SMU, NCAA, & the Double Standards of College Athleticism

Southern Methodist University has received punishment for breaking rules from the governing body of Collegiate Sports, the NCAA.  Among the“charges” against SMU include Academic Misconduct and Unethical Conduct in the Men’s Basketball Program along with lack of control of the program by Head Coach Larry Brown.  SMU has been banned from the 2016 postseason and Brown has been suspended for the first 9 games of the season.  While this is not the first time a college team coached by Larry Brown has received NCAA punishment (he coached at Kansas and UCLA previously), the real issue here is the double standards in collegiate athletics in terms of players, coaches, universities and the NCAA.

Let’s first focus on the coaches and what their role is as Head Coaches in collegiate athletics.  What is their job description exactly?  Because if you ask the NCAA, an Athletic Director, a University President, Players, and NBA Scouts you may get 5 different answers.  The reality is that the system makes it difficult to do any of the duties asked of these coaches.  First and foremost, these coaches are expected to win ball games, but they have to do so with limited practice hours every week.  These coaches are expected to recruit talented players, but they are expected to do so with numerous limitations in place on how much they speak to recruits and when/where they interact with them.   These coaches are expected to oversee the sport’s program they coach while also monitoring their players.  Yet these men and women at the collegiate level are expected to also be life teachers, mentors, and university representatives.

While many of these “duties” I state above conflict with each other, I ask what is most important: Academics, Winning Games, Mentorship, or Program Management?  The truth is that every time you hear about sanctions against a school’s Athletic Program or its players, there are three other incidents that never get reported.  There are guidelines published by the NCAA but no consistency in punishment.  Why is the University of Southern California Football program more “evil” in their lack of institutional control than SMU Basketball program?  Why was what Dez Bryant did years ago worse than what Johnny Manziel and Jameis Winston did?  Why is Jim Boeheim better or worse than any other coaches who didn’t have institutional control?

I know as the reader you may be saying “I don’t remember half those incidents you are talking about” or “Why are you comparing ‘Apples to Oranges’?” but the whole point is that you don’t remember all the details of every NCAA punishment and that these situations are not all that different.  The reality is that the NCAA is the overseer of a multi-faceted, multi-billion dollar business that hundreds of Universities cash in on every year.   Lots of green is made from televised sporting events and game tickets are sold just like the professional ranks.  But we are told these are “Student-Athletes”, that this is “Amateur athletics at its highest level”, that “Academics come first, Sports come second”; so then why do we hire and fire coaches in college for the same reasons as the professional ranks?

The double standards come down to the simple conflict between what is important.  SMU didn’t hire Larry Brown to be their Men’s Basketball because he graduated so many student athletes or he has a great relationship with Academia.  He was hired to win basketball games, to recruit the best players, because when you bring in the best players and win ball games then the University makes big money.  The truth is that these Universities treat their Head Coaches and Student-Athletes like business investments.  But as soon as the NCAA comes in the University distances themselves from their Head Coaches and Student-Athletes, blaming them for everything.  Everything is alright for the NCAA and Universities to make money off Collegiate Athletics, but when these players and coaches do “whatever it takes to win” then we start the blame game.

I do not blame Larry Brown for what happened at SMU with the Basketball program, just like I do not blame Pete Carroll for what happened at USC with star Football player Reggie Bush.  I blame the system that is in place for putting these coaches and players in a position where they feel the need to “bend the rules” in order to meet expectations.  The NCAA wants their big time TV contracts but want to maintain the “integrity” of Student-Athletics and Academic environment.  The NCAA and their member Universities want the best of both worlds and the Public Relations that go along with it.  They do not care about the Students’ futures or their Academics.  The Universities point to statistics and say “Look at our graduation rate” but do not mention these Student-Athletes majored in Liberal Arts, Communications, Sports Management and other degree fields that have limited real world application for employment.

