's only a matter of semantics on whether their Pres. had authority to accept the sanctions.  The sanctions themselves would still be the same by the NCAA. 

He said it is setting PSU up for some big lawsuits vs. the NCAA with the hope that they will get some leniency.  I haven't seen many posts from Nolan lately, so maybe he's off to represent PSU in their quest to defy the NCAA's involvement.   

[jbcarol]

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/8251823/penn-state-nittany-lions-sources-penn-state-expected-ratify-sanctions

[jbcarol]

Pennsylvania State University trustees voiced overwhelming support Sunday night for the decision by university President Rodney Erickson's to sign an NCAA consent decree that imposes harsh sanctions on the university following the Jerry Sandusky child-abuse scandal.

[jbcarol]

Brief selection from to-be-published Paterno book from the Pos.

At Paterno's house the day after he is fired via late-night telephone call from the Penn State board of trustees:

On Thursday, Paterno met with his coaches at his house. He sobbed uncontrollably. This was his bad day. Later, one of his former captains, Brandon Short, stopped by the house. When Brandon asked, "How are you doing, Coach?" Paterno answered, "I'm okay," but the last syllable was shaky, muffled by crying, and then he broke down and said, "I don't know what I'm going to do with myself." Nobody knew how to handle such emotion. Joe had always seemed invulnerable. On Thursday, though, he cried continually.

"My name," he told Jay, "I have spent my whole life trying to make that name mean something. And now it's gone."

Also revealed that son Scott, or ScoPa was the more cynical and realistic family members and JayPa was the optimist.

High-powered PR specialist McGinn was retained. McGinn and Guido could find no Penn State BOT to fall on their sword for JoePa after a fall out with Spanier.

[jbcarol]

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

[jbcarol]

The NCAA's botched Miami investigation shows what happens when people unleash Inner Authoritarians

The Inner Authoritarian is like the ambitious understudy of the human psyche. It knows — and it burns, because it knows — that it can play the role of You in the human drama better than you can. It believes it is smarter. It is more moral. It is just better at being You than you are, and it's darned sure better at being You than They are at being them. It just needs ... a chance.

The star of our show is one Nevin Shapiro, a swindler of epic proportions who is currently doing a 20-year bid for running a $930 million Ponzi scheme. Shapiro, of course, was arrested, pleaded guilty to securities fraud and money laundering, and was sentenced under the criminal law. His rights, by and large, were protected. Society's interest in seeing him punished was fulfilled. All was square, and off to the sneezer went Mr. Shapiro. Which is about when the NCAA's Inner Authoritarian laced up his big red floppy shoes, screwed on his rubber nose, inflated the giant whoopee cushion, and went to work, launching a two-year investigation.

Last week, we learned that NCAA investigators pole-vaulted over the line of legal propriety by obtaining information from a bankruptcy proceeding that had nothing to do with the association. According to a source who spoke to ESPN's Joe Schad, the NCAA provided Shapiro's attorney with questions to ask on its behalf. The attorney sent the NCAA a bill, because that is what attorneys do. (The lawyer also speculated that the NCAA might be trying to torpedo its own case, which seems unlikely, but who in the hell knows at this point.)

But consider the NCAA's activities in what happened in Miami. Some investigators looked at a legitimate legal proceeding and decided that a probe into whether NCAA regulations were violated was important enough to meddle in a massive ongoing bankruptcy case. Somebody else gave the go-ahead. And no matter how enthusiastically NCAA president Mark Emmert performs his Captain Louis Renault impression about how shocked, SHOCKED he is that all this went on, somebody in Indianapolis paid that bill. Somebody there countenanced what the investigators were doing in the most American way possible. They cut a check. The NCAA says it will get to the bottom of this, by cracky. Its internal investigation is estimated to take a couple of weeks. It should now be recalled that they've been chasing Nevin Shapiro and his money for two years. These aren't rogue investigators. These are people doing exactly what they were tasked to do.

This is what happens when you give people license to unleash their Inner Authoritarian, when you encourage them in thinking that the arbitrary enforcement of irrational codes of behavior designed to keep a labor force unpaid that is making you billions of dollars are somehow on an equal footing with actual criminal and civil law. This is what happens when you encourage bureaucrats to act like cops. This is what happens when you tell your people that a clipboard and a briefcase are the same as a badge and a gun. You get low comedy with human consequences.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8888829/the-ncaa-botched-miami-investigation

[DeltaBoy]

LOL the NCAA is becoming a JOKE!

