In the past year, the NCAA seems to have read the press about them turning a blind eye towards corruption and politicking in college football. Someone in the public relations department raised a red flag and said, "Guys, we may want to repair our image a little bit. People think that we have no control over the situations."
Well, the public is right. The NCAA doesn't have control over their constituents. The cheating, recruiting violations, payments made to players, and cover-ups have run rampant through college football over the past two decades. So last year, during the summer, the NCAA decided, albeit never officially announced, they had to address the issues. Forget that the NCAA likely knew of most of these infractions, but played oblivious because ultimately these teams made billions of dollars for the two-faced organization. Public perception of the leagues and officials were Titanically low and to remedy the situation the NCAA started throwing around punishments and sanctions without impunity.
It started with USC, Reggie Bush and OJ Mayo. From there they moved to North Carolina. To Ohio State. Oregon. LSU. Georgia Tech. Boise State. And most recently Miami. The NCAA has started investigating every incident possible, revoking scholarships and banning teams from postseason appearances. The iron fist they threw around actually started to instill a sense of confidence as the violators were finally being punished, or at least investigated.
Sure, the NCAA has a list of problems with its infrastructure that might make the EU blush. But at least they started taking steps to address some of the more pressing issues. Maybe there was hope for this widely regarded corrupt organization.
But, unsurprisingly, the NCAA took a black eye with this Miami incident. The articles on the internet want to point the finger at Miami because it is a flashy plot with a storied program. I'm more interested in seeing what the NCAA will do.
The black eye comes from the fact that the same person who started the whole firestorm of attacks on programs, beginning with USC, Paul Dee, was the athletic director at the time of Miami's biggest transgressions. Dee was the chairman for the Committee of Infractions in the case against USC. The man responsible for the harshest punishment short of SMU's death penalty finds himself in the center of the biggest college-football scandal ever.
What will the NCAA do? The progress they appeared to make seems tainted now. Dee rode his high horse through Trojan territory, condemning the program and their ethics. Has there been a bigger example of hypocrisy in sporting history? Could the NCAA look any worse, in the wake of these investigations, having hired Dee to tackle the USC issue?
Fortunately for Dee, and unfortunately for the NCAA, he is retired and no longer has an association with the NCAA. They can drag his name through the mud, cry they were misled, or ban him from college football forever. None of it will really matter. The only thing the NCAA can do right now is turn its attention to Miami and their inevitable punishment.
Whether Miami is the powerhouse they were in the 90's, or having Jacory Harris throw more completed passes to the other team than his own, they draw national attention. Miami makes money. They are a big name program that the NCAA would love to see return to the days of past glory. And as a big name in a weak conference, Miami helps keep the ACC relevant even when they aren't running the table.
Now? The NCAA doesn't have a choice. If they want the public to take them seriously, they will drop the guillotine. It does not matter if it is a big-name program like Miami or not, the death penalty is the only option for the NCAA. They have to prove to coaches, boosters, athletic directors and university presidents that they are serious about these infractions. And your school's name won't have a say in the matter.
That same decision made last summer to actively pursue offenders needs to repeat itself. The NCAA is undoubtedly embarrassed by having chaired Dee, but they can salvage a piece of dignity here. But if the NCAA doesn't act, and act quickly, the damage will already be done. And all of those revoked scholarships and sanctions won't me a thing to the other schools still uncaught.
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