NCAA needs to sort out priorities

[zoogs]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/andy_staples/08/05/ncaa-priorities/index.html

Interesting read here.

At Boise State, football coaches have yet to call to offer condolences to the family of a recruit who died in a July 18 car accident out of fear that they might run afoul of NCAA rules that regulate contact between coaches and prospective student-athletes. To the NCAA, a player's status as a prospective student-athlete apparently extends into the afterlife.

What do you think? I think that's BS from Boise State, not the NCAA. Call him and offer condolences, screw the rules. He died in a car accident! If I'm a Boise State coach, I don't even think about what the NCAA rulebook says, it doesn't even cross my mind, because a young man whose family I recruited and spoke to just died. I call them.

This particular bit is not on the NCAA. It's the Boise coaches that need to set their priorities straight.

NCAA spokesman Erik Christianson wrote in an e-mail to SI.com that Boise State contacted the NCAA compliance department on July 20 and was told the school could seek a waiver that would have allowed coaches to call Smith's parents or attend Smith's funeral. The waiver, Christianson wrote, "would have been granted immediately."

That's great, but it's still fairly appalling that a school would need a waiver in the first place. What possible recruiting advantage could be gained from a coach offering condolences or paying respects at a funeral?

^ It's stupid that this is in place. But it's even more stupid IMO that the coaches are more worried about following the rules in a case like this.

 

[Foppa]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/andy_staples/08/05/ncaa-priorities/index.html

Interesting read here.

At Boise State, football coaches have yet to call to offer condolences to the family of a recruit who died in a July 18 car accident out of fear that they might run afoul of NCAA rules that regulate contact between coaches and prospective student-athletes. To the NCAA, a player's status as a prospective student-athlete apparently extends into the afterlife.

What do you think? I think that's BS from Boise State, not the NCAA. Call him and offer condolences, screw the rules. He died in a car accident! If I'm a Boise State coach, I don't even think about what the NCAA rulebook says, it doesn't even cross my mind, because a young man whose family I recruited and spoke to just died. I call them.

This particular bit is not on the NCAA. It's the Boise coaches that need to set their priorities straight.

NCAA spokesman Erik Christianson wrote in an e-mail to SI.com that Boise State contacted the NCAA compliance department on July 20 and was told the school could seek a waiver that would have allowed coaches to call Smith's parents or attend Smith's funeral. The waiver, Christianson wrote, "would have been granted immediately."

That's great, but it's still fairly appalling that a school would need a waiver in the first place. What possible recruiting advantage could be gained from a coach offering condolences or paying respects at a funeral?

^ It's stupid that this is in place. But it's even more stupid IMO that the coaches are more worried about following the rules in a case like this.

That's probably true...I mean, if the NCAA did come down on Boise for this, the NCAA would be the most hated sports organization in the U.S. I can't fault the BSU officials for staying in the guidelines, but if they really wanted to bring attention to this, they would've done the right thing for their former recruit's family and dared the NCAA to look like heartless bastards.