[jbcarol]

NCAA is guilty of failure to monitor and lack of institutional control. Guilty of its own rules, which it applies arbitrarily and -- at times -- unfairly.

Take a dip in the deep end of that pool of irony.

To sum up Monday's nothing-to-see-here developments: While investigating a rogue booster at Miami , the NCAA had to sweep up a mess caused by a rogue investigator. The NCAA admitted to lack of oversight and fired its enforcement director.

Ah, but it hardly ends there. The NCAA No. 2 man (Jim Isch) approved an expenditure of more than $20,000 that he apparently never followed up on.

Send me to that pay window...

So it looks like the association's good name is well on the road to recovery.

#sarcasm

To further sum up this complicated mea culpa/scandal/hand-wringing please direct your attention to NCAA bylaw is 11.1.2.1. It states that a coach must "promote an atmosphere for compliance within the program ... and to monitor the activities regarding compliance of assistant coaches and other administrators."

For this case -- marking one of the most embarrassing times in NCAA history -- president Mark Emmert is that coach. And he must step down. Even if you believe the scandal stopped at Roe Lach, Emmert was her boss. And from Enron to Watergate to Camelot, bosses have fallen on swords.

If Emmert didn't know that company funds were being misappropriated in the Miami investigation, he should have known. That's what good bosses/coaches do. At least take the blame.

The NCAA is his team...

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/dennis-dodd/21727094/ncaa-guilty-of-lack-of-institutional-control-emmert-must-pay-with-his-job

[jbcarol]

Mark Emmert's crumbling credibility

What the president of the NCAA promises, few now believe. What he argues, few now will listen to.

What happens when a leader has lost his credibility? The day must come when he faces the reality that he can no longer rule.

Mark Emmert is about there...

Where is the NCAA image today, when Miami is deemed the good guy?

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/2013/02/20/mike-lopresti-column-miami-ncaa-infractions-donna-shalala-mark-emmert-credibility/1933211/

[OTTER]

I'd say that Emmert's tenure is about to end.  I cannot see how he is going to surrive with more and more coming to light. 

[jesterzzn]

CBS Sports has lacked institutional control for years now.  I say fire Dodd and Doyle, and I'll support his stance on the NCAA's president.  Sarcastic and Pigheaded as it is.

[tiber]

It would be awesome if Emmert wrote a book if he gets ousted... talk about the ultimate whistle-blower. 

[tiber]

This is classic, but not really surprising.

When you have someone in Emmert's position, knowing what he knows about the inner workings of college athletics and how the game is REALLY played, how dangerous would it be to scapegoat him knowing he can easily burn the whole house down?

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/8977804/ncaa-executive-committee-offers-president-mark-emmert-vote-confidence

[RxRazorback]

Flawed organization. About all I know to say.

[jbcarol]

NCAA president Mark Emmert is a man under fire.  The organization he runs is one of the least popular in the country, it's mired in a scandal regarding its own handling of an investigation, and it's facing a potentially landscape-changing lawsuit.

Now the press is getting involved, too.  USA Today has begun digging into Emmert's past:

"At LSU, an academic fraud scandal emerged in the football program under then-coach Nick Saban in 2001-02. Emmert oversaw an investigation into the allegations made by a university instructor that eventually acknowledged five minor and isolated violations and declared most of the claims 'unfounded.'

Emmert even met on LSU's behalf with the NCAA, which accepted LSU's findings. But after Emmert decided to leave LSU in 2004, a witness testified in a deposition that the instructor was telling the truth and that the problems were far more systemic than the school admitted, even extending to grades being changed for football players, according to court records.

The culture was 'appalling' and 'like Romper Room,' the employee said in 2004 testimony."

http://www.mrsec.com/2013/04/usa-today-digs-into-emmert-digs-up-issues-for-lsu-saban/

[jbcarol]

Penn State's Board has authorized settlement payments for Sandusky, Rump Ranger

Wait until after the pause when they offer lifetime Cafe' Lattes.

[Inhogswetrust]

This part bothered me. Souldn't it be about doing what is right for the victims and NOT about collateral damage.

Board chairman Keith Masser said it was part of getting past the scandal and the collateral damage it has done to the university.

[jbcarol]

This part bothered me. Souldn't it be about doing what is right for the victims and NOT about collateral damage.

