In theory, the NCAA exists to act as an organizing force for the thousands of college athletes that participate in dozens of sports all across the country. Without it providing logistics and a structure for competition, it is argued, you'd end up with chaos and no real way for universities to compete with each other.
Fine. I can accept that argument, at least as it pertains to non-revenue sports. But I think that it's also important for us to understand that the NCAA's other significant mission, enforcing incredibly petty bylaws to help justify its enforcement arm, is arguably the best and most important reason for its existence.
Every year we get reports of schools self-reporting some of the most incredibly minor violations of NCAA rules, in an extremely transparent attempt to ward off any actual investigation of their sports programs. And every year, the NCAA seemingly nods its head and gives the thumbs up after reading a laundry list of really goofy stuff that is apparently worthy of their notice somehow.
For instance, here's a sampling of what Alabama has just self-reported to the NCAA:
- A soccer coach butt-dialing a recruit's mom
- Softball staff member hitting "reply all" instead of just "reply"
- Another butt-dial from a gymnastics coach
- Somebody forgot a form, then found said form like a day late
No one on this planet or any other truly believes that these are all of the NCAA rule violations that Alabama athletics committed in the past year, not does anyone believe that these are all of the NCAA rule violations that Alabama athletics is aware of being committed in the past year. Doesn't matter. What matters is placating the NCAA enough to keep investigators out of Tuscaloosa.
And as much as we love to rag on the Crimson Tide for this, every single major college in America does this, especially Ohio State. From The Lantern, here's a PDF of a selection of self-reported violations from 2015, which includes one of my personal favorites:
On October 17, 2014, two women's gymnastics prospective student‐athletes arrived at Ohio State to begin their official visit on October 17, 2014. The prospects' parents and two brothers accompanied them on the visit. When the two families checked into the Hilton Garden Inn, they were handed vouchers for breakfast. The hotel told the families that the vouchers were coupons for breakfast that could be used by the entire family. The voucher itself said that it was a "Complimentary Breakfast for Entire Party."
However, the vouchers actually added the total cost of the meals, including the two brothers' breakfasts, to each family's hotel bill. On November 3, 2014, during a review of the official visit paperwork, the Compliance Office discovered that the institution had potentially paid for the breakfasts of the two siblings. The Compliance Office reached out to the Head Women’s Gymnastics Coach to confirm with each family whether the brothers had paid for their own meals.
The parents of the two prospects responded that the brothers used the breakfast vouchers during the official visit.
For the crime of allowing some siblings to eat runny eggs and stale bagels, the Ohio State University was punished with... well, nothing, actually. But what's funny is that Ohio State ended up calling the Hilton to tell them to stop giving vouchers to the families of recruits.
Here are some more from 2012, but really the gist of this is that they can't catch you if they've already caught you, creating a cat-and-mouse game that's as much about avoiding scrutiny as it is about rooting out violations. And that's the problem; while the NCAA should investigate violations of rules and regulations, both schools and the governing body of their various sports should concentrate on preventing the kinds of significant abuses of power that we've seen all across the country rather than focusing on the kinds of petty crap that becomes the focus of articles like this one.
Until then, these self-reported violations will stay in the realm of butt-dialing.
