The latest NCAA “scandal” involves the University of Michigan’s college football program.  In reports stemming from interviews with current and former players in the program, the Detroit Free Press has written that the Michigan Wolverines’ football program is guilty of breaking NCAA rules that stipulate a player should spend no more than 20 hours every week on mandatory football practices and activities.

Any college football writer or analyst, who believes players at major Division I programs spend no more than the NCAA mandated 20 hours per week average should re-evaluate their chosen career.  Let’s assume Michigan head coach, Rich Rodriguez is lying and the Wolverines’ football players are spending more than 20 hours a week.  The culprit in this latest NCAA rules transgression is none other than the NCAA governing body.

The rules which govern college sports programs are archaic and unrealistic.  These rules and regulations that have been in place controlling the actions of players and programs in football and other major sports belong in a past era and have no grip on the current environment in major college sports.

When millions of dollars in donations from universities, donors and boosters are being pumped into major sports programs, results are expected.  Results have lead to far more pressure, which has led to programs searching for ways to circumvent the rules in an attempt to reach expectations.

NCAA football, meanwhile continues to suffer from the belief that 20 hours is sufficient time in a week for players to know their game plan, implement it in practice, study game film of themselves and their opponent, do conditioning work and lift weights.  Back in the 1940’s twenty hours was enough, but the extent to which the game has developed at present it is absolutely absurd to expect players and coaches to be able to follow this rule.

The unreal expectations with which college sports are governed is certainly not strictly limited to football.

Does anyone really think it was a crime for O.J. Mayo to take some money from a sports agent when he was busy reviving a USC basketball program, helping them fill the stands?

Are we going to forget that Memphis reached the Final Four with Derrick Rose leading the team and that they won 38 games or are we too devastated by the knowledge Rose may have had somebody take the SAT for him to get a qualifying score?

NCAA basketball has become an absolute joke with the NBA forcing players to attend school for one year before they become eligible for the draft.  It has created scenarios where players such as O.J. Mayo, Derrick Rose and others who grew up expecting and preparing to enter the NBA after high school had to change plans for a year and attend a university, because of a rule that was forced upon them.

These are just a few instances which show that though college sports are now a major business, they are still governed like local youth recreational leagues.  What really needs to be examined and re-evaluated here are these ridiculous rules and regulations that nearly every program needs to violate in order to be able to compete.

Meanwhile any real story of substance that should cause a national uproar such as the case involving Daniel Hood, receives little national press.  If you aren’t familiar with the story, Hood is a tight end who has received a football scholarship to the University of Tennessee, though he was tried as a juvenile at the age of 13 and found delinquent in a case where he stood watch as a 17 year-old friend, raped his 14 year-old first cousin.

There are a number of issues with college sports that I could delve into, but they all stem from the same problem; the NCAA’s inability to adjust to the times and change their rules and regulations accordingly.  Instead we are stuck now with college sports scandals that create no sense of controversy among the general public in the current college sports environment.

**UPDATE**

After doing some more research I discovered that the problems going on at Ohio State were much greater than I initially realized.  Their is the case of Troy Smith who apparently received money from a booster as well as the use of a cell phone through Clarett, who as we all know, was knee deep in all of this.  Shockingly though, this was the QUARTERBACK of the team and nothing was done!  How can this many red flags pop up at one university without any NCAA investigation?

In addition, dirtier than their football program, may be their basketball regime under Jim O’Brien from 1997-2004.  Not only did players receive treatment such as living with housekeepers who took care of all their needs, including doing homework, but there are allegations of illegal money being paid out with O’Brien and respected assistant Paul Biancardi’s knowledge and often times at their behest.  Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated (who has a visceral hate for all things Big Ten)  wrote a great expose on all this a few years back.  Here it is.  It is very detailed and the fact that the NCAA effectively turned a blind eye and did not enforce any infractions on at least the basketball program is shocking.

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Maurice Clarett was the star of the 2002 national champion Ohio State Buckeyes football team.  He was the star of an underdog team, who had made an improbable run to the championship, escaping throughout the year in a series of stunning comebacks and close wins.  He was riding high until his off-the-field problems started to receive most of the media attention rather than Clarett’s superlative play.  Following the championship game, in July 2002 a teaching assistant at Ohio State University reported a case of academic impropriety involving Clarett.

Clarett during the 2002 BCS Championship Game

Following this incident, Clarett went onto bigger and better things such as falsifying a police report for thousands.  Clarett claimed stereo equipment had been stolen from his car in addition to cash, CD’s and clothing.  After this fallout Ohio State AD Andy Geiger, took the step of suspending Clarett for the season and eventually dismissing him after claiming Clarett had taken money from boosters.  However six months later Clarett claimed that all the benefits he had received and the reasons for his silence on the issue was because he was trying to protect officials at Ohio State including head coach, Jim Tressel.