Board chairman Keith Masser said it was part of getting past the scandal and the collateral damage it has done to the university.

I don't think they'll ever get it.

Even the devil quit over this.

[kingofdequeen]

here's a sanctioned link...

http://www.hulu.com/watch/299647

[jbcarol]

here's a sanctioned link...

http://www.hulu.com/watch/299647

Easier to watch too.  That other look like Sandusky recorded it with a hand held.

[kingofdequeen]

[jbcarol]

O'Brien meets with trustees as Penn State weighs proposal to NCAA for reduction of sanctions

No word on what Murphy is doing.

LEMONT FURNACE, FAYETTE COUNTY — Penn State may ask the NCAA to reduce some of its sanctions, university officials said Friday after football coach Bill O'Brien gave a private presentation to the board of trustees.

O'Brien addressed the trustees for more than an hour Friday morning behind closed doors [apparently in honor of the memory of former DC Jerry Sandusky] during the board's executive session at the Penn State Fayette branch campus.

O'Brien looked like a white knight riding from the high road to care about the remaining  players who were there for U.

He can in short order reduce himself to scum of the earth.

[jbcarol]

Emmert tells ESPN that he does not rule out revision of Penn State's NCAA sanctions

[jbcarol]

e McQueary testifies Paterno told him Penn State botched handling of Sandusky sex abuse

"He said 'Old Main screwed it up,'" McQueary testified.

[jbcarol]

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

"There's no compelling reason the NCAA should essentially be re-selling paraphernalia from institutions," Emmert said. "I can't speak to why we entered into that enterprise, but it's not appropriate for us, and we're going to exit it immediately."

[jbcarol]

Jay Paterno ‏@JayPaterno 4h
Crossroads or end of road? RT "@JayBilas: USA Today: "NCAA at a crossroads" http://usat.ly/1evEDeq  pic.twitter.com/LMiBvECCd0"

[jbcarol]

Attention, everyone. The NCAA wants you to know that it hears you loud and clear, and yes, they've decided to get out of the business of selling player jerseys.

If there's anything worse than a clueless, rudderless NCAA, it's a spineless, stand-for-nothing, bow-to-anything NCAA.

It's now not OK to make money off a Cam Newton jersey; the same Newton who, along with his father, Cecil, made a mockery of the NCAA rulebook on the way to winning the Heisman Trophy. But it's still dead-on accurate during an NCAA investigation to take the word of a convicted felon if he says something twice?

Matt Hayes is irritated with NCAA "leadership".

[jbcarol]

Mike Wilbon Said ‏@MikeWilbonSaid 22h
"You know what I think of the NCAA, institutionally, they're liars & hypocrites. This is what they do. This is their move" #Wilbon 8/8/13

[Inhogswetrust]

When are you people going to realize it is the Chris Mills loophole and that there wasn't a special precedent set for Newton. It was set with Chris Mills when Eddie Sutton got caught cheating at Kentucky.

Eddie did NOT get caught cheating at Kentucky. He was not implicated by the NCAA. However as head coach he was held responsible.

[jbcarol]

B1G Commish Delany: Still 'a little premature' to reduce Penn State sanctions or command the NCAA to reduce them

"We wouldn't reconsider [the Big Ten's sanctions] unless something were to change," he told the Post-Gazette. "But I think right now we're focused on, as a member of the tri-party agreement, to get Penn State where they are comfortable with it and we're comfortable with it. And as I said, great strides are being made in that regard. I think we're moving it ahead."

"We're only in the first year of a four- or five-year process," he said. "I think it's a little premature, but there's a process for that if the time is right."

Among other penalties, the Big Ten is withholding Penn State's share of the conference's bowl revenues for the duration of the program's four-year bowl ban, a number that could grow as large as $13 million by the end of the ban. The money is instead redistributed to the Big Ten's other 11 schools for use in child-focused charitable donations.

As for helping the Nittany Lions petition the NCAA, Delany sounds like he's not ready to take that step, either.

"I don't know that we'd become an advocate, but we're obviously interested in the progress that's being made," Delany told the Post-Gazette. "And you know, there's always a mechanism..."

[jamie72921]

Eddie did NOT get caught cheating at Kentucky. He was not implicated by the NCAA. However as head coach he was held responsible.

Semantics. Cal doesn't cheat either.

Sutton had recruiting violations at the juco he coached at, Creighton, UA, and Kentucky.

