Short post for me today, but a big day for the mildly threatening NCAA cops. Some schools even decided to take the law into their own hands, just before their "student athletes" managed to embarrass them too much. Michigan: Denied the Big 10's highest rated recruit, DB Demar Dorsey, entrance into the university at the request of the school's admissions office. Besides being an on-the-field star, Dorsey had the potential to build an all-star "rap sheet" while at Michigan. Demar has already had two felony charges against him, although both were eventually dropped.
Colorado: The NCAA docked Colorado four football scholarships for failing to meet the their "Academic Progress Rate" standards.
Oregon: Oregon QB Jeremiah Masoli, who was already suspended for stealing laptops and a guitar from a fraternity, was kicked off the team days after he was arrested for driving with a suspended license and possession of marijuana. (I'm not sure why, but it seems like there are a disproportionally high percentage of stud-athletes who are arrested with either an expired or suspended license. I'm not sure whether there is a correlation between the two. I'm probably a sub-par athlete and I've never had an expired or suspended licence, so I'm going to go ahead and assert there is a correlation.)
USC: Received a two-year bowl ban and was docked ten football scholarships over the next three years. While I'm very happy about this, it still sucks that the NCAA really has no way to punish former USC head coach Pete Carroll. For those of you who are new to college football, Pete Carrol was the head coach at USC while all of the infractions occurred. Further, Carroll conveniently found a head coaching job in the NFL as the NCAA's investigation of his program intensified. The USC scandal really deserves a much more in-depth look, especially since it's one of the harshest penalties the NCAA has ever given, but there are so many other writers who can cover it much better than I can.
Whats your view on taking away the Heisman from Reggie Bush. Is it a bad precedent to set for future infractions. And if this is the case should we re-troactively go back and take away awards for all players tied to these situations. Should they hold a revote, i.e.Brian Cushing after his first year in the pros for supposed steroid abuse?
ReplyDeletehmm tough question, I'm not sure if there is any precedent for actually taking anyone's Heisman away. Bush has been obviously dirty for quite sometime, but removing someone's honors or accolades is definitely dangerous. Plus, the Brian Cushing event was fairly embarrassing for the NFL. That guy has probably been on horse steroids for the past 10 years, but the voters still reaffirmed that he was the defensive rookie of the year.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see Michigan stepping it up in the ethics department. I gotta say though, half of me says we should just play the Ohio State way and recruit whomever can play the game without regard to a graduation percentage over 20%.
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