Living in Fear of the N.C.A.A.

[Aughnanure]

Interesting article on NCAA's treatment of student-athletes

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/24/opinion/nocera-living-in-fear-of-the-ncaa.html

Living in Fear of the N.C.A.A.
Joe Nocera

It was early in the evening of Jan. 13 when Ryan Boatright, the freshman basketball player at the University of Connecticut, learned that he was being suspended from the team for the second time this season. Earlier that day, he had flown into South Bend, Ind., with his teammates for a game against Notre Dame. The 19-year-old point guard was excited because some 400 people from his hometown, Aurora, Ill., were coming to see him play.

When his coach, Jim Calhoun, broke the news that the N.C.A.A. was still investigating him, Boatright collapsed in Calhoun's arms. In tears, he called his mother, Tanesha, who began weeping uncontrollably. As I chronicled on Saturday, it was her acceptance of plane tickets a year or so ago that had caused his first suspension. The N.C.A.A. had ruled the tickets an "improper benefit," and had ordered him to sit out six games and pay a $100-per-month fine to repay the tickets. What more, she wondered, could the N.C.A.A. want?

A lot, it turned out. Tanesha is a single mother raising four children on a small salary. The N.C.A.A. investigators viewed her circumstances as a cause for suspicion, not sympathy. For instance, she owns a car. Where did she get the money to pay for it, they asked? How did she pay for her home? And so on.

Concluding that she had no choice but to cooperate — otherwise, her son would surely pay a severe price — Tanesha turned over her bank statements, as the N.C.A.A. demanded. Four N.C.A.A. investigators pored through her financial records and conducted interrogations in Aurora, seeking "evidence" that she was getting money from "improper" sources. (Tanesha declined to comment.)

When the investigators saw a series of cash deposits in her bank account, they demanded to know the source of the money. She told them: Friends had given her money so that she and her children could have a joyful Christmas. The investigators said they didn't believe her; they felt sure that she must have gotten the money from an unscrupulous sports agent or some other party outlawed by the N.C.A.A.

Meanwhile, her son remains in limbo, unable to play the game he loves, his reputation unfairly besmirched, while he awaits the N.C.A.A.'s latest ruling. I keep hearing it might happen soon, but, so far, nothing. People associated with Connecticut basketball, including Calhoun, are said to be furious at the N.C.A.A.'s treatment of Ryan Boatright. But the university is as fearful of the N.C.A.A. as Tanesha. It has yet to say a single word publicly on his behalf.

When I asked the N.C.A.A. about the Boatright case, the response I received was deeply disingenuous. Refusing to discuss the actions of its investigators, it essentially said that Connecticut, not the N.C.A.A., declared Boatright ineligible. That is technically true. Schools declare athletes ineligible because if they don't, the N.C.A.A. will deprive them of scholarships, force them to forfeit games and prevent them from playing in postseason games. Most astonishing, an N.C.A.A. spokeswoman told me that the organization does not have the legal authority to compel cooperation from parents. Again, technically true: Its real weapon — the threat of destroying their sons' careers — is far more potent than any mere subpoena.

Over the past three weeks, as I've written a series of columns about the abuses of the N.C.A.A., one question keeps reverberating in my head: How can this be happening in America?

How can children be punished for the deeds of their parents — deeds that aren't even wrong in any basic legal sense? How can the N.C.A.A. blithely wreck careers without regard to due process or common fairness? How can it act so ruthlessly to enforce rules that are so petty? Why won't anybody stand up to these outrageous violations of American values and American justice?

The columns have also prompted e-mails, mostly from parents of college athletes, with their own examples of N.C.A.A. injustices. The women's basketball player at Harvard who came to the United States from Britain and isn't allowed to play because she struggled when she first got to the U.S. and had to repeat a year of high school. The team manager — yes, team manager! — who was forced out of his role because he knew a high school player that his school was recruiting. The A students forced off the court because the N.C.A.A. does not include their high school A.P. courses among its "approved" coursework. The coach whose career was ended when the N.C.A.A. accused him of "unethical conduct" without giving him a chance to defend himself.

"The N.C.A.A. is like the Gestapo," wrote one parent in an e-mail. "It's out there, we all fear it, and it is all-powerful and follows its own rules and makes them up as they go along. Who are they protecting? The same thing the Gestapo protected: themselves."

[TallTitan34]

The same NCAA that says it is a violation for a school to provide butter or jelly with the bagels they are allowed to serve.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/by-2012-cream-cheese-may-no-longer-be-an-ncaa-violation?urn=ncaab,wp4181

[GOO]

What's the problem with the NCAA investigation?  You can't take plane tickets, and they should know that... who gave the tickets to them? Probably just a well meaning friend not connected to UCONN or an agent    

The NCAA probably has a reason to do an investigation.  This isn't routine stuff.  It isn't normal.  Could it be that someone tipped the NCAA off?  Did the improper plane ticket open a can or worms and more suspicious info?  Were there attempts to try to hide it or not cooperate with the NCAA investigation?  I have no idea, but since this isn't routine, who knows. The reporter sure seems to have a slant on this one.  Big NCAA after poor kid and family and won't just leave him alone.

