ALL DOLLARS, NO SENSE IN NCAA
Cash is still king, cheaters prosper as protecting status quo trumps reform
Kudos to the NCAA for hosting a tap-dancing exhibition along with the Final Four.
Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim wants you to know that cheating and breaking rules aren’t the same, no matter what Webster’s and common sense tell you. In one breath, NCAA President Mark Emmert praises the deterrent effect of postseason bans and in the very next defends Syracuse’s and North Carolina’s right to bring their dirty laundry to college basketball’s showcase event.
Then, of course, there are all those references to “the student-athlete,” a term designed to protect the NCAA from having to hand over some of its billions to the kids who are bringing it in.
No matter what high-minded ideals they profess, the main concern of everyone in the NCAA — be it Emmert, uni- versity presidents, athletics directors or coaches — is to protect the status quo.
And by status quo I mean cash, because that’s what it always comes back to. The NCAA had revenue of $912 million in fiscal year 2015 thanks to the popularity of events such as the Final Four, where companies are tripping over themselves to get a piece of the action.
The players, meanwhile, are living large. For two years now, all “studentathletes” have had access to unlimited meals and snacks. Yippee! They get all the M&Ms they can eat while their coaches get Mercedes-Benzes.
“The resources that are being committed to student-athletes, and the opportunities they have to enjoy those resources, are significantly greater today than they were six years ago,” Emmert said Thursday in his annual state of the association address. “In fact, I would clearly contend that student-athletes right now are in a much stronger, more successful position than they were in that short time. That’s a very, very good thing.”
There are plenty of “student-athletes” who would disagree with him, starting with Ed O’Bannon and the other plaintiffs in the antitrust lawsuit over the use of their images. But hypocrisy has never much bothered the NCAA.
Syracuse was banned from the postseason last year and Boeheim suspended for nine games this season for a series of violations. The NCAA spent eight years investigating Syracuse, finding that a basketball staffer had done coursework to keep a player eligible; the school had ignored or violated its own drug testing program; and a booster had provided more than $8,000 in extra benefits.
Though Boeheim was not complicit in any of the violations, the NCAA found he hadn’t promoted an atmosphere of compliance. Serious stuff. Yet here are the Orange, two wins away from becoming national champions.
There’s something about schools being allowed to reap big rewards after recovering from what is little more than a slap on the wrist that seems at odds with what the NCAA is supposed to promote. You know: fair play, the benefits of competition, life lessons about the value of hard work and perseverance.
Because the bottom line isn’t teaching young people about the consequences of bad behavior. It’s about protecting the very lucrative product, and nobody does that better than the NCAA.