Help me understand

[agcy68]

Help me understand how all these players implicated in the Dawkins expense reports are still playing? Last night I read the NCCA cleared these players after 'internal' investigations at the universities.

Also, how can the talking heads on ESPN be so incredulous to the situation? I heard one comment that 'it was only a meal' that Dawkins paid for. Oh, how far we have come since ISU got everything but the death penalty for a meal at McDonald's and a ride to the airport in the '80s.

 

[iowa_wildcat]

ESPN only cares about the product they can put on your TV that will draw the most viewers. The network could not care less about the integrity of the game. The college presidents look the other way because ESPN is the cash cow that pays the bills.

 

[Cyclonepride]

My impression is that, if they are found to be ineligible, it's too late to stop now as they've already been playing. Damage has been done, might as well play them.

 

[knowlesjam]

I can see this going one of two ways. The first is that the NCAA goes full Chuck Norris on the schools, levying penalties and suspensions on all involved. The other way is that the NCAA goes the other direction, allowing players to get agents in high school, athletes to move freely between schools, etc. In other words, it becomes a bidding war for the top kids, but they get paid. Honestly not sure which direction the NCAA goes...

 

[Cyclonepride]

I can see this going one of two ways. The first is that the NCAA goes full Chuck Norris on the schools, levying penalties and suspensions on all involved. The other way is that the NCAA goes the other direction, allowing players to get agents in high school, athletes to move freely between schools, etc. In other words, it becomes a bidding war for the top kids, but they get paid. Honestly not sure which direction the NCAA goes...

I think you have to punish what has been done, and then do a reset of the rules. Cheating is cheating. I hope that, whatever they do, the concessions do not make it a situation where the competitiveness is determined by money, or that will ruin my favorite sports.

 

[Rural]

I think you have to punish what has been done, and then do a reset of the rules. Cheating is cheating. I hope that, whatever they do, the concessions do not make it a situation where the competitiveness is determined by money, or that will ruin my favorite sports.

it already is and frankly always has been.

 

[Dandy]

Because Mark Emmert is all about the NCAA making money and doesn't care if people break the rules to do so.

 

[SoapyCy]

NCAA is going to look the other way until it disappears.

 

[Cyclonepride]

it already is and frankly always has been.

To an extent. Facilities, coaches, etc do make a huge difference (along with some money exchanging hands under the table), but I don't want it to become even more directly about money. Whatever the solution is has to be even and affordable for all member institutions.

 

[Mr Janny]

Help me understand how all these players implicated in the Dawkins expense reports are still playing? Last night I read the NCCA cleared these players after 'internal' investigations at the universities.

Also, how can the talking heads on ESPN be so incredulous to the situation? I heard one comment that 'it was only a meal' that Dawkins paid for. Oh, how far we have come since ISU got everything but the death penalty for a meal at McDonald's and a ride to the airport in the '80s.

because basically everything that has been reported thusfar is still "alleged."

 

[southernfriedCY]

Just a thought, but I wonder if Mr. Dawkins was padding his expenses on the road "recruiting" to help himself get a bigger paycheck at the end of the month. Take Monte's situation for instance, Monte says he paid for his breakfast. Dawkins claims it on his expense report. Hard to prove or disprove either claim if cash is involved.

 

[Rural]

The long-time curse of amateurism , there's no way out of it.

 

[CTTB78]

It is interesting that schools are taking various approaches to the leaks. Texas held their guy out, while Arizona, Duke, and Michigan St. are essentially saying nothing is wrong, if the NCAA thinks there is-- prove it.

 

[Mr Janny]

It is interesting that schools are taking various approaches to the leaks. Texas held their guy out, while Arizona, Duke, and Michigan St. are essentially saying nothing is wrong, if the NCAA thinks there is-- prove it.

The guys have played all year. If the NCAA rules that they were ineligible, then the whole season will likely be vacated anyway, so it doesn't really matter if the guys play or not.

 

[Mr Janny]

It's remarkable how fast the NCAA can move when properly motivated. It took months to simply determine that Kyle Kempt was eligible for a sixth year but all these players were cleared of a massive scandal in a matter of days. ******* joke.

I don't think the NCAA did any clearing at all. Each school goes to its individual compliance officer, and they make the call. The NCAA main office hasn't been involved at all in determining if these individuals can play. They haven't weighed in at all, yet.

 

[rholtgraves]

The problem is there is no proof they received a benefit. And furthermore, there is no proof if it was their parents, that they knew about it. NCAA has already said, if your parents took money and you didn't know about it (Cam Newton defense) then you are cleared. You have one party's list of expenses. You already have players saying that it isn't true, Morris etc. So until there is more investigation nothing is going to happen.

 

[Mr Janny]

The problem is there is no proof they received a benefit. And furthermore, there is no proof if it was their parents, that they knew about it. NCAA has already said, if your parents took money and you didn't know about it (Cam Newton defense) then you are cleared. You have one party's list of expenses. You already have players saying that it isn't true, Morris etc. So until there is more investigation nothing is going to happen.

The one thing that might be different in this case, though, is that this is the FBI investigating, not the NCAA. The FBI has significantly more power than the NCAA to access financial records and such, so it's possible that the proof of taking the benefit will be found. Additionally, they've got wiretaps which could provide additional proof, and if the FBI gets someone to flip, there may be even more corroborating evidence. If this were just an NCAA investigation, I would have little faith that anything would come of it. But the FBI is a whole different matter entirely. All bets are off.

 

[rholtgraves]

The one thing that might be different in this case, though, is that this is the FBI investigating, not the NCAA. The FBI has significantly more power than the NCAA to access financial records and such, so it's possible that the proof of taking the benefit will be found. Additionally, they've got wiretaps which could provide additional proof, and if the FBI gets someone to flip, there may be even more corroborating evidence. If this were just an NCAA investigation, I would have little faith that anything would come of it. But the FBI is a whole different matter entirely. All bets are off.

Yeah, true. But you have already seen one kid, Bowen, and be declared eligible because he says he didn't know about his parent getting money. And they feds basically said yeah we don't have anything on him personally. Same with Ayton. FBI and NCAA have said they don't have anything on him. And these were kids were the most money was alleged to have exchanged hands.

 

[3GenClone]

It is interesting that schools are taking various approaches to the leaks. Texas held their guy out, while Arizona, Duke, and Michigan St. are essentially saying nothing is wrong, if the NCAA thinks there is-- prove it.

The Arizona deal was just bizarre. They make the decision to have the coach sit-out, after news leaks that his voice is on an FBI wire tap talking about paying a kid $100,000 to play for the Wildcats - yet they decide it's OK to let the kid play who (MAY have) received that money. The guys on Gameday all said "no way this kid can play" - yet he played damn-near that entire game.

 

[Mr Janny]

Yeah, true. But you have already seen one kid, Bowen, and be declared eligible because he says he didn't know about his parent getting money. And they feds basically said yeah we don't have anything on him personally. Same with Ayton. FBI and NCAA have said they don't have anything on him. And these were kids were the most money was alleged to have exchanged hands.

And honestly, I'm sort of fine with that. I don't really care about the players taking money. At least not as much. It's the heads of the coaches that I'd like to see roll. Pitino is already gone. Miller may be next. But the constant denying of knowledge by the coaches is what angers me. It's an insult to the intelligence of everyone who follows the sport to think that these guys don't know what's going on in their programs. A few big trees of the coaching world getting felled is going to do more to curtail the practice than declaring a few players ineligible. Although, even that won't stop it.
In the end, this sort of thing is just going to continue. There's too much money at stake to think you can stop it, or even slow it down.