I am sure you believe that is just coincidence though.

Again, Chris Mills dad got caught taking money from the coaching staff at Kentucky, not a booster. Manuel was booted from competing in the NCAA for cheating on his ACT with Sean Sutton sitting in the same room with him. It was believed Sutton helped him cheat but just like with Newton, it couldn't be proven and Sutton skated.

Mills should have been declared ineligible but was allowed to continue to play if he transferred largely because of claims that the player was unaware of his father's arrangement with the Kentucky coaching staff, just like Newton's arrangement was supposedly with Miss St and NOT Auburn.

However, you have to be extremely naive to believe Sutton was not a cheater.

[Inhogswetrust]

Semantics. Cal doesn't cheat either.

Sutton had recruiting violations at the juco he coached at, Creighton, UA, and Kentucky.

I am sure you believe that is just coincidence though.

Again, Chris Mills dad got caught taking money from the coaching staff at Kentucky, not a booster. Manuel was booted from competing in the NCAA for cheating on his ACT with Sean Sutton sitting in the same room with him. It was believed Sutton helped him cheat but just like with Newton, it couldn't be proven and Sutton skated.

Mills should have been declared ineligible but was allowed to continue to play if he transferred largely because of claims that the player was unaware of his father's arrangement with the Kentucky coaching staff, just like Newton's arrangement was supposedly with Miss St and NOT Auburn.

However, you have to be extremely naive to believe Sutton was not a cheater.

Not naive at all. Look up the definition of semantics by the way. You say he cheated and I say he didn't. That isn't a question of semantics. Please provide us with ONE shred of evidence he has been accused of and found personally guilty of NCAA violations at KY. Coach had his demons but him cheating at KY wasn't one of them. I do know which coach it was and it was not by Eddie. There are boosters everywhere that get away with stuff and through coaches without other coaches knowing. If you don't believe that then you are naive not me. 99% of coaches have had some sort of what is considered minor recruiting violations. Eddie is no exception. Recruiting is the one area of coaching that is the most difficult to control even though head coaches are ultimately held responsible. Coaches cannot control every minute of every day of their employees (assistant coaches and staff) anymore than any boss can.

[MiHogsMi]

NM

[twistitup]

I'm sitting...on the crappa

[jbcarol]

Gary Parrish @GaryParrishCBS
I think NCAA president Mark Emmert basically just said that, yes, he's done inappropriate things ... but that he has no plans to stop.


Jay Bilas ‏@JayBilas 35m
Mark Emmert, quoted by AP (1): "Have I done things in ways that were inappropriate or frustrated people by mistakes I have made? Of course."

Jay Bilas ‏@JayBilas 35m
Mark Emmert, quoted by AP (2):  "But that doesn't mean that I'm going to stop doing these things. That's not the way I operate."

[jbcarol]

New Penn State revelations re: Sandusky scandal in upcoming book

The Wall Street Journal excerpted the new book "Fourth And Long: The Fight For The Soul of College Football" by author John Bacon. Bacon followed four Big Ten programs over the course of the 2012 season – Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan and Northwestern. The book particularly provides an inside – and in some cases previously unreported -- look at Penn State in the days following the revelation of the Sandusky's crimes.

"They used to hang people at the Centre County courthouse," former linebacker Mike Mauti says in the book of Sandusky, "and frankly I would have been OK with that. Hell, give us the rope, and we'll do it for you."

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/dennis-dodd/23179134/new-penn-state-revelations-re-sandusky-scandal-in-new-book

[jbcarol]

Lawyer Matt Casey said Friday seven young men he represents have finalized deals with Penn State over claims of abuse by the school's former assistant football coach, Jerry Sandusky.

The Philadelphia attorney said his clients include Sandusky's adopted son, Matt Sandusky, as well as the young man known as "Victim 2" in court records and three other victims who testified last summer against Jerry Sandusky at his criminal trial. "Victim 2" was the boy then-graduate assistant Mike McQueary said he saw being attacked by Jerry Sandusky in a campus shower in 2001.

Casey said the terms of the settlements took shape some time ago, but it wasn't until a week ago that he felt the deals were complete, followed by passing paperwork back and forth to memorialize it. He didn't disclose the settlement terms.

"To say they're relieved, I think, is a fair statement," Casey said. "But ... there's a whole lot of this that's necessarily inadequate."