Whether it is SMU, USC, Syracuse, Miami, Dez Bryant, AJ Green, or anyone else this is all a charade of punishments by the NCAA.  There is no consistency, no bona fide legal process, no use of precedent, just a bunch of subjective interpretations of situations and circumstance b people who care little for the people they place judgments on and only care for maintaining their strangle hold on their power and money.  If it wasn’t for all these double standards, most of these coaches and players would never get in trouble.  Furthermore, these sanctions from the all-mighty NCAA hurt more innocent people than transgressors.  Remember how Penn State lost scholarships and was banned from postseason because of a few men’s negligence and another man’s evil?  Yeah those NCAA punishments only hurt the players and coaches who had to deal with the sanctions in aftermath of all that mess of lies.

2015 College Football Preview: PAC-12

The 2015 College Football Season is this week and this will be the second year of the College Football Four-Team Playoff format.  This week I will be giving my preview of the major teams and players to watch for in 2015.  One of the elements that makes the College game so exciting is the unpredictability. There’s no preseason, always new players coming in as freshman, and past players leaving via graduation or early exit for the NFL.  Also, I enjoy watching College Football for the many different styles of offenses and defenses run on the field each week.  Unlike the NFL in which only a few different schemes are utilized each week, the College ranks over the last few decades have seen so many variants of styles and we the viewers have seen some of the greatest players succeed with these unique game plans.

Today I will highlight teams from the PAC-12 Football Conference

University of Southern California

2015 Projected Record: 9-3

Win/Loss Plus-Minus Variable: +2/-2

Make or Break Games: 9/19 vs. Stanford; 9/26 @ Arizona State, 10/17 at Notre Dame, 10/31 @ California; 11/21 @ Oregon; 11/28 vs UCLA

Synopsis: USC is coming out from the shadow of NCAA sanctions a couple years ago and has Head Coach Steve Sarkisian entering his second season as leader of the Football Team.  It has taken a few years for USC to recover in recruiting to gain more depth on their team.  As a result, they are considered one of the most talented teams in the PAC-12.  The biggest problem is that there are many talented players on this team that are not as battle tested as their opponents.   Will starting Quarterback Cody Kessler be able to put the team on his shoulders and carry them to a conference title?  Or will the team run head long into the perfect storm and come up short thanks to missed opportunities?  Playing at Oregon and Arizona State will definitively not be easy in-conference matchups.

University of Oregon

2015 Projected Record: 9-3

Win/Loss Plus-Minus Variable: +1/-2

Make or Break Games: 9/12 @ Michigan State; 10/29 @ Arizona State; 11/14 @ Stanford; 11/21 vs USC

Synopsis: Oregon, over the last several years, has raised their national profile with multiple runs at a National Title, but they have not been able to win it all.  Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota is now in the NFL and Head Coach Mark Helfrich is looking for a new starter at Quarterback.  Vernon Adams, who transferred from Eastern Washington, has taken the starting job from long time Mariota backup Jeff Lockie.  Adams, a dynamic athlete with great arm talent, has the potential to put up big numbers in the Oregon Ducks fast paced offensive attack.  But can he be anywhere as efficient as Mariota was last season?  The biggest reason Oregon was able to compete for the PAC-12 Title the last few years was because Marcus minimized mistakes and kept his team in games.  In the past Vernon Adams has been known to be a risk taker and overthink when in the moment.  If Vernon Adams makes too many mistakes, I am not sure the Oregon defense is built to overcome a mistake prone offense.     

Arizona State University

2015 Projected Record: 10-2

Win/Loss Plus-Minus Variable: +1/-3

Make or Break Games: 9/5 vs Texas A&M; 9/26 vs USC; 10/3 @ UCLA; 10/29 vs Oregon; 11/21 vs Arizona; 11/28 @ California

Synopsis: 2015 could be a great year or a disappointing season for the Arizona State Sun Devils.  The good news is they play three of their toughest games at home.  The bad news is they play two high powered offenses away from home (Texas A&M and Cal).  Mike Bercovici is entering his first full season as the team’s starting Quarterback, having to lead a high powered offense against a tough schedule of opposition.  The defense may be what makes or breaks this team, with one of the best secondary units in the conference.  They will be starting two Defensive Backs that could finish the season top three at their positions, but will that be enough to slow down high powered offenses like Oregon, Cal, Texas A&M, USC, and Arizona?  

