OT: Boise State Faces Major NCAA Violations

[Skippy]

"Lack of institutional control":

http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/05/03/1632969/bsu-lacks-institutional-control.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[isusuperfan]

For a rare moment, I find myself expressing solidarity with Boise State. Rise up, defy the NCAA Broncos, I'm with you 110% on this one. The NCAA is next to useless and they always were. They never cared for student athletes anyways.

 

[Skippy]

For a rare moment, I find myself expressing solidarity with Boise State. Rise up, defy the NCAA Broncos, I'm with you 110% on this one. The NCAA is next to useless and they always were. They never cared for student athletes anyways.

Could this response have anything to do with the pickle your beloved Buckeyes are in with the NCAA, Ross? Na, I didn't think so....

 

[isusuperfan]

For a rare moment, I find myself expressing solidarity with Boise State. Rise up, defy the NCAA Broncos, I'm with you 110% on this one. The NCAA is next to useless and they always were. They never cared for student athletes anyways.

Could this response have anything to do with the pickle your beloved Buckeyes are in with the NCAA, Ross? Na, I didn't think so....

No it doesn't, I've always been a vocal critic of the NCAA. But since you're addressing the Buckeyes issue, why is it that players trading in merchandise that should be theirs (and is through effort) is worse than 5 Auburn players committing armed robbery? How is it that Janoris Jenkins was allowed to remain on the Gators team until last month with 2 drug charges in 3 months and a 2009 arrest over a brawl? How is it Jamar Hornsby was allowed to remain on the team after using a dead woman's credit card (a federal felony)? Explain how Boise State/Ohio State is somehow worse than Reggie Bush and the 100,000 dollar house, or how tattoos are worse than Auburn shelling out 180 grand to Cam Newton's daddy.

There is an entire argument and criticism of the NCAA I've been working on here and there, based on my slow disillusionment with college sports as a whole I've developed over the past year or so. I'm not exactly as gung-ho as I was 4 years ago, and I reserve some criticism of not only Ohio State but the way sports everywhere are run, the way athletes are treated like commodities, and how sports in America in general are getting out of hand.

 

[Skippy]

I hear ya, Ross. The NCAA, in my humble view, is basically fighting a losing battle. They are trying to maintain some semblence of amateurism over an institution that has become a huge business entrerprise. (Anybody notice the PAC-12 just signed a $3 billion television contract?) And there are all kinds of special interests pulling the organization in different directions. Ultimately, a lot of "institutions of higher learning" are going to have to ask themselves, "Just how does athletics serve the prime mission of the institution, which is teaching, research and service?"

Leaves me torn. I love college athletics and still do on the Big Sky level. But the arms race that has enveloped the BCS leagues is so far removed from the roots of college athletics that it's hard not to get disillusioned.

 

[biobengal]

A couple of articles out of the statesman.... obviously, their are some major issues stemming from the violations within the tennis program.

http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/05/04/1634363/boise-states-most-serious-violation.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/05/04/1634285/boise-state-imposes-penalties.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[qb]

I'm and alumn and a big fan of Boise State. With the exception of the tennis program, these are quite minor violations, however, rules are rules and they do deserve punishment. I support their self imposed punishment.

God help the rest of the NCAA programs because I can't see anyone being crystal clean after looking at the violations from BSU. A recruit sleeping on the floor of a players dorm, when comming early to participate in summer workouts? A player buying a big mack for an recruit/incoming player?

Let's hope the Bengals learn from this and avoid anything like this in the future.

 

[bengalcub]

Boise State is getting chastised for things that happen at almost every major university in the United States. These types of things happen at Idaho State and all of the schools in the BSC--and by the way these things happen in Vandal land, too.

The best defense, spend the money and get compliance folks in place and more of them. With all the rules and all of the fine print, the compliance departments are very critical.

Bengal fans have seen first hand what can happen when a compliance department is short staffed, not educated and not informed.

 

[blackfootbengal]

What Boise did may seem trivial to us, but is was still wrong. I knew the rule, I'm pretty sure they knew the rule. If the colleges of our country could have policed themselves we would not have the rules the NCAA has to enforce. I compare the NCAA's rule book to the OSHA rules. OSHA requirements were written in blood. Every rule they have is because of an accident that happened, the rules have been put in writing to keep those accidents from happening again. The NCAA rules were written in response to what college's in our country did when recruiting and after they signed players. The are written to keep unethical boosters and coaches from compramising young men and women athletes and to prevent an unfair advantage to schools with deeper pockets than other schools. I agree with Cub in that other schools are most likely doing similar things. This does not make it right or acceptable. We cannot go down that slippery slope; once you open that door where will it stop. Boise was providing cheap housing and free meals. If you start allowing this how long do you think it would take to get to provide free housing and a car. The same with the Ohio players. Yes they were selling things that were given them because of their paticipation in college athletics. If you allow the selling of these items how long do you think it would take of a school to provide even more expensive items. Remember SMU lost football for years because of the lack of ethic that permeated sports at that time. I'm sure they were not the only ones doing what they did as well. But do you really think we can start accepting unethical behavior as the norm without it having an impact. Winning has become more important to our society than winning the right way. Bill Belichek is called a genious, how much of a genious would he have been if he did not cheat. As as been done here, people justified away the cheating issue by saying well everyone does it. Is that what you really want your kids learning. Son it's alright to cheat as long as you win. That is what we are teaching even if we don't realize it. Ethics should be as much of the game as playing is.

