NCAA Reaches new low: Kicks ex-marine off MTSU Football team
Since Steven Rhodes participated in "Organized football games" while being deployed with other marines (aging from 18-40) the NCAA has ruled him inelgibile. MTSU is appealing this ruling, and if there is any good left in the NCAA they better let this guy play.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/ncaa-searches-low-denyi…
August 18th, 2013 at 6:37 PM ^
Who funds the NCAA, and why aren't they asking for their money back?
August 18th, 2013 at 7:51 PM ^
August 18th, 2013 at 9:25 PM ^
The NCAA gets most of their cash from the Final Four tournament. So basically Trey Burke and all M fans funded it this year.
August 19th, 2013 at 10:01 AM ^
August 19th, 2013 at 2:48 PM ^
81% of their revenue comes from television rights (of which almost all is MBB and a little cut from WBB), most of the rest comes from tickets to championship events (again mostly MBB) and a couple percent from random sources.
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/NCAA/Finances/Revenue
That's why we have a "BCS Championship" and not an "NCAA Championship" like in every other sponsored sport.
August 18th, 2013 at 6:39 PM ^
August 18th, 2013 at 7:59 PM ^
August 18th, 2013 at 6:42 PM ^
August 18th, 2013 at 6:45 PM ^
Small schools like MTSU are trapped in the NCAA forever.
I predict by the end of the 2010s, the Pac-12, B1G, SEC, Big 12 and ACC will all have seceded from the NCAA.
August 18th, 2013 at 7:31 PM ^
I think it's more likely that the big schools will stage a coup and completely redo the governing structure of college athletics. The Big 5/6 conferences splitting off works fine for football but what about every other sport? Even though there are the Indiana State's of the world to annoy us from time to time, we still like to compete against those schools. Heck, we're in conferences with a few of them (Water Polo, Lacrosse, formerly Hockey).
August 18th, 2013 at 6:45 PM ^
August 18th, 2013 at 7:34 PM ^
I thought those who were dishonorably discharged or received a bad conduct discharge should be called ex-marines. In this particular case, it is still an innapropriate term. "Veteran Marine" would also be appropriate for Rhodes, I think. Or, just, "Marine."
August 18th, 2013 at 9:44 PM ^
You are correct in what constitutes a ex-Marine. I prefer the term veteran Marine. Thanks for bringing it up, I thought about it but then decieded not to but glad some around here know the protocol.
August 18th, 2013 at 7:47 PM ^
I used to frequently call my brother-in-law an ex-marine when he went from a 6'0" chiseled machine to a 300 pound whale getting winded while walking to the mailbox. Apparently enough people pissed him off enough so that he is back to 215 and running 15Ks.
August 18th, 2013 at 6:48 PM ^
August 18th, 2013 at 6:53 PM ^
"Organized competition" is defined in Bylaw14.02.9, which is referenced in 14.2.3.2.1, and here is what it says. It is important to note just how broad this is really, I think:
14.02.9 Organized Competition. Athletics competition shall be considered organized if any of the following conditions exists: (Revised: 4/29/10)
(a) Competition is scheduled and publicized in advance;
(b) Official score is kept;
(c) Individual or team standings are maintained;
(d) Official timer or game officials are used;
(e) Admission is charged;
(f) Teams are regularly formed or team rosters are predetermined;
(g) Team uniforms are used;
(h) A team is privately or commercially sponsored; or
(i) The competition is either directly or indirectly sponsored, promoted or administered by an individual, an organization or any other agency.
August 18th, 2013 at 6:58 PM ^
so if Mr. Spot's sponsers my IM flag football team and buys us jerseys we have violated like all of these?
August 18th, 2013 at 8:06 PM ^
August 18th, 2013 at 9:02 PM ^
Please tell me that they cited their fatigues as their "team uniforms".
I'm positive that those bastards all starve puppies in their free time just for funzies..
August 18th, 2013 at 6:59 PM ^
August 18th, 2013 at 7:50 PM ^
makes it appear that for the 5 years he played, he will be ineligible to play for 5 years. One year for each year played in an organized event.
