As we know, college football is in the throes of a huge scandal at the University of Miami. It involves a major donor-felon admitting to providing recruits–some 72 in all–with all manner of illegal inducements–including hookers and cash payments. It obviously required a lot of folks to institutionally look the other way from 2002-10. Disingenuous, Nixon-era “plausible deniability” comes readily to mind. Miami President Donna Shalala shouldn’t skate on this one.
And not that Miami, which has courted a swagger-and-rogue reputation over the years, is some anomaly. No less than 10 universities–including household names such as Michigan, Auburn, Southern California, Ohio State, North Carolina, Georgia Tech and Tennessee–have been investigated or penalized by the NCAA in recent months. But it was institutionalized sleaze at Miami.
These, indeed, are foreboding, troubling times for college football just as a new season is set to kick off–with more hanging in the balance than ever before. It’s about credibility. But the reason it’s about credibility is because of money.
The implications of conference affiliations and network television deals are beyond daunting and dazzling. Billions are at stake. Ratings get equal billing with rankings. This is big, big business–alma maters, fight songs and tailgating notwithstanding.
Schools, who routinely pay head coaches seven-figure salaries, are under the gun to give their fan base, including influential boosters, a successful, high-profile team to support, donate to, brag on and even hang out with. At Miami, donor-felon Nevin Shapiro–a part-owner of a sports talent agency–even had a
student lounge named after him and twice led the team onto the field to start games. But he always brought his checkbook because he knew the pressure was continuously ramping up: to be in a prestigious conference, to be on TV, to win, to go to a bowl game–and to recruit accordingly.
Therein lies the problematic key. The pressure was ever mounting to land prized recruits. Whether they are legitimate “student-athletes” or whether they are the anemically academic who don’t belong on a university campus. Some will be impressed with the labs, the library and post-graduate networking opportunities. Most will want to prep for the pros–and many have likely felt a sense of entitlement since their hot-shot high school days.
So if a high-living, high-rolling booster can help woo blue-chip teenagers, so be it. Chances are, there are other Nevin Shapiros out there, just none who are currently convicts being debriefed by the feds for Ponzi-scheming. The ‘Canes of blind-sided, new coach Al Golden, who might be nostalgic for Temple right now, got caught. They might have been more unlucky than atypical. Third-party infiltrators, including agents and agent runners, lurk around many campuses.
In the aftermath of ShapiroGate, we’re seeing the usual furrowed brows and scratched chins by the NCAA and ESPN types on what to do about college football.
Here’s a suggestion. Forget about the pay-the-players (above room, board and scholarship) arguments. Too many scenarios–ranging from Title IX and non-revenue sports to the slippery slope of assessing relative player contributions–to factor in.
But tackle this first:
*Clean house of all the parasites. Giving ultimate access to talent scouts who write checks is pimping your school. It speaks volumes that a university needs to have that pointed out. But when they’re caught, hammer them hard, even SMU hard.
*Make everybody play by the same eligibility mandates. They can be tightened, of course, but the minimums have to be worthy of institutions of higher learning. No more pure mercenaries. Cross-country runners and golfers don’t have to be Dean’s List material, but they do have to be legitimate students. Don’t settle for scholastic-challenged Hessians on the gridiron.
Those who need remediation shouldn’t be on a college campus at this point in their life. That’s why there are community colleges–and middle schools. Let’s take the oxymoron out of “student-athlete.” And that includes–and, yes, I’ll say it–insulting, wink-and-nod minority set-asides. As if this were about diversity and not exploitation.
It would send a signal to all those neither blind nor inured to the hypocrisy inherent in too many big-time, big-pressure, big-budget programs.
And it might send a message to the Shapiroesque bottom feeders that this is no longer their kind of milieu.
Perhaps–depending on the NCAA punishment–this latest incident with Miami can yet become a cautionary tale of how a university devastated by a license-to-shill booster with consummate, insider access and an over-the-top recruiting culture regained its mission and reputation.
Otherwise, this won’t be the only reference to Hurricanes becoming Golden showers.