 

[bengalcub]

Not condoning cheating at all.

What I am saying is that this is one of those rules that schools around the country have not been aware of until now. Especially the universities with small compliance departments. I don't think Boise State knew that they were violating NCAA rules at all.

 

[blackfootbengal]

Cub I knew the rule concerning housing and food, and I work at a Nuclear Lab. They knew, they justified away complying with the rule. I do agree that is possible for a school to not know all the rules expecially the newest rules. But in reality that is no excuse either. Try that one on a Judge and see how far it gets you.

 

[isusuperfan]

Blackfoot, I disagree simply because the organization defining ethics and rules lacks ethics and honor themselves. How is it ok to let college athletics conferences negotiate television deals worth tens of millions of dollars? The Big 12 just negotiated a 1.2 billion dollar deal with Fox for hells' sakes!!! How is it just fine and hunky dory that massive television deals like those can be praised but if an athlete sells his items for cash, "OHHHH YOU ARE GOING TO HELLLLL FOR THAT!!!!!!" Come the collective howls of the NCAA. hno:

If you commit armed robbery but don't break any NCAA rules doing so (*cough Auburn cough*), or get cited for your 2nd drug possession in 2 years on top of a battery conviction (Janoris Jenkins), burglary (Kiko Alonso) and stay out of NCAA violations such as letting recruits crash on your floor or having a cookout for them, hey, all fine and dandy.

I don't give a DAMN if it's outside the scope of what the multi-billion dollar NCAA organization does. Start looking at the actions committed by athletes, and start calling out the schools for their lack of action.

By the way, there is no more "x will lead to y". We've been at the end of that equation for years

 

[blackfootbengal]

Fan, it does matter how many words you throw at something, it is still justifying. Point in fact; the NCAA is the only regulating system in place for college athletics. It really is not the National Governments job, we cannot count on ourselfs because we can justify anything they do and will not hold them accountable as long as they win. It is not the State Legal systems job to regulate athletics so who are going to look to. The legal systems are expensive and a place where the group or person who can spend the most usually wins. While flawed, the NCAA is all we really have. Do you really think any college is going to boot thier super star athlete for any little problems, which is what all problems become after we begin justifying. You get on the Montana board all the time. What did they do when they had the rash of criminal acts at the school a couple of years ago? They started by sreaming for the heads of the kids involved, but by the time they finished, you would have thought the school owed the kids involved an apology. Your still young enough to be an idealist. I on the other hand recognized that if you don't have someone swing a big stick, most people will not do the right thing. They will justify everything to get to the resolution they want.

 

[isusuperfan]

Blackfoot, I would hardly call pot possession and armed robbery little things. The UM people were screaming for the heads of players committing little stuff like murder, assault and battery, among other things.

I don't have a problem swinging a big stick. The problem I have is that the NCAA swings it at the wrong people for the wrong reasons. They're taking Ohio State to the wood shed over tattoos, but fail to do anything about the win-at-all-costs mentalities of schools so long as they're within regulation. I don't like that. It's one thing to work your ass off to win, it's quite another to overlook little things like burglaries and DUI's to keep them on board to win. We can't count on schools to maintain a clean program because for one, so long as they don't violate any NCAA rules, they'll keep going. They'll keep a kid who's had several drug related charges, as long as he's not selling trinkets for cash or receiving improper benefits like a car.

It's two-faced and hypocritical.

 

[bengalcub]

Boise State football tried to fix violations, then created more...

In 2009, after working with the NCAA to comply with its rules regarding summer housing of incoming players, Boise State was forced to report 23 additional violations before the season opener with Oregon or face the possibility of using ineligible athletes and thus possibly vacating victories in the future.

Here’s how it happened:

On June 8, 2009: BSU reported to the NCAA that several incoming players over the previous four years “received housing and transportation” from current players.

The incoming players were participating in summer workouts. Coaches and staff members asked current players if they had a place for incoming players to stay. Rent and accommodations were handled between the incoming and current players.

Read more: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/05/06/1637277/boise-state-football-tried-to.html#ixzz1Lc4iKGLQ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[SLCBengal]

The Idaho Statesman has another article about BSU's problems with the NCAA. It has stressed compliance, but it also has continually stressed beating Idaho and Idaho State at "everything..."

The department coined acronyms such as “WAC” and “ACID test” to stress its values.

- WAC stands for Welfare of student athletes, Academics and Compliance.

- ACID means Academics, Compliance and beating Idaho and Idaho State in everything Boise State does.

Read more: Idaho Statesman: Has BSU Lost its Clean-Cut Image?