Also, how often do people on these sites complain about certain coaches and schools paying $ to players?  IF the NCAA has some tip or info, this is what they should be doing.  If it is just a witch hunt, you'd have to ask why....   Didn't UCONN just have a major problem in the last couple of years for improper benefits?  So, tell me if I'm wrong, but isn't this what the NCAA should do more of?

And what should the NCAA tell a reporter who calls during an investigation?  Answer, not much.

I see this as the NCAA doing its job, but since I really don't know what is going on, maybe it is the NCAA for NO REASON just making life hard on this young kid. If I'm way off, let me know, as I haven't followed this case at all.  

[AZWarrior]

Based on the content of the article, its the NCAA presuming guilt until innocence is proven.  Granted, we don't have the NCAA's side of the story.

[MerrittsMustache]

Boatright committed to USC (a dirty program at the time) as an 8th grader and then decommitted.

He committed to West Virginia (Huggins is no stranger to the NCAA) and then decommitted.

He committed to UConn (a program currently under sanctions) and is now suspended.

I really do feel for the kid because he just wants to play basketball but it's not like he's been involved with the cleanest programs out there. The NCAA is pretty slow to act/react and there are probably hundreds, if not thousands, of student athletes whose families could be investigated for receiving some sort of improper benefits from "mystery lenders." It seems odd that they would simply pick out one kid to go after if they didn't have a very legitimate reason to do so.

[Lennys Tap]

Based on the content of the article, its the NCAA presuming guilt until innocence is proven.  Granted, we don't have the NCAA's side of the story.

I don't trust the NCAA and I don't trust the NY Times. Given what we really know here how can anyone make a judgement?

[Chicago_inferiority_complexes]

I don't trust the NCAA and I don't trust the NY Times. Given what we really know here how can anyone make a judgement?

+1 Not a lot of choir boys involved with this story.

[StillAWarrior]

I'm really not a big fan of the NCAA, but I recognize this piece for what it is: a hatchet job. And I'm not talking about the Boatright case.  I know nothing more about that than what I saw in the article, and notably absent from that account is the NCAA's side of the story.  The author/columnist is accepting the family's story as true, without knowing the other side (which the NCAA declined to provide).

What really revealed the author's agenda was the second to last paragraph where he throws out four more examples of alleged NCAA mis-deeds based upon emails that he received from parents.  Perhaps they are as bad as he portrays, but maybe there is another side to those stories as well.  I have no idea if any of these cases are examples of injustice by the NCAA, or wholly appropriate sanctions.  I suspect the author really doesn't either.

[StillAWarrior]

The same NCAA that says it is a violation for a school to provide butter or jelly with the bagels they are allowed to serve.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/by-2012-cream-cheese-may-no-longer-be-an-ncaa-violation?urn=ncaab,wp4181

I thought the following part of the linked article was interesting:

In the NCAA's defense, one of Monday's proposed rule changes was compassionate and long overdue: Proposal 2011-79 would allow an institution to pay expenses for the entire team to be with a teammate after a death or life-threatening incident.

Given how creative some programs get, I'd be interested to see how they define "life-threatening incident."  Would it be a life-threatening incident if a player (who just happens to live in Hawaii) has to swerve to narrowly avoid a horrific car accident?  Time to get the team on a flight to Hawaii...just be careful what you smear on the in-flight bagels.

[MUMac]

What's the problem with the NCAA investigation?  You can't take plane tickets, and they should know that... who gave the tickets to them? Probably just a well meaning friend not connected to UCONN or an agent    

The NCAA probably has a reason to do an investigation.  This isn't routine stuff.  It isn't normal.  Could it be that someone tipped the NCAA off?  Did the improper plane ticket open a can or worms and more suspicious info?  Were there attempts to try to hide it or not cooperate with the NCAA investigation?  I have no idea, but since this isn't routine, who knows. The reporter sure seems to have a slant on this one.  Big NCAA after poor kid and family and won't just leave him alone.

Also, how often do people on these sites complain about certain coaches and schools paying $ to players?  IF the NCAA has some tip or info, this is what they should be doing.  If it is just a witch hunt, you'd have to ask why....   Didn't UCONN just have a major problem in the last couple of years for improper benefits?  So, tell me if I'm wrong, but isn't this what the NCAA should do more of?

And what should the NCAA tell a reporter who calls during an investigation?  Answer, not much.

I see this as the NCAA doing its job, but since I really don't know what is going on, maybe it is the NCAA for NO REASON just making life hard on this young kid. If I'm way off, let me know, as I haven't followed this case at all.  

+1  agree with all your points.

