Emmert said there will be a much better handle on players' and schools' eligibility by Selection SundayGETTY IMAGES
NCAA President Mark Emmert over the weekend in response to the recent Yahoo Sports report on corruption described the Commission on College Basketball as "very independent" and said that the sport must "have changes in place before tip-off of next season." Emmert: "A failure to do that really will erode everyone’s confidence in what this wonderful game is really about.” Emmert said the commission is "doing their own work, they’re interviewing and talking to all the people that you’d want them to talk to." He added, "By the time we get to Selection Sunday, we’ll have a much better handle on what’s going on with the current students so that we have eligibility solutions in place for those who are and aren’t eligible. ... The vast majority of the coaches in the sport are behaving themselves and conducting themselves appropriately, as are the vast majority of student-athletes, so we need to recognize them for what they’re doing and what they’re commitment is." Emmert said of whether it is time to revamp the idea of amateurism and allow a relationship between college players and agents, “The rules now allow more contact and more interaction with baseball and hockey athletes because the nature of their draft than we do with college basketball. That’s something that we’re going to be talking a lot about. I suspect a bunch of recommendations between now and the spring, coming forward to revisit that. It makes perfect sense to me that it ought to be very different than it is now.” Emmert said of the Yahoo report, "Nobody was shocked that these things occurred." However, he admitted the "magnitude of them ... is surprising to a lot of folks" (“Inside College Basketball,” CBS, 2/24).
COACH SPEAK: Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said in response to the report, "It's a horrible time for the game. The game has been on its knees begging for change for years. ... We need to change. We need to take a look at amateurism and define it differently" (HERALDSUN.com, 2/25). Georgia coach Mark Fox said he is "disgusted." He said, "The NCAA is made up of member institutions. How are the institutions handling it? That'd be my first question. How are they handling it? Putting their head in the sand and looking the other way? I'm past anger, sadness. It's just disgusting, and we're really hurting the game, and the game has been so good to everybody" (ESPN.com, 2/24). Fox added the report is "probably just the tip of the iceberg" (AJC.com, 2/23). Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said that the one-and-done rule "should end." He added that problems "stem from agents reaching out" to those players before they get to college "because they know they won’t be in school for very long." Boeheim: "Everybody knows for 30 years that agents have been involved with players’ families. This is nothing that would surprise anybody in coaching. Agents are trying to get clients, and when you have the one-and-done factor, they go after them" (HERALDSUN.com, 2/25).
SOME NBA VOICES: In Detroit, Vince Ellis notes Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy believes the NCAA and college presidents are the "real culprits of the scandal." Van Gundy: “The NCAA is one of the worst organizations -- maybe the worst organization -- in sports. They certainly don’t care about the athlete." Van Gundy was also "critical" of the one-and-done rule. Van Gundy: "People that were against (players) coming out (of high school) made a lot of excuses, but I think a lot of it was racist. I’ve never heard anybody go up in arms about (minor-league baseball or hockey). They are not making big money and they’re white kids primarily and nobody has a problem. But all of a sudden you’ve got a black kid that wants to come out of high school and make millions. That’s a bad decision, but bypassing college to go play for $800 a month in minor-league baseball? That’s a fine decision? What the hell is going on?” (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 2/26). ESPN’s Trey Wingo said of Emmert and the NCAA, "If they investigated themselves the same way they look at college football and college basketball programs, they'd find themselves guilty of lack of institutional control"(“Golic & Wingo,” ESPN Radio, 2/26). In S.F., Connor Letourneau noted Warriors coach Steve Kerr "doesn’t think schools should pay their student-athletes," but he "does think programs should allow players to ink endorsement deals." Kerr: "If there’s a guy who happens to be a highly-regarded player, and Nike wants to pay him, or Adidas wants to pay him, I think that’s OK” (S.F. CHRONICLE, 2/25). Warriors F Kevin Durant said that college players "should be paid." Durant: "You can’t control an agent. You can kind of keep them out of these programs, but it’s too deep now" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 2/24). CBSSN’s Jordan Cornette said, "We have to start moving toward thinking about how we can get money into the hands of these players to avoid this kind of situation” (“Time to Schein,” CBSSN, 2/23). ESPN's Jay Bilas: "What we really need to do is examine the business that we have and then fashion rules that allow the players to participate in this business such that they are not at risk of breaking federal law. Stop calling players crooks” (“College GameDay,” ESPN, 2/24).
