🏈 Florida president calls grayshirting and oversigning morally reprehensible

[BAMANEWSBOT]

Now what are Bernie Machen and SEC presidents going to do about it?

Read More Here...

 

[TerryP]

Pot, this is kettle.

16 verbals this year...but, expect more.

2010 ~ 27 signed and that's the same as 2007.

You go over the last four years...they've got more than 85.

 

[psychojoe]

Oversimplifications make good headlines. What about the kid who is borderline academically and doesn't make it, or the one with the mysteriously undiscovered defect (found at the last minute) which makes a player the school had counted on unavailable.

The athletic scholarships are by rule only one year scholarships, yet few schools are so blatant as to dump a player simply because he did not measure up, when by this rule they could.

The medical issue keeps coming up. I suppose there could be a school with an unscrupulous medical team which refuses to medically clear those players whose productivity is deemed deficient, but I haven't really seen examples of this.

I am much more concerned with practices such as those by Iowa in their off season program which ended up having a number of players hospitalized, some with possible permanent kidney damage.

 

[planomateo]

maybe he should have a made a little sisters of the poor comment too.

 

[foshman]

I have to believe this guy is starting to bow to political pressure, which is how things usually get done. Florida is certainly not innocent of these acts. I think the sign of the times is that oversigning and grayshirting is about to be phased out and the kids psychojoe mentioned that are borderline academically eligible will be screwed, and the NCAA won't care because they aren't "NCAA material."

Outside of SEC country most people will tell you that the SEC wins because they sign more players than everyone else. I'm not sure that's true, although I am sure it's an advantage. As Tuberville said though, no one makes the Big Ten restrict themselves.

I did read something about the SEC sponsoring a resolution to change procedures on mid year scholarships and the like so that players who leave school early or are given medical hardships can be replaced differently (easier, I think.)

Of course maybe this guy really is morally against the practices and is just now speaking out. I don't know.

I think they should just make the recruits be accepted academically into the institution before tendering them a scholarship. Either that or just pay them modestly, give them an easy degree in "Sports Performance" and keep the gravy train rolling.

 

[LBS]

Urban Meyers averged 5 arrests a year, and their president wants to preach of right and wrong?!?

 

[JoshB]

grayshirting is "reprehensible" but your players being constantly arrested and getting nothing more than a slap on the wrist isnt?

 

[TerryP]

I have to believe this guy is starting to bow to political pressure, which is how things usually get done. Florida is certainly not innocent of these acts. I think the sign of the times is that oversigning and grayshirting is about to be phased out and the kids psychojoe mentioned that are borderline academically eligible will be screwed, and the NCAA won't care because they aren't "NCAA material."

Outside of SEC country most people will tell you that the SEC wins because they sign more players than everyone else. I'm not sure that's true, although I am sure it's an advantage. As Tuberville said though, no one makes the Big Ten restrict themselves.

I did read something about the SEC sponsoring a resolution to change procedures on mid year scholarships and the like so that players who leave school early or are given medical hardships can be replaced differently (easier, I think.)

Of course maybe this guy really is morally against the practices and is just now speaking out. I don't know.

I think they should just make the recruits be accepted academically into the institution before tendering them a scholarship. Either that or just pay them modestly, give them an easy degree in "Sports Performance" and keep the gravy train rolling.

I'm sensing you have a beef with the way the Clearinghouse works...as do I.

 

[foshman]

I'm sensing you have a beef with the way the Clearinghouse works...as do I.

I have a lot of ethical problems with college athletics and recruiting in general. Most of them can be boiled down to the fact that I believe the kids are held more accountable than the coaches, universities, and conferences are.

 

[TerryP]

I have a lot of ethical problems with college athletics and recruiting in general. Most of them can be boiled down to the fact that I believe the kids are held more accountable than the coaches, universities, and conferences are.

This could develop into a conversation all by itself.

I'll just bring up one word from your post and let's see where it goes.

Accountable.

One of the reasons I lost a lot of respect for Tubs was his stance on early evals with recruits. It goes back to that thread where I said he was wanting to be the "Mack Brown of the SEC."

I think we might have one of those proverbial "six of one, half a dozen of another" views on how the coaches (as one example) are less accountable than the kids. Look at Richt. Meyer. Hell, think of the Fulmer Cup standings we see year in and year out. In a sense, coaches are being held as much responsible for the actions of kids as the kids are. In public perspective, to a greater extent.

In the next couple of days...I'd love to hear your take on how conferences are dealing with ethical situations. Honestly, my first thought runs to Cam. Think Slive didn't think $ on this one?

 

[TheChief]

The coaches get paid millions. They ought to be held to a higher standard than some eighteen-year-old, wet behind the ears kid.

 

[foshman]

This could develop into a conversation all by itself.


In the next couple of days...I'd love to hear your take on how conferences are dealing with ethical situations. Honestly, my first thought runs to Cam. Think Slive didn't think $ on this one?

We could probably start an entirely new board on this topic.

Coaches are grown men who ultimately make the decisions about who joins the program. Players are teenagers, and who among us didn't do a few stupid things in college? For athletes the "cult of personality" that surrounds them and the relatively weak accountability that surrounds their off field lives, when compared to many of their non star athlete piers, leads to some bad decisions. I'm not sure coaches should be blamed for DUI's, PI's, and things of that nature occurring. They should absolutely be held accountable for how they handle those situations. Terry Bowden, Urban Meyer, Mike Shula (if memory serves,) all had major off field issues repeat themselves over time. Richt is heading down that road now. I believe 1 or 2 DUI's a year is 1 or 2 poor decisions by college students. 7-10 over 2-3 years is an institutional issue.

As for Slive and Newton, I hate that the system is this way but I believe the system is this way. Slive is employed by the Universities in the SEC to maximize their profit from sports. Period. He would have been negligent had he done anything other than protect the interests of the conference. He has no official responsibilities to the students or individuals in the conference.

As for the specifics surrounding Newton I have it on fairly good authority, at least from an independent person who was in the know that I trust, that the NCAA simply found no evidence that money changed hands or that Cam was aware of what went on. It's not always what you know, it's what you can prove. The burden of proof is on the NCAA and they were unable to meet that burden of proof enough to justify taking action. To do so anyway would have been wrong. Had they found proof, I have no doubt Slive would have taken action to protect the conference by forcing a resolution before the SECCG. To do otherwise he would have been negligent.