Now, that seems like a lot of smoke at one university without the NCAA stepping in and investigating.  You have a player allegedly getting help on exams from a professor, falsifying police reports and getting money from boosters.  On top of that the player in question, Clarett, claimed that he was receiving a lot of these benefits with the knowledge, and sometimes, the help of Ohio State officials, one of them being the head coach of the football team.  In addition his story was corroborated by a former OSU linebacker who had been kicked off the team for multiple drug possession arrests, Marco Cooper.

Now, if that was not enough, Tressel left his previous stop at Youngstown State amid a firestorm of controversy involving players receiving payments in cash from boosters.  One of the boosters, currently serving time in prison, claims Tressel was the one who encouraged him to help a player out by providing him with a “job”.  Interestingly enough after the NCAA told Youngstown State an anonymous source had tipped them off to such a relationship involving a former player and a booster in 1994 a month after Youngstown State had won a championship.  The allegations against Youngstown State were dropped after Tressel, the school’s AD and president all assured the NCAA that there was no substance to the allegations.

Youngstown State held an internal investigation which was a pretense and addressed none of the serious problems that were occuring at the program.  In fact one player who was the subject of a federal investigation after jury tampering was told he would go to jail unless he squealed on the booster who had paid him, went to talk to Tressel about it, who for all relative purposes told him he did not want to know about anything.

Tressel with Clarett on the sidelines during the 2002 BCS Championship Game

University Prresident, Leslie Cochran was not aware of the extent of the improprieties until the whistle finally blew on the program in 1998 when a booster in question by a federal investigation was charged with bribing a juror.  Youngstown State accepted cuts in scholarship offers and admitted to having administrative control of the situation and the program.  11 months after the NCAA passed its judgment Tressel left for Ohio State without receiving any punishment or even scrutiny for his role and lack of authority in the whole scenario.

So with all that on their plate following the Maurice Clarett situation at Ohio State and with knowledge of Tressel’s presence at Youngstown State during its off-the-field problems the NCAA proceeded to do nothing.  No penalties for OSU’s football program, no reprimands, no scholarships were cut.  The NCAA was content to allow OSU to “clean” their own mess.

Unfortunately this situation is just one example of a major college sports program not receiving any kind of punishment for allowing boosters to run amok providing cash, cars, gifts, etc. to college players.  The same thing occurred at USC with former Heisman trophy winner, Reggie Bush.  Bush allegedly received a combination of cash, gifts and benefits worth over $100,000.  This story disappeared largely from media attention fairly soon following this revelation, after receiving only a few days’ worth of coverage on ESPN, never receiving the scrutiny say Alex Rodriguez testing positive for steroids ever received.

In another under-reported story on April 9, 2009 the NCAA announced that they would be combining their investigation into the allegations facing Bush, with those facing former USC basketball star, O.J. Mayo who was accused of receiving over $200,000 in cash, gifts and benefits.  In fact ESPN ran an investigative report on the allegations in the days following the story breaking, but once again the story disappeared after a few days.  Now on top of this there are new reports that are coming from out of USC today that head coach Tim Floyd paid Mayo $1000 cash.

Floyd faces allegations of paying former USC Trojan basketball player O.J. Mayo up to $1,000

Interestingly enough the tie between ESPN and mainstream media, the NCAA, university athletic programs seems to form a perfect out for the NCAA from addressing these serious allegations.  Right now on the headlines for ESPN and other major media sites, the USC story has not garnered a spot and has not been reported on heavily.  Why would ESPN, CBS, ABC, and FOX not report this news? It could be perhaps because such a story would cast a dark cloud over college sports and affect viewer ratings which would certainly affect all these media outlets who all have television contracts with major college conferences.

The OSU story has received no follow-up after all the reports of benefits for players and the university’s involvment the NCAA concluded it was not worth it to investigate the program.  Right now USC is under investigation, but it is now 2009 with Bush allegedly receiving payment in 2005.  In a year the statute of limitations of five years will have ran out and the NCAA will not be able to bring charges against USC’s football program.  The NCAA, the governing body over big-time college sports, has shown a real lack of any urgency in unearthing the dishonest practices being used for college players.

As a college sports fan I am all for players getting paid and earning a salary because of the revenue they generate for their respective universities and the NCAA as whole.  The rules however as they currently stand, do not allow for players to be receiving any kind of benefits outside of scholarships that are given.  If this continues than be prepared for more USC’s and OSU’s, but do not expect for their to be anyserious repurcussions against any big-time college program.