Money Players

Muckrakers in college sports

Notice lately how many NCAA investigations are either the result of investigative journalists working in concert with civil lawsuits (real or threatened)? I am all for NCAA cheaters getting punished, but let's be clear: these are not all the cheaters in the NCAA-cheating universe...just the ones who irritate someone enough to talk to the media and/or threaten or file lawsuit.

Lately, there's been an increase in armchair NCAA investigators. Yahoo! Sports seemingly has become a third arm of NCAA enforcement, especially with its extensive coverage of Reggie Bush. Now Yahoo! examines the sleazier side of college coaches...using their oratory skills to help high schools with fundraisers.

Yahoo! lays down the law:

"The practice of coaches speaking at high school events has been going on for decades. But it's fundraising in association with those events that has prompted scrutiny. And should the NCAA find Notre Dame and Weis to be in violation of its rules, coaches across the nation could expect similar sanctions."

Steve Morgan, who once worked for the NCAA and now represents schools accused of NCAA wrongdoing, said:

"I think the issue is that if you didn't have regulations in this area, you'd have the possibility that coaches would exploit the opportunity to curry favor with certain high schools, and their hope would be to get a leg up in recruiting in that high school."

Leveling the playing field is an impossible thing to legislate. Big recruiting budgets and celebrity coaches will always enjoy a "leg up in recruiting." What makes the system basically fair is that schools all offer exactly the same number of scholarships and amount of playing time.

While the media and fans foster a culture of distrust, coaches also bear responsibility.

Consider this, courtesy of sportswriter Ray Melick:

"Alabama coach Nick Saban says he has 35 documented cases of secondary violations by other coaches that he has not reported, although he has used them as a 'What about them?' defense when confronted by compliance people questioning Saban about allegations made against him."

So this is how The Nasty Game is played? Coaches acting like vigilantes by taking compliance matters into their own hands in order to protect their own butts down the line. This "observe, document, but don't report" system is far different from the Honor Code, the bedrock of every university that holds integrity and fair play central to its mission.

In the end, all this creates a pretty bleak public view that supports former UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian thesis that,  "In major college basketball, nine out of 10 teams break the rules. The other one is in last place."

--Marc Isenberg

Criticizing amateur athletes

Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy and self-described "40-year old MAN" used his bully pulpit to respond to what he thought was an inappropriate attack on OSU quarterback Bobby Reid written by a female writer in the The Oklahoman. Gundy, apparently skilled at identifying unprofessional behavior in others, might have had made a stronger case had he not channeled Bobby Knight.

Gundy did pose an interesting question: Should the media refrain from criticizing amateur athletes?

Maybe the media should understand these are young, impressionable men, not quite ready for prime time. As Gundy reminds us, these are "amateur athletes" not "professionals." College sports is not life and death, although if there's an athletic department that has showed us the opposite, it's OSU. If Gundy had his way the media would treat college athletes age appropriately. Nice sentiment. But let's not forget that we have built a billion-dollar business on the backs of these amateurs. Is that age appropriate?

College sports is a competitive, sometimes ruthless, perhaps even vicious business. My guess is that every college quarterback knows the bargain: when things go well, they get the glory, and if they play poorly, they get criticized. Severely.

As the popularity of college sports increases so does the ink. Some of the coverage is welcomed; some of it crosses the line. It's unfortunate, but most famous athletes and coaches understand the bargain.

Connie Mack, who managed the old Philadelphia A’s for 50 years, understood the role of the media. He said, “When I entered the game, [sports] received only a few lines as news. These few lines extended into columns and pages. In ratio the crowds in our ball parks grew and grew and grew. News, like advertising, is a powerful momentum behind any enterprise. The professional sporting world was created and is being kept alive by the services extended by the press.”

Gundy should stick up for his players, but that doesn't mean he should publicly berate someone in the media who writes something critical. Gundy might benefit from some media training. Lesson 1: Don't argue with anyone who works for a company that buys ink by the barrel (great advice offered by Walter O'Malley).