Miami scandal reminder of need for reform
After Yahoo Sports dropped the journalistic equivalents of Fat Man and Little Boy on Miami, discussion of the broken system that is major college football has returned to the forefront.
NCAA President Mark Emmert's summit earlier this month in Indianapolis was a good start toward reform. Fifty-plus school presidents, including USC's Harris Pastides, met to discuss the future of collegiate athletics. They left the meeting committed to making several reforms, including increased APR academic thresholds for postseason participation and streamlining the vast and complex NCAA rulebook.
However, that isn't enough. College football needs to see radical shifts in the landscape. Here are eight steps toward achieving that necessary change.
1. Get universities out of the compliance business.
There has been a great deal of talk about how powerful millionaire football coaches intimidate and marginalize compliance officers while school presidents and athletic directors look the other way.
The solution is pretty simple. Individual universities need to get out of the compliance business. The NCAA needs to hire and place compliance officers at every school. These officials don't answer to an athletic director; they answer to the NCAA. These officials aren't susceptible to intimidation because they'll simply report the coaches to Indianapolis. These officials won't fall prey to protecting a school's hide because they'll be cycled out every two years before deep loyalty can form.
The compliance officer should be the Toby Flenderson to every elite college football coach's Michael Scott. He or she must rain on every questionable, rule-bending parade and uphold the NCAA's rulebook, not the coach's or school's interests.
2. Create the position of Common Sense officer at every school.
Remember a few weeks ago when Clemson announced it had to self-report a secondary violation because a non-coach, given the clear by compliance, had picked up a recruit and a 1-year-old child after their car broke down five miles or so outside of campus?
That wouldn't have ever happened if there was a Common Sense officer available.
Along with the compliance team, the NCAA needs to place a Common Sense officer at each school. His or her job is to make judgment calls when gray areas arise. In the Clemson case, the Common Sense officer would've decided picking up the family wasn't a violation in the spirit of the law, therefore negating the letter of it and making it so a self-report wasn't even necessary.
3. Replace scholarship penalties with redshirting penalties.
Scholarship losses put the screws to prospective student-athletes, not cheating coaches.
Look at it this way: Big State U can only give 20 scholarships, not 25, one season. The five kids who usually would've signed with State U then go to Big State College or another similar program. A trickle-down effect occurs from there until you get to the bottom of the FBS, and five kids who would've been given scholarships to Small State U now are bumped out.
How is that fair? How can a system exist where the "punishment" directly results in innocent 18-year-olds, many of whom likely come from disadvantaged backgrounds, getting squeezed out of a shot at a college education?
That's why scholarships losses need to be replaced with a loss of redshirting privileges. You cheat? Go ahead and give your 25 scholarships — you just can't redshirt any of them unless an injury occurs. If a kid can't redshirt and is looking at a lost year on the sideline, he's probably not coming to your school. That's a loss of team depth. You can overcome scholarship losses with smart recruiting. Lose redshirting privileges for five years, and even the most corrupt programs will be scared straight indefinitely.
4. Protect the innocent by ending postseason bans.
A handful of current Miami players have been implicated in the entire Nevin Shapiro debacle. The majority of the Hurricanes, as well as first-year coach Al Golden and his staff, had nothing to do with any of it. Yet, it's inevitable they will pay the price for the misdeeds of their predecessors and be banned from postseason play down the road as punishment.
Again, how is that fair? After-the-fact postseason bans have to stop. So does the practice of vacating wins. Both make a mockery of logic, compromise the competitive nature of the sport (if Southern Cal wins the Pac-12 South only to see a lesser second-place finisher go to the league title game and steal a Rose Bowl bid, all hell will break loose) and unfairly penalizes innocent parties.
There's a better way to punish, which is to ...
5. Hit schools where it hurts and take their cash.
You can play in the conference title game, but you don't get any of the money that comes with it. You can play in the bowl game, but you don't get a payout or expenses paid. You can play on television, but your conference can't cut you a TV rights fee check.
Money talks in college football. So take the money. That will hurt schools that cheat badly while preventing those who didn't cheat from unjust treatment.
And where will the forfeited money go? Into a central pot from which all funds will go to help cover cost-of-living scholarships at every school nationwide. In theory, the sins of a school could help pay for a rival player's oil change in such a system. That's the cost of cheating.
6. Keep 1-year scholarships, but with dignity.
I agree with coaches: You can't go to a 4-year scholarship. There are too many variables in terms of attitude and ability at play. Keep scholarships as 1-year, renewable deals with a few tweaks.
As mentioned above, make scholarships for the full cost-of-living. Two, if the coach leaves or is fired, the student-athlete can leave with no penalty and play immediately at his new school. Last, if the student-athlete loses his scholarship because of playing ability, he can transfer to any school (no restrictions from coaches allowed) and play immediately.
7. Foster an open, honest dialogue on expansion.
USC President Harris Pastides told me one of the reasons he and the other 11 SEC presidents held their secret Atlanta expansion meeting was to be responsible if expansion does occur. That's the attitude every league should take.
There has been talk of an expansion summit. It should happen. During such an event, league commissioners, presidents and athletic directors need to be honest with each other.
The SEC wants Texas A&M. The Pac-12 likely wants Texas and Oklahoma. The Big Ten likely wants Notre Dame. The Big East likely wants the Big 12 to collapse so it can poach several of its members. Be up-front about it, then. Who knows? If each league's wants are laid out on the table, maybe mature and calm negotiations can be had, stabilizing the paradigm once and for all.
8. Ban cheating coaches after two strikes.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, get out forever. And this should be retroactive as well. If you cheat twice, you'll cheat again. Prevent that third opportunity from even being an opportunity.
These eight steps aren't a cure-all. But they'd be another step forward after the Emmert summit got the ball rolling. College football is the best sport in America, but it won't stay that way if actions aren't taken soon to uphold its sanctity.