The university has not commented on the deals, nor are they likely to do so. They just want you to like them again like you used to when the old man ran out on the field with the black-framed glasses and high water dark pants with white socks.

[jbcarol]

The NCAA said Tuesday that it will reduce the unprecedented sanctions against Penn State's football program by gradually restoring scholarships starting next season. Officials did not rule out future modifications, such as reducing the four-year postseason ban.

The announcement comes 14 months after NCAA president Mark Emmert levied the historic penalties in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal. Penn State had faced a cap of 65 scholarships starting in 2014, but instead will have 75 scholarships in 2014, 80 in 2015 and the full allotment of 85 in 2016.

"The executive committee's decision to restore football scholarship opportunities for more student-athletes at Penn State is an important recognition of the university's progress -- and one I know it was pleased to make," Emmert said.

No word on Lane Kiffin and USC's progress.

[jbcarol]

USC AD Pat Haden finally responds to NCAA actions on Penn State

"Like the rest of country, we have just learned of the NCAA's actions regarding the restoration of some of Penn State's scholarships.

"As you know, the NCAA is currently engaged in the process of evaluating and potentially reforming its governance structure.  We look forward to having a positive impact on that process.

"We also are hopeful that the NCAA's recently-enacted enforcement and penalty reforms will result in a consistent and fair enforcement and penalty process for all its institutions.  USC will continue to work cooperatively with the NCAA towards that goal.

"We are near the end of the NCAA sanctions imposed on us in 2010 and we look forward to their expiration."

This statement has about as much passion and emotion as an English lord's face after getting lightly slapped by his enemy's silk glove.

[jbcarol]

Mr. Haden goes to Indianapolis

USC Athletic Director Pat Haden and Vice President for Athletic Compliance Dave Roberts spent the last two days in Indianapolis meeting with NCAA officials including NCAA President Mark Emmert.  Here is a statement from Haden on the meeting:

"Dave Roberts, USC's Vice President for Athletic Compliance, and I visited the NCAA in Indianapolis yesterday and today (Wednesday and Thursday, Sept. 25-26) immediately after the NCAA announced its reductions to the penalties previously imposed upon Penn State.  During our visit, we met with the NCAA's President, Mark Emmert, and several members of his management team. 

"Our meeting had actually been scheduled weeks earlier, and we had planned to discuss a variety of topics, including the NCAA's governance structure, the need to address student-athlete welfare concerns, and other current issues such as 'pay for play.'  We also wanted to thank NCAA staff members for their cooperation with and assistance to USC on a wide variety of compliance-related matters ranging from numerous waiver requests to the positive resolution of the Joe McKnight/Davon Jefferson matter earlier this year.  Our work with the NCAA is not confined to the big 'breaking news' media stories that everyone reads about.  Rather, we work with them on a daily basis to address and resolve issues involving eligibility, academics, transfers and graduation that never see the light of newsprint.

"After learning of the NCAA's actions on Tuesday (Sept. 24) regarding Penn State and the lessening of the sanctions that were imposed on that institution, when viewed in the context of the events that have shaken intercollegiate athletics over the past year, we felt compelled to discuss USC's sanctions in a new light.  As I have stated on numerous occasions, I believe the penalties imposed on our football program in 2010 were unprecedented and inconsistent with NCAA precedent in prior cases.  I also believe the sanctions have resulted in unintended consequences both for our football program and our student-athletes.  Although the sanctions reduced our total football scholarship limit to 75 (down from 85), attrition resulting from injuries and transfers has resulted in less than 60 recruited scholarship student-athletes suiting up for our games.  The current situation is certainly not what was envisioned, nor is it in the best interests of our student-athletes' welfare.

"In reducing Penn State's scholarship penalties, the NCAA specifically noted the 'progress' it had made regarding athletics integrity.  Since the Committee on Infractions (COI) issued its sanctions in 2010, USC has been held up as a model and praised for its integrity and commitment to compliance, a fact often mentioned by the NCAA itself.  Although USC had two unsuccessful bites at the apple (the original COI hearing and the appeal to the Infractions Appeals Committee), given the changing landscape impacting intercollegiate sports over the past year, the recent action regarding Penn State, the impact of the sanctions on our program and the efforts we have under taken at USC to compete with integrity, we again argued for some consideration regarding the 2010 sanctions during the last year of our penalty. 