University of Arizona

2015 Projected Record: 8-4

Win/Loss Plus-Minus Variable: +3/-1

Make or Break Games: 9/26 vs UCLA; 10/3 @ Stanford; 11/7 @ USC; 11/21 @ Arizona State

Synopsis: Arizona may have the best defensive player, Linebacker Scooby Wright, and the most underrated player, Quarterback Anu Solomon, in the PAC-12 coming into 2015.  But can these transcendent talents really carry Arizona to a conference title?  Maybe, although their underwhelming out of conference schedule may help inflate their record and team statistics.  It is much easier to be a dominant team against average competition than against teams with comparable or better talent on the field.  Arizona has pulled off some big wins the last three seasons under the guidance of Head Coach Rich Rodriguez, but I am not sure they have enough talent around their superstars to take that next step to be a contender for the College Football Final Four Playoff. 

University of Stanford

2015 Projected Record: 8-4

Win/Loss Plus-Minus Variable: +2/-1

Make or Break Games: 9/19 @ USC; 10/3 vs Arizona; 10/15 vs UCLA; 11/14 vs Oregon

Synopsis: Stanford has had one of the top ten defenses in the country the last few years.  But this year, they go into the season with only two starters in place from last season.  This major turnover on defense puts Stanford in the difficult position of going head to head with high powered offenses without the experience on defense to fully handle what is coming at them.  Also, can their offense really put up enough points to keep up with offenses like Oregon, USC, Cal, and Arizona?

University of California-Los Angeles

2015 Projected Record: 9-3

Win/Loss Plus-Minus Variable: +2/-3

Make or Break Games: 9/26 @ Arizona; 10/3 vs Arizona State; 10/15 @ Stanford; 11/21 @ Utah; 11/28 @ USC

Synopsis: UCLA returns 18 starters from last year’s squad, so they are one of the top teams in the conference in terms of upperclassmen on the roster.  On top of that, their starting Quarterback Josh Rosen is one of the most talked about QB prospects entering college football in over fifteen years.  If UCLA plays up to their potential and Rosen is half as good as predicted, this team could be the PAC-12 champions.  That is a lot of ifs though; UCLA has one of the toughest inter-conference schedules in the country.  Of their away games, three of them are versus nationally ranked opponents (Stanford, Arizona, and USC) while home games versus Arizona State and California will be no easy task.  If UCLA can weather the storms of their tough schedule, they may land themselves in among the Final Four teams of this season’s College Football Playoffs.

University of California- Berkeley

2015 Projected Record: 8-4

Win/Loss Plus-Minus Variable: +3/-1

Make or Break Games: 9/19 @ Texas; 10/10 @ Utah; 10/22 @ UCLA; 10/31 vs USC; 11/7 @ Oregon; 11/21 @ Stanford; 11/28 vs Arizona State

Synopsis: I purposely listed California at the end of my highlighted team list for the PAC-12 because this team holds the destiny of the 2015 PAC-12 Conference champion with the result of their play this season.  The Cal Golden Bears will have as their starting Quarterback potentially the top QB in the conference this season, Jared Goff, who will be orchestrating one of the most high-powered offenses in the country.  Yes, that right, not just one of the best in the PAC-12 but the nation overall!  The problem for Cal this season will be how their defense improves from the last couple years of below average play.  With a difficult schedule to navigate, the Bears offense could be responsible for the downfall of many hopes and dreams of opposing PAC-12 school fans and alumni as they will most likely average around 40 points per game this season.  If their defense can play at least on par with the rest of the conference, Cal could be running to a Bowl game while the rest of the conference is licking their wounds.

Johnny Manziell and NCAA Corruption

The whole Johnny Manziel fiasco has become the rampant celebrity gossip talk of the sports world.  But many are ignoring the real issue that this saga has presented to us, not about Manziel, but about college athletics as a whole.

Manziel was suspended for the 1^st half of Texas A&M’s first game of the 2013 Football season for violating the “Spirit of the Law” concerning his signing of autographs and memorabilia.  The NCAA informed Texas A&M that they had not found evidence that Manziel had received money for signing thousands of items in random hotel rooms during the winter months of 2013.  Of course, the NCAA came to this conclusion within a couple weeks after Manziel’s parents had retained the services of a power, well-known lawyer. 