ANY SOLUTIONS? In Dallas, Tim Cowlishaw wrote the NCAA "will never search for the right path out of this mess." Instead, it will "work to punish the schools involved." Cowlishaw: "The solution: Let the players market themselves. Let them sell their jerseys. Let them promote and use their likenesses." It is "shameful that the NCAA even fought this to begin with" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 2/25). In Arizona, Dan Bickley asked, "If the tentacles of corruption have compromised the best programs in college basketball, how can the sport even stage its beloved NCAA Tournament in a few weeks?" Bickley: "Welcome to a hardwood nightmare" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 2/25). In Chicago, David Haugh writes these "stunning revelations about the sport's open secret ... feel different, like a day of reckoning finally has arrived for the NCAA and its obsolete model of amateurism." The "time has come to adopt an Olympic-style compensation structure that permits so-called student-athletes in all sports to be paid what the market bears" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 2/26). A CHARLOTTE OBSERVER editorial stated that the report's revelations "should prompt an overdue, clear-eyed assessment of all that is broken in college basketball -- and football." The NCAA "needs to reassess all its rules and scrap those that hurt student-athletes" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 2/25). Bilas said, "This has been going on since the NCAA was founded so the idea that this is some new thing that has come up and we didn’t know about it is painfully naive to the point of being woefully blind" (“PTI,” ESPN, 2/23).
TV IMPACT: SI.com's Andy Staples wrote, "Given the star power of the programs involved, Too Big To Fail could come into play as NCAA officials imagine CBS and Turner asking to renegotiate the terms of their multibillion-dollar deal to televise the men’s basketball tournament." Staples: "How valuable is the television product if the blueblood schools are serving postseason bans?" (SI.com, 2/23). In Washington, John McGrath writes, "If the idea is to keep sleazy creeps out of the mix, let the players profit from over-the-table endorsement opportunities. Let them seek advice from certified sports agents" (Tacoma NEWS TRIBUNE, 2/26). ESPN’s Mike Golic Jr. said by letting players connect with agents, it would "eliminate the need for a lot of those intermediaries ... that get people in trouble more than anything else” (“Golic & Wingo,” ESPN Radio, 2/26). In N.Y., Zach Braziller writes, "We’re about to experience a March unlike any other." It "doesn’t sound like the NCAA is planning to make any of these schools ineligible for postseason play, creating even more confusion." Braziller: "What happens if news drops during the actual tournament?" (N.Y. POST, 2/26). The Washington Post’s Kevin Blackistone said there is a possibility the “NCAA could be eliminated because this is really beyond their scope" (“Around The Horn,” ESPN, 2/23).
HEART OF THE MATTER: In Raleigh, Luke DeCock wrote the Yahoo report only highlights the "wayward ways of one dirty agent, leaked to further someone’s agenda." The "much-ballyhooed FBI investigation is a long way from the heart of the problem" in college basketball (NEWSOBSERVER.com, 2/23). In N.Y., Mike Lupica asked, "Failing to find an equitable way to pay actual salaries to the players doing the actual work that helps bring in all that money, what does the NCAA do, at least for as long as the NCAA is still in business in its present form?" The NCAA should "form an even stronger alliance" with the NBPA "before the future pros just passing through college are eligible to join." Lupica: "You simply have to allow players to secure loans against their own futures ... Let them make their own sneaker deals." Star college athletes must be "allowed to make money off their names, their likenesses, their signatures" (NYDAILYNEWS.com, 2/25). In Seattle, Larry Stone wrote, "The institution that’s out of control, it appears, is the NCAA, letting a corrupt system fester under its very nose." The "real lesson from all this is that the system itself is in dire need of reform" (SEATTLETIMES.com, 2/23). ESPN’s Rece Davis said of the NCAA, “What you have here is a great opportunity to overhaul the system. Whether the NCAA and its Commission on College Basketball recommends that that be done remains to be seen" (“Golic & Wingo,” ESPN Radio, 2/26).
