Question about possible NCAA rules violation

[dog428]

I can almost assure you that an NCAA rule has been violated. I say that because college athletes and potential college athletes would have to be blind and mute to avoid breaking one of the 8,437,443,298 NCAA rules.

It's ridiculous how overbearing the NCAA has become. We're actually trying to decide if winning a damn 3-on-3 tournament might be some sort of violation.

College athletics are quickly headed down the same path as NASCAR, where the small, modest programs have no chance of competing because they simply can't enforce all of these rules. A compliance department consisting of a couple of fulltime workers at a small D-I school has no chance of monitoring all of that school's athletes and maintaining a violation-free athletic department.

You see it all the time in conferences like the SWAC, where about once a year a member school gets busted for a boatload of compliance-related violations. In most of those cases, there was no intent to cheat. The school just doesn't have the resources to adequately monitor hundreds of athletes and dozens of coaches in a 15 sports.

Far be it from me to defend the NCAA, and its rules are certainly onerous, but it's pretty hard to get in real trouble with them. Lots of wrists get slapped, lots of harrumphing, but very few schools get their asses handed to them unless they are handing out cash to kids or are repeat violators. In 99.9 percent of cases, schools self-report violations, the NCAA sends out an official notice clarifying the rule that was violated and it's over.

The place where it usually gets frustrating is when there is any money involved, like in the case of the German kids at Nebraska and Washington State last year. Both played for a German club team where some athletes -- but not them -- were paid. Both lost a year.

Yes, wrists get slapped if its a couple, maybe even a couple dozen minor rules infractions. The problem is the NCAA can't monitor all of these schools. So, when a school like -- and I'm just tossing out names here -- Alabama State goes five years with an understaffed compliance office, allowing hundreds of minor rules violations to pile up, the next thing you know you've got a big problem.

The big schools, and even the mid-majors in most cases, would catch these things before they get out of control. But a lot of the lower-tier D-I schools don't. Not because they don't want to. It's simply because they don't have the funds to hire enough competent people to monitor their athletic departments.

Sometime when you think about it, take a few minutes and compare the athletic support staffs of any major college to a lower-tier D-I program. I know for a fact that several of the majors have more employees in their compliance office than the lower-tiers have in their entire athletic department (not counting coaches, of course). Yet, when you compare the number of athletes at each of the schools, the numbers aren't so different.

And a lot of these schools have absolutely been crushed by the NCAA recently. Florida A&M reported over 200 violations a few years ago and the NCAA determined that not one of them was because a coach or player tried to cheat. Same for Alabama State. Over 1,000 violations, and there might be one, maybe two, violations against coaches. FAMU lost a ton of scholarships and had to give back trophies and take down banners. ASU has already given up 30 scholarships and will likely give up more.

 

[Twoback]

As long as the athlete wasn't paid in any way it's not a violation.

The NCAA doesn't sanction fund-raisers.

What's a cornhole tournament?

Wrong.
It doesn't matter whether the athlete is paid or not.
Sanctioned or unsanctioned. The NCAA sanctions offseason activities all the time. If one plays in an organized competition that is unsanctioned, one faces the possibility of minor penalties (such as a one-game suspension) from the NCAA.

 

[Pete Incaviglia]

Oh, this thing.

A Midwest tailgating phenomenon. They're EVERYWHERE at Bengals games.

 

[93Devil]

Oh, this thing.

A Midwest tailgating phenomenon. They're EVERYWHERE at Bengals games.

and NASCAR (well at the one race I attended).

 

[Armchair_QB]

Oh, this thing.

A Midwest tailgating phenomenon. They're EVERYWHERE at Bengals games.

Ok. I've seen that game for years. I didn't know it was called cornhole.

 

[The Granny]

In Chicago, they call it "Bags" as well as cornhole.

 

[farmerjerome]

Okay, I'm trying to remember why Billy Edelin was suspended from SU for bunch of games, and I found this:

During this time away from the school, he obtained permission from the university to play in an over-30 men's church basketball league to keep in shape.

Unfortunately for Edelin, the NCAA didn't agree with the university's decision, and required Edelin to sit out the first 12 games when he started school (one game for each church league game he had played).

and

The NCAA prohibits student-athletes from participating in outside competition during the school year, and allows athletes to compete only in sanctioned summer events.

I'm not sure if the tournament and the league are the same thing, but I would look into it.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

One thing that I find hypocritical from the NCAA with the whole thing. They always love to talk about how 'student-athletes' shouldn't get extra benefits not available to the rest of the student population. But they constantly try to prevent athletes from doing anything that ordinary students are allowed to do.