August 18th, 2013 at 7:17 PM ^
Who is the NCAA? Well, it is an organization composed of member schools from Division III through Division 1. They voluntarily commit themselves to the uniform goals, aims and bylaws of an organization whose practices they support without question. The operation of which is dictated, controlled and enforced by well-paid employees who are no different than those people who run home owner orginizations and whose bylaws and activities wind up sending thousands to court each year in stupid lawsuits over trivial pursuits and costing millions in foreclosure actions and maintaining the peace, with people then wondering how this happened. It happened because it was structured to work as it does.
The NCAA is composed of its member schhools. And the actions that it takes are a reflection of its membership. You want to blame someone, blame them. They created the environment that exists. And they can change it.
It's just like our government and Congress. You don't like it, do something to change it. Implying that this is some alien force that wedged its way into the universe and is now enforcing some stupid authority based on foreign takeover is ridiculous.
The membership is responsible for the action of its enforcement staff and the rules they govern and the work they perform. And if they don't like it, they have the power and control to change it. They are in charge. And by claiming otherwise, they simply ignore the reality of their own responsibility.
August 18th, 2013 at 7:38 PM ^
Logged in just to upvote you, but for some reason its not letting me do it. One of the more reasoned posts I have seen here in a long time.
August 18th, 2013 at 8:16 PM ^
we're goin to war!
August 18th, 2013 at 7:19 PM ^
Shame on you NCAA.
August 18th, 2013 at 7:24 PM ^
Eat shit, NCAA.
August 18th, 2013 at 7:32 PM ^
It's amazing that Johnny Manziel will probably get to play the entire season while this guy won't... NCAA needs at least a complete makeover to say nonetheless.
August 18th, 2013 at 8:02 PM ^
August 18th, 2013 at 7:30 PM ^
what a corrupt organization and a hypocratic one too. I'm still pissed off that we got sanctions for over-practicing while ohio gets away with the BS they pulled, they don't seem to have suffered at all from what they did, except for self sanctioning the one year bowl ban.
August 18th, 2013 at 7:31 PM ^
August 18th, 2013 at 7:32 PM ^
Once they're done cleaning up the MTSU program and is deplorable use of former Marines/"ringers", they'll undoubtedly turn their attention to the SEC's SEC-ness, concussion issues, corrupt ADs, and the rest of the ills. But you have to pick the most important issue first, you know?
August 18th, 2013 at 7:34 PM ^
This ain't 'Nam. There are rules.
All kidding aside, the NCAA is applying their rules. There's an appeal and I bet the NCAA lets him play. Will we all think the NCAA is the worst thing ever when they bend their rules to allow this man to play?
August 18th, 2013 at 7:45 PM ^
yeah, i'm not sure this is something to get all worked up about. let's consider the burden of proof here: is it on the NCAA to show he is NOT eligible or on him to show that he IS?
I assume it's on him and that will play out in the appeal process if he chooses to go thru that
August 21st, 2013 at 8:23 AM ^
personally I would think that before they made the decision the burden of proof would be on the NCAA. After all, they didn't just go to the guy and say: We think you may not be eligible to play football under our current rules, could you put our minds at ease and explain the following?
They have already ruled him to be ineligible so they must feel they have met the burden of proof. It isn't a persons job to prove they haven't done something wrong, it's a governing bodies job to prove that they have and then the person defends themselves.
August 18th, 2013 at 7:47 PM ^
In fact, if you take a look at the section posted by LSAClassOf2000, I suspect every one of those applies to high school football. I don't know if admission is charged for any Marine events, but I know for a fact that admission is charged for high school games.
Edit: and... along comes the answer as I was typing. That is a horse of a different color altogether.
August 18th, 2013 at 7:49 PM ^
I personally will still have a problem with it. By enforcing this stupid rule against him they are treating him as if he has commited some sort of infraction or wrongdoing. Then if he begs and claims some loophole maybe the all powerfull NCAA will grant him the privilege of playing football. They should be thanking him for his service not taking away a year of his eligibility and making him beg for it back. Just because eventually maybe they will get it right doesn't mean their actions are correct.
August 18th, 2013 at 9:37 PM ^
I think they have done similar things before. The appeals committee has the authority to waive a rule under extenuating circumstances. I know everyone hates the NCAA, but that seems like a reasonable way to handle things.
August 18th, 2013 at 7:42 PM ^
Comment from reddit http://www.reddit.com/r/CFB/comments/1kltcy/ncaa_to_marine_of_course_you_cant_play_at_mtsu/ :
Former NCAA compliance officer here. Thought I'd explain where this ruling is coming from and why his waiver will be granted.
