Director of enforcement leaves NCAA for Auburn

Submitted by Cold War on

NCAA director of enforcement Dave Didion finished his last day on the job in Indianapolis on Friday, with just more than a week before he leaves to return to Auburn.

The veteran enforcement officer left his position to take one as the associate director of athletics for compliance, effective April 22. He returns to a campus he left more than a decade ago after 14 years at the NCAA.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2013/04/12/ncaa-director-of-enforcement-dave-didion-mark-emmert/2079311/

VAWolverine

April 13th, 2013 at 9:38 AM ^

will conclude that the trees at Toomer's corner are dead and need to be cut down. Alabama will get three years of probation for their poisoning and will lose three agricultural scholarships...

MGoStrength

April 13th, 2013 at 9:40 AM ^

Is it just me or does it not seem right that everyone who works for the NCAA at some point seems to have either worked for one of the major institutions they are now governing and will eventually go work for them?  That seems like a conflict of interest.  It's like we send a spy to the Soviet Union who then defects and comes back to spy on the US.  Can you truely trust these people to be unbiased regarding investigations of the very institutions that used to put food on their table?

Maizenblueball

April 13th, 2013 at 11:22 AM ^

I totally agree...it's a huge conflict of interest.  No wonder Auburn hasn't been busted sooner...they essentially sent a mole in to the NCAA to help make potential issues go away. 

Auburn's most famous alum, Charles Barkley, has said numerous times about how Auburn "pays well" and how "it's not what you think is going on, but it's what you can prove" 

Makes me wonder how many other schools have sent people to work for the NCAA...

vbnautilus

April 13th, 2013 at 12:22 PM ^

Isn't it more like sending a local state representative to congress who then comes back to work for his own state afterwards?  The NCAA is not a foreign governing body, it's a self-governing organization of the schools themselves.    It's an association of member universities, so isn't it going to be made up of people from those institutions? 

LSAClassOf2000

April 13th, 2013 at 9:47 AM ^

""It's personal," Didion said of his decision to leave the NCAA, "but I just wanted to go back to campus, and Auburn is one of the few places that I could go to."

I have to wonder if the resignation letter began, "Taking a break from all your worries sure would help a lot. Wouldn't you like to get away? Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name....". 

BubbaT33

April 13th, 2013 at 9:56 AM ^

WWWWWWWWWWWWWhat?!  No wonder these guys aren't enforcing the rules!  This is crazy!  Perhaps the biggest offender (as far as we know-- ask Cam Newton's father) and the director of enforcement is going there . . . this is some stinky #%@&!

Buck Killer

April 13th, 2013 at 10:07 AM ^

Any way I could be in charge of the Michigan girls volleyball locker room security cameras? It will be on the up and up, I swear.

jaylee714

April 13th, 2013 at 10:38 AM ^

For cleaning the women's cheer leading showers. It will be done at an appropriate time, for me, of course.

Mitch Cumstein

April 13th, 2013 at 10:47 AM ^

The more I read about situations like this, and the more I watch games like the basketball final, the more I equate NCAA sports to professional wrestling and the less interest I have in watching anything except Michigan.

bacon1431

April 13th, 2013 at 11:55 AM ^

This is where I'm at. I've started following the non revenue sports more as I can be less cynical watching them. I still love Michigan football, but it's hard to watch a sport where the governing bodies don't even attempt an to maintain an even playing field

Danwillhor

April 13th, 2013 at 10:52 AM ^

I'm not down with going all "non-scholarship-ie" but the schools keep the NCAA in power. The schools need to flat out create a new governing body. This is getting insane. Insane to where you can't make this stuff up outside of a comedy.

mjw

April 13th, 2013 at 11:00 AM ^

This makes sense.  Why would you want to leave a job where you've probably done nothing for 14 years to go to a place that actually might expect you to work?

Elmer

April 13th, 2013 at 11:32 AM ^

This might have been part of the plan, go work at the NCAA and provide us cover, then we'll reward you for a job well done.

You have to admit, the guy did a great job protecting Auburn during their NCAA championship year...he deserves every penny.  I just wonder why he's leaving now, with Auburn back in the crosshairs.  Maybe they infiltrated someone else and this is just a passing of the baton.

 

MgoRayO3313

April 13th, 2013 at 12:28 PM ^

Really beginning to think the ncaa should be investigated by a third party. Corruption has been allowed to get out of control to the point of embarrassment.