A member close to the Men’s Basketball team from the mid to late 1980s sent me an email this morning of snippets from the NCAA’s report involving the Shoes and Ticket “Scandal” of the late 80s. Unfortunately, all I was able to obtain were images of the report, and at that, they were truncated. After some Google searches, I was unable to actually locate the report in its entirety. Nonetheless, it does have some telling samples (emphasis mine):
In addition, the committee instructed the university to develop and implement a system for administrative control and monitoring to ensure compliance with the NCAA legislation.
The committee said it did not find that any clear and direct competitive advantage accrued to the North Carolina State program as a result of the violations in this case. The committee, however, determined that the case was major in nature principally because the university “failed to control its intercollegiate athletics program in complaince with the rules and regulations of the NCAA” in two primary areas — the handling of complimentary admissions to regular-season and Atlantic Coast Conference tournament baskebtall games, and the manner in which the basketball shoes were issued to the members of the team.
Further, the report says that NC State cooperated enough with self-imposed sanctions that it did not deem a TV ban to be necessary. The self-imposed penalties were:
a. No off-campus recruiting and no official paid visits for the 1989-90 academic year.
b. A limitation on basketball grants-in-aid [scholarships] to 12 for the 1990-91 and 1991-92 academic years.
c. A reduction in the men’s basketball coaching staff for the 1989-90 and 1990-91 academic years to one head coach, two assistant coaches and one of the two other coaches permitted by NCAA legislation
In other words, because some tickets and shoes were sold which did not provide any benefit to competition, NC State self imposed reductions in scholarships and staff as well as recruiting restrictions. The NCAA found this as acceptable to its almighty power. Shoes. And Tickets gave us Les Robinson.
Not that I have to compare and contrast for our well-informed audience, but for those meandering over here from search engines, lets compare that to the current situation at North Carolina.
- Rogue Tutors
- Rogue Department Heads
- Rogue Agents (aka Rouge Assistant Coaches)
- Rogue Department Admins
- Rogue Coaches
- Rogue Term Papers
- Rogue Extra benefits to players in the form of hotels, parties, and jewelry
- Rogue Parking tickets mysteriously paid
- Rogue Academic and Athletic Advisors routinely shifting players towards Rogue Departments for no-show classes to maintain eligibility
- Rogue Clustering of athletes into one department that turns out to be Rogue
- Rogue FERPA violations by posting a star athlete’s transcript online (which shows a GPA of 1.8)
- A very clear and unhealthy expensive cupcake eating habit
And so far, Mark Emmert and the Almighty Power of the NCAA who decided to hammer Penn State for what was essentially an issue that did not aid competition on the field (and I’m not saying Penn State didn’t get what they deserved), has remained silent. The line coming from the NCAA is that they’re done with UNC. They did their investigation, levied a bowl ban and some scholarship losses. Oh and probation.
Meanwhile, it’s become abundantly clear that the NCAA did not do a thorough job of their “investigation”… err, Review… as the most severe and major academic issues were uncovered by nameless Internet sleuths all the while UNC remains defiant and only comes forward with information after the toothpaste is out of the tube.
I believe that the NCAA, although they claim to be through with UNC, will be compelled into action. The multi-billion dollar, TAX EXEMPT organization has its credibility on the line not just with UNC but with a slew of other schools that are seemingly receiving far worse penalties for doing things that pale in comparison to perhaps the largest academic fraud case that not only UNC has seen, but the NCAA and all of its member institutions. Because of this and because of the desire for self-preservation, the NCAA will be compelled into action.
Lets hope that the media continues its barrage of stories. One media outlet seems to be silent though… where’s ESPN? Or does that question even need to be asked?
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