This is where college athletics showed their true colors.  Since most college athletes do not have the family or financial resources to attain such legal representation, many athletes over the years have received suspensions and schools have had to “vacate” past wins, loose scholarships and receive bowl bans over other “violations”.  While none these violations equal any actual felonies or misdemeanors in the court of law, the NCAA has bi-laws and regulations that are in place to “protect” the student-athletes.  So while these same athletes are not allowed to have jobs during the athletic season or use their fame for profit, the schools and NCAA can make as much money as they want.  But there is no Congressional investigation into the “monopoly” that is college athletics, because there is money involved and they are part of the in-crowd. 

Let’s look back at another athlete who did not have legal representation and was punished by the NCAA.  Former Oklahoma State Wide Receiver Dez Bryant was considered a candidate for the Heisman Trophy in 2009.  But the NCAA suspended him for the rest of the season because he “failed to disclose” he had lunch with former NFL Superstar and current NFL Network TV personality Deion Sanders.  Apparently, because Bryant had associated himself with some with an indirect connection to the NFL and “lied” about it, he violated his Amateur Status and was then deemed ineligible to play college football.

But what if Bryant’s family had the money or he had the resources to attain a powerful attorney, would he have been ruled ineligible?  If his college was a private school (Oklahoma State is part of the public college system in that state) and had an athletic department who would hire an attorney to represent Bryant on his behalf (similar to what happened at Auburn with Cam Newton during his breakout, Heisman Trophy season) then what would have happened?

The reality is that this propaganda about “We are here to protect the kids” from the NCAA and the schools who say “We really care about this kids as people” is a total farce.  Universities and the NCAA are institutions of Business that offer a service to educate people who they deem “qualified” to attend and enroll.  The absolute disregard for precedent or justice by the people who run these institutions is a disgrace.  Whether it is the mishandling of the investigation into potential violations at the University of Miami or the “see no evil, hear no evil” disgrace that was the Mike Rice situation at Rutgers or the NCAA making money off the likeness of athletes on the covers of video games that have the official NCAA stamp on them, the concept of a moral high ground is an absolute joke. 

Manziel is a blue-blood, member of the upper class in America, he thinks he can get away with anything, that he is “above the law”.  The NCAA always punishes schools and athletes they deem are “guilty” because they can’t defend themselves or because they cannot stand before an independent arbitrator to plead their case.  Whether its Dez Bryant, University of Southern California, or Southern Methodist University, there is a common theme: if you are not in with the blue-bloods or elites, you are definitely going to get punished for your “transgressions”.

 Is Dez Bryant the only collegiate athlete to have lunch with someone associated with a professional sports organization? Nope.  Was USC the only school to ever have a player whose family received favors from a prospective agent? Nope.  Was Miami the only school to ever have students receive money from “supporters” of the athletic program? Nope.  Was SMU the only school who was “paying” players to come to their school?  Nope.  But these were the ones who the NCAA decided to investigate.  The reality is that for every school or athlete who is caught and punished, there are two others who get away with the same or similar violations of the NCAA bi-laws.

So instead of people asking the US Congress to get involved in the affairs of professional sports organizations like the NFL and MLB over steroid testing, why don’t they instead investigate the NCAA and its member institutions who claim to have the best interests of the student-athletes in mind, when in reality, it’s a flawed system that is more interested in the financial bottom line than the well-being of these so-called student-athletes.  There’s no investigation into why USC received punish for the actions of the family of a member of their football team.  No investigation into how the NCAA is making money from the likenesses of their student-athletes in video games or selling of their jerseys on their website.  No investigation into the debacle at Rutgers University with the Mike Rice fiasco. 

Obviously, the people who scream the loudest “We want to protect their children from those who would take advantage of them” are actually the ones who really don’t care an ounce about them.  Yelling and screaming is for those who want attention or to justify their existence.  It doesn’t matter if its Politicians, University Presidents and Athletic Directors, or the “powers that be” at the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the Modus Operandi seems to have a common theme: They do what they need to do to stay in positions of power and influence, while making as much money as possible while not being held accountable for their actions. 

So the next time you see Johnny Manziel pop up on your tv, just remember, he gets to continue to play football because he had the resources to afford him legal representation, while many other athletes are not so fortunate.  Have fun explaining this one to your kids.