Your first paragraph is the basis for everything, IMMHO.  Whenever my kids have been recruited or taken official visits, the Coaches are clear - they can pay for the kids, but not the parents.  We are free to go there, but cannot accept reimbursement.  The schools also provide information on what can and cannot be accepted, especially anything with monetary value.

The NCAA likely has justification with what they are investigating.  We have heard one side, and from a biased point of view at that.  I believe the writer had the conclusion written before he gathered any facts.

[TJ]

On the other hand, it's not like he's gone unpunished for his parent's misdeed.  They already suspended him for 6 games for the plane tickets.  That should have been the end of it - if the NCAA wanted a larger punishment they should have handed it out then.  Now he's sitting out indefinitely during a second slow NCAA investigation UConn doesn't want to post-forfeit every game they play this season.

[MUMac]

On the other hand, it's not like he's gone unpunished for his parent's misdeed.  They already suspended him for 6 games for the plane tickets.  That should have been the end of it - if the NCAA wanted a larger punishment they should have handed it out then.  Now he's sitting out indefinitely during a second slow NCAA investigation UConn doesn't want to post-forfeit every game they play this season.

So, there could not have been new information that led to this?  He was punished for one violation.  It appears that the NCAA is looking into more violations. 

To lay it off on "parent's misdeed" is a slippery slope.  How/why did they get the money in the first place?  That is the question that the NCAA will be looking into.

[We R Final Four]

Single Mom.

[TJ]

So, there could not have been new information that led to this?  He was punished for one violation.  It appears that the NCAA is looking into more violations. 

To lay it off on "parent's misdeed" is a slippery slope.  How/why did they get the money in the first place?  That is the question that the NCAA will be looking into.

On the other hand, should he lose all his eligibility suspended while waiting for the NCAA to investigate?

[MUMac]

On the other hand, should he lose all his eligibility suspended while waiting for the NCAA to investigate?

We do not know the facts or accussations.  I am guessing, and purely a guess based on what little facts are provided, that his amature status or eligibility at UCONN may be in question.  If the suspicion (or maybe even accussation) is that the money came from an agent to the family on behalf of the athlete, he could lose his amature status and eligibility at UCONN - thus if he were to play, UCONN would likely forfeit any game he played in.  This would create a bigger mess.

Another logical guess is it has come from a booster.  At that point, he would not be eligible, UCONN would be sanctioned and any game he played for UCONN, they would forfeit.

So, in answer to your question, yes.

[We R Final Four]

On the other hand, should he lose all his eligibility suspended while waiting for the NCAA to investigate?

'Suspended with pay'--like the MPD.   

[NeverDrankBefore]

Regardless of the source of the money, the IRS will have something to say about the cash if she doesn't report it this year.

[StillAWarrior]

Regardless of the source of the money, the IRS will have something to say about the cash if she doesn't report it this year.

If, as she claims, it was gifts from friends to help her out, she has no obligation to report it.

[Bocephys]

If, as she claims, it was gifts from friends to help her out, she has no obligation to report it.

Up to $13,000 a year or something like that.  It may also depend on your relation to the people giving it to you, but I'm no tax expert.

[StillAWarrior]

Up to $13,000 a year or something like that.  It may also depend on your relation to the people giving it to you, but I'm no tax expert.

The person giving the gift has to report the gift (if it's over $13,000 to a single person), not the person receiving it.

[Bocephys]

The person giving the gift has to report the gift (if it's over $13,000 to a single person), not the person receiving it.

Ohh, I see.  Thanks for the clarification, I always thought it was the other way around.

[StillAWarrior]

I wonder if the author of the original article is planning a follow-up...

[Dawson Rental]

Regardless of the source of the money, the IRS will have something to say about the cash if she doesn't report it this year.

If it was "gifts" from friends there is no problem, unless the friends are attempting to avoid Estate and Gift Tax which is highly unlikely.

Ooops!  It appears the thread was already well down this road.

[ErickJD08]

Criminals that know their guilt cry during the conviction reading too. It hurts when reality sets in that you were caught.

[karavotsos]

I think Nocera is simply using Boatright's case to make a larger point about the hypocrisy of the NCAA system.  I don't think Nocera is interested in whether Boatright actually broke NCAA rules, or not.  

As to questions about facts, according to Nocera anyway (who cannot be trusted), the informant to the NCAA was a felon ex-boyfriend of Boatright's mom who basically reported to the NCAA to make good on a threat.  The person who provided tickets and money was Derrick Rose's brother, who is a family friend an also an AAU coach.  So there are clearly some ambiguities in the case.

Nocera is not the only one making the point of the hypocrisy of the NCAA.  Bilas was posting links to articles about the NCAA prior to basketball season non-stop.  There was a big article in the Atlantic about it.  I'm sure there is a ton of other stuff out there.

I don't feel bad for Boatright.  However, I hope he goes pro in the next year or two and uses a portion of his pro money to fund his suit against the NCAA through trial so more sunlight is shone on the NCAA.