When I found out I would be writing a weekly sports column last May, I figured I had better start thinking of topics for the fall. One of the issues I hoped to explore was that of NCAA rules violations and probation, after news of Oklahoma basketball coach Kelvin Sampson's transgressions broke this past summer. I hadn't quite found the right time to talk about the story, but with the NFL playoffs and Super Bowl past -- and the other major sports in the middle of regular seasons -- now seems about as good as any time as the sports world takes a collective breath until March Madness (which should include the Wahoos thanks to their recent tear).
Another reason to address NCAA rules violations now is the fact that the Reggie Bush controversy recently had a new wrinkle thrown into it. You may recall that after the Heisman Trophy winner left for the NFL last year, there were reports that members of Bush's family had been given a deal on rent on a home, and later, that Bush had accepted more than $100,000 in gifts from a booster. Yahoo! Sports broke both stories and stated Jan. 24 it had taped evidence to support its claims.
My initial thoughts are more skepticism than anything else. For one, why is Yahoo! Sports the only source making these reports, and when exactly did someone tape-record conversations with Reggie Bush? Past that, however, there are major implications as to the future of the USC football program if any of the allegations do turn out to be true in the Reggie Bush case.
Moving back to the Kelvin Sampson story, Oklahoma's coaching staff was cited for making over 570 illegal phone calls (about half made by Sampson himself) either outside of allowed time frames, or to prospects who were not old enough to receive calls, according to the investigation. The NCAA ruled that Sampson, who had since signed a seven-year deal to take over at Indiana, could not call prospects for a year (a ban that ends in May) and could not receive any contract extension or bonuses within the year.
Oklahoma had to impose sanctions on its program and ended up cutting three scholarships over two years, but this punishment did not carry over with Sampson to Indiana. So essentially, Sampson cannot leave campus to recruit, but can talk to prospects when they visit Indiana. He can write to, e-mail and text message prospects and accept calls they make, but cannot call them. He can't renegotiate his contract or receive any bonuses within his first year (but that rarely happens in the first year of a new deal anyway).
If you ask me, that seems like a pretty easy "punishment," especially because Indiana didn't lose any scholarships in the process and Sampson still possesses many ways to contact prospects. Illegal phone calls are not exactly Murder One in the hierarchy of NCAA violations, but over 500 of them shows a blatant disregard for the rules, possibly because there isn't a real threat of reprimand.
Sampson comes out of this investigation relatively unscathed with his program not on probation, while Oklahoma's new regime suffers for crimes it did not commit. A stiffer punishment should have been dealt to Sampson at Indiana, if for no other reason than to show coaches that they cannot break the rules and then jump ship to coach another program to dodge the NCAA's wrath.
It is hard to say that USC should go unpunished if the Reggie Bush claims turn out to be true. Coaches would then be less inclined to monitor violations if it seems as though programs will go unpunished if the guilty players leave for the NFL.
On the other hand, college coaches should not be expected to hold their players' hands all hours of the day. If Bush took gifts from a marketing firm, he knew what he was doing was wrong and deserves to have his Heisman Trophy revoked. Still thinking hypothetically, maybe USC also deserves to have games retroactively forfeited and its national championship erased, but I'm not convinced that the program should be punished in the future as it tries to move forward from those setbacks.
Each year, there is a story of an individual committing a violation, and it is hard to reason why that person's program should be left hurt in the wake. I don't know the exact solution, but I do know that someone needs to take a closer look at this issue to ensure that in the future, the right people are punished.
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