OT: Auburn Big Cat weekend and NCAA violations
When is the NCAA going to start doing something about all the recruiting violations that are considered minor? Lache Seastrunk one of the top RB recruits for '10 came away from Auburn stating it the the best ever they really show you the love. The problem is that what was done was illegal! They had a large gathering of supporters on campus including media and police for crowd control and introduced the recruits by name, position, and hometown to standing ovations. Blatantly illegal, but very impressionable to the recruits. My bet is that Seastrunk ends up at Auburn unless the NCAA steps in and does something.
He probably will anyways.
The NCAA is not going to start throwing out major violations to all of its top programs and hurt its game. The NCAA needs a great USC, Mich, OSU, various SEC teams, etc. to stay on top. If these teams start to fall because of lack of scholarships or post season bans then you are going to have small market teams like a Utah/Boise State Win NC's.
Which would be fine for the diehard NCAA fans because they love football but will you get some half interested guy (or woman) to watch that game probably not.
A sport is always better* when its big name programs (USC/ND/Mich) or teams (Knicks/Lakers/Celtics) are in the finals or championships.
*I don't condone these actions or practice just stating my opinion on how its handled.
Nah, a lack of credibility would hurt the sport, and the NCAA, much worse than handing out some violations would. There is little chance that the violations the NCAA would hand out would hurt the programs you described to the extent that the NCAA suffers. Loosing credibility would do much more damage. I am sure the NCAA is not too worried about its survival.
Plus, the NCAA has much more to gain from increased parity. If violations hurt a big program for a few years, another program will take its place. And the potential resulting emergence of programs that have not traditionally been football powers is good for the sport. USC, ND, and Mich will not suffer much of a decrease in their fan base. The addition of new fans through these emerging programs is a much bigger gain. The NCAA has much more to gain from a balance of issuing violations and ignorance. Not more of the latter.
The NCAA knows who the kids are that attended the Big Cat weekend so eliminate Auburn as one of their possibilities. If one of the recruits enrolls he may not be on scholarship and Auburn loses a scholarship.
It only takes this happening once to make schools start following the rules.
how in a free country you can tell a kid what school he can or cannot attend. That's like...communism or something.
ummm, wut?
I want my 20 seconds spent reading that back please.
hope that was a joke. Else I'll be concerned if that poster ever gains political office.
As long as these violations are secondary, schools won't give a shit. Despite blatantly breaking numerous rules, the Big Cat weekend served its purpose as alot of top prospects were blown away from the event and immediately named Auburn their leader. A slap on the wrist in exchange for the best RB in the 2010 class? Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
Eh, it's the SEC, so I'm not surprised. Football is big business down there (god, I feel like someone on the Sports Reporters), so even minor penalties are worth it if they can nab the best players. Is it annoying to watch? Sure, but what are you going to do? The NCAA would never try to piss off the SEC big-wigs with real sanctions, and most of the kids are not going to leave the South save for a few who might head North to OSU/UM/ND or out west to Texas/OK/USC. Thus, as long as everyone in the SEC is acting in the same over-the-top, borderline "wrong" fashion, I don't really see the harm - they are competing for a pretty insular pool of talent.