Does the NCAA have too much power?
With all these anti-government groups rebelling lately, I'm surprised the same kind of rebellion hasn't taken place against the NCAA.
The NCAA can take a minor infraction, open up a can of worms, then shut down a great program if they have a worker who wants to make a name for themselves.
At least the government tries to help people. The NCAA seems to be on a power trip that is damaging, unjust and overbearing that shuts down great programs. It's not about what's best for the university or college sports. It's about fearing the NCAA or they'll shut you down.
I've always wondered why more people don't rebel against the NCAA. I'm also surprised that there haven't been lawsuits against the NCAA for unjust, excessive power.
Well there's always a first time. If the NCAA does put the U of M football program on probation, wouldn't you think there would be at least one lawyer out there from U of M that would finally challenge the NCAA for damaging athletic programs?
On what grounds can you challenge the NCAA? Unless you're willing to start your own College Athletics Association then I don't think you can do this. Plus I think the NCAA does a pretty good job most of the time, not all of the time, but most of the time.
The NCAA has a lot of power it never really uses. I mean people call them the toothless tiger of college sports. The severe punishments they do hand out are very just. And to get those penalties you have to do terrible and unforgivable things to win. Most of the time they just handout slaps on pinkies. The public opinion as a result is they are actually kinda weak because if you are a cash cow program you get the breaks.
The NCAA is a voluntary organization, Michigan can leave whenever it chooses to do so for the NAIA or to go out on its own.
Besides, there won't be any substantial penalties.
How do you know there won't be any substantial penalties? There could be probation. That would severely damage the football program. Even if there aren't severe penalties, there has been damage to the reputation of Michigan as well as affecting recruits.
Probation isn't a very substantial penalty. It basically means that there could be stiffer penalties if Michigan screws up again.
Furthermore, like it or not, Michigan's football program violated rules it agreed to abide by as a part of the NCAA--even Michigan isn't going to disagree substantially from the NCAA's findings regarding the actual rules that were violated. Don't blame the NCAA if they actually enforce the rules their member institutions agree to abide by, blame the schools that violate them.
The NCAA was originally formed under pressure from the US government to improve safety in college sports. It evolved into the modern NCAA out of member institutions desires to actually have rules governing college athletics (level playing field, etc). It's a voluntary institution that Michigan chooses to be a part of, Michigan is only "forced" to remain a member because it wants to be a part of big-time athletics.
The NCAA may make many decisions that fans dislike, but ultimately, it's because the representatives appointed by member schools vote for them.
The NCAA has a lot of power that it does use, it just doesn't use it on the violations of colleges and universities. They flex their muscle through contracts and benefit greatly from the money they make off of student athletes and universities alike.
the NCAA is too powerful. They're pretty much a monopoly, what they say in college athletics goes. The vast majority of the time though, I think most people would say that they don't take advantage of that. In fact, I think most people, here at least, would say that they don't use enough power, with all our talk of dirty programs/coaches who will never get punished by the NCAA.
I'm not always particularly thrilled with the NCAA, sometimes I think they have some stupid rules and I hate that they found infractions on us. But at the same time, we did have infractions to find. To lash out at the NCAA because we made mistakes is ridiculous and kind of immature. On the whole, the NCAA does a good job.
A totally seperate appeals committee with no ties to programs. Ie a committe for d1 fb/bb, fcs, d2, d3.... you get the idea... basicaly to eliminate any possible partial, impartial or preferential treatment of any school.
Basically it wouldn't be right for a michigan grad that hates osu to investigate osu, or osu grad hating michigan to investigate michigan. And take that across the board. And since they don't have that they should have an appeals committee that reviews the ncaa's investigation and to make sure it was followed appropriately, then to make sure punishment actualy fit the violation.
April 10th, 2010 at 11:54 AM ^
was on (and at one point chaired) the infractions committee that handled the Weber BB investigation
April 10th, 2010 at 12:49 PM ^
Really had no clue cause 3 seperate investigations by the ncaa including all records proved michigan had no knowlege bill martin was giving any money to weber.
It wasn't till weber testified to a grand jury and admitted everything in court that the ncaa was able to act...... Even then the ncaa had no proof michigan should have known.
On an unrelated note, the NCAA will be arriving at the OP's door in 3... 2... 1...
April 10th, 2010 at 10:16 AM ^
just take a seat over there.
April 10th, 2010 at 12:18 AM ^
Like many people have said, if the NCAA is too powerful, it rarely uses the full extent of this power.
Although the impact is waning, the Freep is still too influential over local public opinion. The fact that they could write a BS article and cause an NCAA investigation is absolutely ridiculous.
April 10th, 2010 at 12:47 AM ^
Does a hobby horse have a wooden crank?
OMG, lord help us all. The NCAA is a volunteer organization that all member institutions choose to join. committees are made up of coaches and AD staff members themselves. they are professionals.
Just ignore it?
No, they had to investigate the accusations and have been very fair with with what they have found. Whatever happens to the U of M will not be crippling by any means, so I would not worry to much about that.
I happen to know those 3 girls in your icon/picture. Do you know them or did you just happen to come across it?
I think they have a lot more power than they even use. You have to do something really bad to get severe penalties.
April 10th, 2010 at 11:45 AM ^
Denying me the opportunity to get an $8 beer at a sporting event is the only abuse of power I'm concerned aboot. Bastards!
April 10th, 2010 at 11:50 AM ^
I do not know much about how the NCAA has used its power in the past year, as they have been searching for a new president. However, IMHO, the NCAA abused its power considerably in the prior administration. As the supposed "moral beacon" of college athletics, under its last president (who was a former Provost of OSU):
-It made no objection when the former chair of the NCAA infractions committee became a the “cozy, well-connected” AD at OSU while OSU was being actively investigated for allegations in both BB and FB.*
It also left me scratching my head when it gave awards attributing the high moral standards of college athletics to:
George Steinbrenner, a former OSU grad assistant, who later was convicted of a felony and then pardoned by Nixon (the 1st president to resign his office in disgrace under threats of impeachment and criminal charges)**
and
Dick Cheney who—even if we dismiss the many more recent ethical concerns***-- was convicted and arrested for DWI’s in college, and had his most noted athletic achievement when he accidentally shot and nearly killed a 78-year-old Texas attorney while hunting.
So, IMO, your concern about the NCAA having “too much power” is a mastery of understatement.
_____
*Questions still exist as to how long OSU was “courting” their AD and what the nature of his connections to the NCAA were during this period. Questions also about concerning how well the NCAA handled this investigation. The FB investigation did not interview its main accuser and no details of its findings can be found on its website. Also, even after about a dozen infractions were found in the BB program, the NCAA staff “forgot” to file for enforcement purposes at least half of these infractions.
**Let’s forget the dubious ethics of an OSU booster paying a UM QB—Henson—$16 million to forego his senior year after he beat OSU in 2000 and would otherwise have opposed Tressel’s first team in 2001.
*** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Cheney
In terms of marketing and whatnot, maybe, but not in terms of rule enforcement. With no subpoena power, the NCAA is largely powerless to get down to the truth when it tries to investigate programs. (Note that the NCAA's first investigation of our basketball program, in 1996-97, turned up very little evidence. It was only after the FBI went after Ed Martin that the NCAA found the proof it needed that he was laundering money to players.) In theory, the NCAA may have near-unlimited power to shut a program down, but in practice it can rarely come up with the evidence to even deal more than a slap on the wrist.