"Bluechips" - honest commentary from journalists

I'll take a page out of the coach I interviewed and submit these rules. I am basing this on the principle that these are supposed to be students participating in extracurricular activities, like the NCAA always tries to claim. I'll admit, by no means is this a perfect list. But what the heck, it's worth a shot. Violate them, see ya:

RECRUITING

1. Players are allowed to have two meetings with assistant coaches and three meetings with head coaches. They can also give/receive five phone calls from a combination of coaches. Coaches (assistant or head coach) can watch an athlete compete 3 times a year, in either high school or AAU. Coaches cannot watch athletes during any practice.
What constitutes a meeting? Saying 'hello' is a meeting. (drastic I know, but a line has to be made).

2. Athletes can make 5 campus visits for a total of two nights per visit. They can meet with potential teammates. They must live on-campus, and eat on-campus food. They can take the same tour that every other student makes. They can meet with head coaches once for one hour during this time (this visit counts towards the limit).

3. Students are allowed to transfer to another school of their choice, while sitting out one year of play, . Coaches are allowed to leave for another school, but must also not coach the team for one year if they are currently under contract. (If this means hiring an interim coach for one year, too bad. Transfer coaches are not allowed to attend practices or games.

COMPENSATION
1. Athletes are to receive scholarships for five years. Scholarships pay for room, board, books, and fees. These scholarships can only be taken away if an athlete is convicted of a crime in a court of law. Athletes can work jobs, at a wage they can negotiate. This must be legitimate employment, with records being kept.

2. Coaches are to be paid no more than each school's president. Coaches must teach an academic class in line with the school's requirements (this can eliminate relatives being hired as 'assistants'. Coaches cannot work more than 60 hours per week, including travel time and class time. (this is for their physical and mental health).

3. Athletes cannot receive any gifts that cost more than $10. (Somebody buys them a beer, that's fine. A car is a no-no).

4. Any money generated by endorsements/sponsorships, must go to the school for use in its general fund. (No more coaches making kids wear sneakers so the coaches can get paid).

STUDENT LIFE:
1. Athletes must maintain at least a 2.0 grade point average and keep in line with the school's graduation requirements. They must keep with the school's attendance requirements. They must be on course to graduate in five years.

2. Athletes cannot be forced to participate in team practices/meetings for more than 10 hours per week (If it means quarterbacks are drawing plays in the dirt, so be it). Athletes may also volunteer their time for five hours a week. Coaches cannot be present at these five hours. (If you want to train for the Olympics or the NFL, tough shit. You are in school to go to school!).

3. Teams cannot travel to play in any road contests more than 50 miles from campus from Monday through Thursday (too bad, ESPN). Teams cannot make their players miss more than three days of classes in a season for travel. Postseason contests are an exception (I admit for selfish reasons, I love the first two days of the NCAA Tournament).


I'm sure I've missed some stuff. But hey, give me a break, I'm trying to write this while on 5 hours of sleep.

 

I bet many more basketball and football players are paid outside the boundaries of the rules than you think.

I bet certain coaches (Bob Knight, Roy Williams) never played with fire. But I bet a lot more toe the line, lean over the line, and sometimes walk over the line.

Because winning is the most important thing, according to the fuck-face boosters and fans.

 

Someone in this thread brought up Kansas State. I have a hard time believing that after 20 years of mediocrity, the best prep basketball player in the country and future NBA stud thought to himself, "You know? Manhattan, Kansas seems like the place for me to show my game off for one year."

 

Yeah, we did. How else can you attract a critical mass of legitimate college talent (in either football or basketball) to Manhattan, KS? I ask you.

 

I believe Ed DeChellis at Penn State does not cheat.

I believe the results are self-evident.

 

Roy Williams never played with fire? Make me laugh.

That's the problem. The people like Roy and K have the "White Hat." They can do no wrong. The guys like Huggins and Cal have the "Black Hat." They are perceived as cheaters.

The truth? They're all the same.

 

I find Calipari amazing because he's taken two programs that were off the radar in non-BCS conferences and turned them in to the No. 1 teams in the country. That alone would seem to indicate something's up, but then again I don't think he was recruiting a squad full of McD All-Americans at UMass. Even the Camby situation had to with an agent, not recruiting IIRC.

 

You're still pissed KU lost that game a couple weeks ago? Get over it, man.

Obviously K-State came in to a tremendous TREMENDOUS amount of talent this year, not just with Beasley, but with Bill Walker and a couple other freshman -- guys that in the past would have stopped opening letters from K-State when they were 7th graders.

I think K-State, rather than an example of a team cheating its brains out and sending trunks full of cash all over the place, is an example of a team taking advantage of the weird and dark world major college basketball recruiting has become. You're right -- Michael Beasley didn't just throw a dart at a map. Bob Huggins hired Dalonte Hill, who had been linked with Beasley for years and years. Beasley was committed to Charlotte before he was committed to K-State. Did K-State just outbid Charlotte? I doubt it, at least not in the typical sense. It outbid for Hill, who in turn brought Beasley.

It's obviously shades of gray. K-State isn't the only school to hire a friend or family member to land a player. I think there's a ton of stuff that happens in that gray area, be it hiring a family member or any of 1,000 other things ... I have a hard time believing too much crosses all the way over into the black, however.

 

Didn't Larry Brown hire a truck driver named Ed Manning as an assistant at KU? His son turned out to be a pretty good ballplayer.

 

Yep, that's one of the favored shady loopholes. Since you can't pay the kid directly, see if you can pay someone influential in the kid's life, be it friend, family, or AAU coach, by arranging a job offer they otherwise could not get. There're so many cases of that game that have gone unreported.

 

People always latch on to the fact he happened to be driving a truck at the time he was hired, but fail to mention that Ed Manning played pro ball for nine years, including a few for Larry Brown in the ABA so they already had a close relationship. Ed Manning also still works in the NBA and I don't think that's because any teams are hoping to snatch up Danny as a free agent.

There have been much shadier cases of a kid's parents or AAU coaches getting a job -- at KU, Duke, just about everywhere -- than the Manning situation.

 

Wade Houston, anyone? He's the only guy I can remember getting a head-coaching job because of his son ...