Egg on Their Face…Again

The bowl ban against the Penn State football program was lifted this past Monday to the joy of some and the dismay of others.  While Jerry Sandusky’s crimes were the most atrocious in college football history, the NCAA should have kept its nose out of the entire thing.  While I’m no lawyer, the Penn State case was a criminal one over which the NCAA should have no jurisdiction.

What is the role of the NCAA?  I always thought it was to protect amateurism and keep things fair in athletic competition.  By inserting itself in the Penn State case, the NCAA has said that Miami’s boats and hoes, Reggie Bush, and academic misconduct at UNC are worse than child abuse, the ultimate crime.  Miami was in NCAA purgatory for three years over dink and dunk charges.  USC made major compliance changes and their AD appealed the loss of thirty scholarships.  All this over ONE player and the worst violations were in men’s basketball!  But, the NCAA dismissed Pat Haden and told him to suck it up (main because the previous AD, Mike Garret dared to stand up to the NCAA.  I say good for him).  All the NCAA had to do was keep out of the Penn State scandal, and they would not be receiving the criticism they are today.  Side note:  I also like how they released the Penn State news the same day the NFL got egg on its face for its handling of the Ray Rice situation.

Now, some want the NCAA to come down on Famous Jameis, but they won’t because it is a criminal/civil case (and the Tallahassee Police Department has show itself to be so transparent).  I guess things have changes since the Penn State scandal in 2011.  And Jameis is good for college football right now.  Prior to Jameis, Johnny Football and Cam Newton were quickly exonerated in scandals that affected their amateurism (which is what the NCAA is supposed to patrol).  In the case of Johnny (one-half suspension, BFD), he admitted it with his subsequent behavior (see below).

I guess the point of this is why are some more equal than others?

 

The National Anthem – Let’s Have Some Class

With college football season officially starting today and Labor Day just around the corner, I wanted to address a troubling incident at a sporting event I attended this past spring. The Miami Hurricanes were in Raleigh to play NC State in basketball. Before the contest, the announcer addressed the crowd with the typical “take off you hats…we’re doing the National Anthem now” message.

Everything was pretty normal until the line “and the rocket’s red glare” came up. The whole crowd shouted “red” as this is one of the school’s colors. Not classy, but I wasn’t mortally offended. The last line of the Anthem, “O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave” was changed to, by a good portion of the crowd, “O’er the land of the free and the home of the Wolfpack.”

My husband has worked some games for a rival of NC State and said this exact thing happened when the two schools played a couple months ago. I get that individual fans do stupid things at sporting events. I know we probably have some individuals or groups that yell “home of the ‘Canes” at Miami but nothing this widespread. I know there are idiots at Miami games. I’ve witnessed more than my fair share of trashy behavior at Florida, FSU, Ohio State, and Notre Dame…but nothing this widespread.

Defenders of this practice say this is a way for Wolfpack fans to put a “home spin” on a pregame tradition. Um…it’s a United States tradition. The fans in our section (we were two of about ten UM people in the entire place) did not appreciate it when my husband shouted “have some class” at the conclusion of the Anthem.

This truly seemed to be something that was organized and condoned by the university. It probably isn’t, but the university administration ought to do something about it because it is really low class. It is a poor reflection on the university, and they don’t act like this at Carolina or Duke (regardless of what you’ve heard about the Cameron Crazies).

If this happened at the University of Miami, I guarantee you the university president would send an email to the student body and season ticket holders directing them to stop. The head football and/or basketball coach would put an ad in the student newspaper. While the National Anthem is being played, we are all Americans. Take off your hat, put away your phone, and close your mouth for three minutes.

A Tale of Two Coaches

This is the tale of two coaches.  This one: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20140108/bobby-petrino-louisville-jurich-win-now/ and this one: http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/writer/bruce-feldman/24372078/despite-being-cleared-in-unc-scandal-davis-still-waiting-for-next-gig

The first one was the head coach at the University of Arkansas (more recently Western Kentucky) and is an excellent coach.  This post isn’t really about him.  Coach Petrino was taken down by a motorcycle crash that included a young football office employee with whom he was having an affair.  It was revealed that he gave this young woman a $20,000 cash gift and that she received preferential treatment in the hiring process.  All this happened in the spring of 2012.  In 2013, Petrino was hired by Western Kentucky in his coaching comeback.  Last week, it was announced he would be the new head coach at Louisville, where he had previously been head coach from 2003-2006 (so much for loyalty to WKU).

Bruce Feldman tweeted “Save it with the talk abt how this is a “second chance” for Bobby Petrino.  His rep as a world class creep came from yrs of bad behavior.”  I guess that includes him bailing on the Atlanta Falcons thirteen games into he season to coach Arkansas.  Regardless, I believe in “second chances,” and it would be wonderful to see Petrino as a changed man.  “Hate the sin, not the sinner,” the say.  The one thing I don’t understand is why the second coach, Butch Davis, has gotten no such “second chance” (he really hasn’t done much wrong).

Coach Davis was the mastermind behind the greatest assembly of talent of ALL TIME, the Miami Hurricanes of the early 2000s.  He was the coach there from 1995-2000 and resurrected the Hurricanes from some of the worst sanctions in NCAA history.  The talent he recruited won two national championships (and should have played for a third) and held modern college football’s longest winning streak.  His quarterback, the one that was too skinny and not gifted enough for everybody else, went 39-1 as a starter (had to get my Dorsey plug in).  The majority of the Miami talent you see in the NFL today was his doing.  He left a bad taste in Miami fans’ mouths when he left for the NFL, but it turns out the whole issue was about a buyout clause.

After a failed NFL gig, Coach Davis landed on his feet at UNC.  The NFL talent he recruited to Carolina was unprecedented.  They were probably two seasons away from making a BCS bowl and were becoming regular contenders in the ACC.  Then, Coach Davis was fired in the summer of 2011.  There was an NCAA scandal involving improper benefits provided to UNC players by and agent via a rogue coach.  Then, there was a second investigation involving a tutor and academic misconduct.  This could have been really bad, however, Davis was cleared of any wrongdoing.  After the investigation, it would be shown that this was a widespread problem at UNC, not a football-specific issue.  I find Bruce Feldman to be very credible, and it sound like Davis had worked through these issues with the administration at UNC and was blindsided by the firing.

“There have been guys that get re-hired, who have had affairs,” Davis said to Feldman.  “Guys get re-hired that have trouble with kids and the NCAA.  Guys have gotten in trouble for being drunk, but the minute you say academics and football coach, it’s like you have leprosy.  People are terrified that I had anything to do with it, but I didn’t.  The NCAA even said as much, and I have a letter from the NCAA saying that.”

The aforementioned letter says, “This is to confirm that former University of North Carolina head football coach Paul “Butch” Davis was not alleged to have been involved in any violations of NCAA legislation in the University of North Carolina Case.” Three football seasons have passed, and Davis is still sitting on the sidelines (he was a special assistant in Tampa Bay but it sounds like he would have preferred to coach).  Davis wasn’t even given the NCAA’s dreaded show-cause penalty.  I honestly don’t understand how universities are looking past this talented, proven coach (probably for cheap!) but are willing to look past major character flaws in other coaches.  Heck, the assistant coach in the recent Miami scandal (who has a show-cause penalty) is still employed by Louisville.  Just this week, the new regime at Louisville told a commit that they were no longer honoring his commitment for no apparent reason (you don’t screw with kids, in my opinion).  I guess having your name mentioned in an academic scandal is worse than having a history of poor decision-making and unethical behavior…at least at Louisville.