"During our meetings with the NCAA's leaders over the last two days, we discussed enforcement and sanction issues impacting both the NCAA membership at large and USC specifically.  We proposed creative 'outside the box' solutions to the scholarship issues resulting from the injuries and transfers experienced by our football team over the past three seasons.  After candid discussions, the NCAA asked us to provide additional information and indicated it would study our suggestions.  Because time is of the essence regarding these issues, we have asked for the NCAA's response as soon as practical."

[jbcarol]

Harrisburg's 27: NCAA's lawyers go on offensive in Paterno lawsuit

NCAA says a lawsuit against it by the family of late Penn State football coach Joe Paterno and others is fatally flawed and should be thrown out.

An NCAA filing Thursday in Centre County court says the lawsuit contains "sundry misdirected complaints." It argues the plaintiffs don't have standing to challenge the consent agreement between the NCAA and Penn State over the child molestation scandal involving ex-assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.

It says Paterno's estate and Penn State trustees, faculty, former players and former coaches are "the wrong plaintiffs" and "have sued the wrong defendant."

NCAA lawyers say Paterno's estate was unable to say how its commercial interest in his reputation's lost value.

[WaltKowalski]

NCAA is not incompetent but totally corrupt. I bet a $100 dollar handshake doesn't buy much at that level.

Who investigates the NCAA to see if they have anyone receiving impermissible benefits?

The schools need an academic body to regulate college sports. The NCAA is a bunch if for profit individuals who are making a killing working for a non profit.

The NCAAs time has passed.

[Sue E NoNutts]

Amen, brutha!

[trashcan maN]

Every bureaucracy needs oversight or it will end up corrupt..human nature

[Wayne Watson]

Exactly.  See http://www.hogville.net/yabbse/index.php?topic=549038.0

[Sir Oinksalot]

NCAA is not incompetent but totally corrupt. I bet a $100 dollar handshake doesn't buy much at that level.

Who investigates the NCAA to see if they have anyone receiving impermissible benefits?

The schools need an academic body to regulate college sports. The NCAA is a bunch if for profit individuals who are making a killing working for a non profit.

The NCAAs time has passed.

The reason we aren't stepping up to the plate is that we have a booster problem, not a recruiting problem...

[jbcarol]

Just because the investigating organization was corrupt does not mean the target of the investigation was pure.

Wetzel, Yahoo!Sports: Bungled Miami probe exposes NCAA's own legitimacy issues in seedy detail

The ever-bombastic Nevin Shapiro, currently serving 20 years for running a Ponzi scheme, once promised "Hurricane Nevin" would flatten the University of Miami football program. It didn't happen. As a not-insignificant consolation, though, Shapiro wound up taking one mighty, mighty hack at the NCAA itself.

The NCAA is a ghost of itself, and, after reading through 102 pages of the Miami "Public Infractions Report" released Tuesday, it appears no one knows that better than the committee of infractions itself.

This was part internal admission of feebleness and part passive-aggressive swipe at the U. The NCAA aired all the dirty laundry it could. It issued strongly worded condemnations and damning conclusions. It humiliated the coaches and administrators involved. Then it doled out penalties that fall somewhere between slap-on-the-wrist and pat-on-the-back...

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaaf--bungled-miami-probe-exposes-ncaa-s-own-legitimacy-issues-in-seedy-detail-201037966.html

[jbcarol]

Dana O'Neil, ESPN: NCAA proves again it has lost its way
Miami penalty shows how toothless organization has really become

The Emery envelope memorably exploded and with it came the implosion of Kentucky basketball:

A two-year postseason ban, no televised appearances for one season, scholarship reductions, records expunged and NCAA tournament money returned or, as then-Kentucky president David Roselle explained, "about 4 feet" from the death penalty.

That was in 1989.

Fast-forward to 2008. Kelvin Sampson texts like a teenage girl with a mad crush and Indiana basketball is brought to its knees.

Or how about 2010, when Bruce Pearl suddenly finds it impossible to recognize his own home and the Tennessee coach becomes an ex-Tennessee coach with a three-year show-cause penalty?

That all happened, courtesy of grievous athletic misdeeds followed by justifiable NCAA punishments.

Of course, that was back when the NCAA had teeth and some integrity of its own, before it had to investigate its own investigations and redo punishments it never had the authority to make in the first place...

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/9862923/miami-penalty-just-shows-again-ncaa-lost-way

On the flip side, because the NCAA was exposed on this investigation does not mean they were pure in the past.