First, from the article: "...graduated from Antioch High School in 2007, worked at the Nissan plant in Smyrna for a year and then joined the Marine Corps in August 2008..." This one small part of a tiny paragraph to give background on the player is actually the crux of the NCAA's ruling. It has NOTHING to do with his intramural activity and even less to do with his service to our country.
The rule in question is Bylaw in question is 14.2.3.2.1, which I will summarize for you because it is lengthy: A student must enroll at an institution within 1 year after graduating high school. The legislative intent of this rule is to prevent unfair competition by having guys out there that purposefully wait to enroll to gain muscle/age/ability. Think about the size that many student-athletes realize in their first year of football and imagine if they took a year on a regimented training program and still maintained eligibility.
Now, you say, "Hold on a second, smart guy! What about guys like Brandon Weeden, Russell Wilson, Chris Weinke or Ben Olson?" Well, the NCAA has exceptions that allow for kids to follow certain paths in life prior to competition in a specific sport. Most of us have heard of those first 3 names (they all played minor league baseball), but the 4th is the best example of this exception. Ben Olson, if you may remember, was a top QB recruit that decided to go on his mission after starting his career at BYU. Normally, this would halt the 5-year "ticking clock" rule for eligibility. Surprise! The NCAA exempts time spent on religious missions, foreign aid services, and military armed services. To prove I'm not lying...
"14.2.1.2 Service Exceptions to the Five-Year Rule: Time spent in the armed services, on official religious missions or with recognized foreign aid services of the U.S. government is excepted from the application of the five-year rule."
As a side note before we move forward, it's important to note that intramural sports are never counted towards eligibility. The NCAA sees those as purely recreational unless you doctor them somehow to replicate time in season or profit off the activities.
Pulling this altogether, if you made it this far, we get that the reason Mr. Rhodes is required to sit a year is because he waited over a year to join the Marines. Let's say he graduated in May of 2007. That means from May 2008 - August 2008 his clock started to tick. It's clearly unfortunate and the NCAA will surely remedy the situation with MTSU, but I figured I would at least attempt to explain what was going on better than the article did.
Bottom line: yes, the NCAA has flaws, but it also has purpose behind them. They aren't fair in many cases. The application of many rules are to prevent an unfair playing field. I'm not saying that I necessarily agree with all the NCAA has put forth. I just apply the laws as they're written and intended. Mr. Rhodes will get his eligibility and his justice.
August 18th, 2013 at 7:52 PM ^
Yah, but.... ummm... the NCAA still sucks.
August 18th, 2013 at 7:55 PM ^
Oh, I fully agree. No need to put down that pitchfork just yet.
August 18th, 2013 at 8:02 PM ^
Thanks for the informative post (just a little better than the "NCAA sux!!!!" posts." There is a reason for the ruling, and justice for the marine as well as adherence to the spirit of NCAA rules will be ultimately prevail.
August 19th, 2013 at 8:34 AM ^
While the basic "NCAA SUX!!!" reaction and ensuing backlash from these types of non-sensical occurences probably does some good, I do think it is important to remembr that the NCAA is an organization created and given power by the Universities that are it's members. Sure the organization itself deserves a large share of the blame, but I think we tend to give the university presidents a free pass on this. They have the power to change things but they just sit around and watch it all happen without taking any type of active roll in fixing it.
August 19th, 2013 at 8:40 AM ^
August 19th, 2013 at 9:01 AM ^
The comment basically says that Rhodes was told he needs to sit a year because he took a year off between high school and enlisting in the armed services, not because he played IM football while enlisted.
August 19th, 2013 at 10:06 AM ^
August 18th, 2013 at 7:57 PM ^
Should be interesting to see what happens. The Daily News Journal here in Murfreesboro is really running with the story.
August 18th, 2013 at 8:13 PM ^
My post was directed at the NCAA, not the poeple in Murfreesboro, TN.
August 18th, 2013 at 8:19 PM ^
Nope, it's the largest undergrad institution in TN with 30,000 students. I would think some alumni in the TN legislative body 30 miles up the road may have something to say about this.
August 18th, 2013 at 11:46 PM ^
Did not know that. Always assumed Tennessee was.