OT(?): UNC tells NCAA to go away, says NCAA has no jurisdiction over its cheating

Submitted by superstringer on

Can't make this up.  UNC admits it had bogus classes that athletes took for good grades - an entire academic unit, in fact, was a sham.  BUT, UNC says, it's not an issue within the NCAA's authority to punish.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/17202668/north-ca…

Apparently, the cheating was so rampant, non-athletes benefitted too.  And nothing in the NCAA rulebook says classes can't be really lame.  So UNC argues, the NCAA can't punish UNC.

It's laughable.  Either that UNC has the iron ballz to say this... or, that they are right.  Either way, what a joke.

Sign of the times, I guess.

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gwkrlghl

August 2nd, 2016 at 8:32 PM ^

How long has this been out? Over a year? Surely they've had many conversations with their lawyers. I'm sure they wouldn't tell the NCAA to pound salt publically without being pretty darn sure they were gonna be ok This probably signals the end of any hope of UNC getting any real punishment which naturally will open the door wide open to other schools hosting sham classes for their worst performing student athletes. Rest assured, several schools who always dreamed of getting those top recruits are going to watch this very closely. If UNC escapes unharmed, they'll be firing up their own sham classes shortly

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Hemlock Philosopher

August 3rd, 2016 at 10:46 AM ^

Same with medicine. We've got all these damned auditors breathing down our necks all the time, which would be fine if medical errors wasn't still one of the leading causes of death. It's been 20 years since this issue was brought to light in the NEJM and all that has been done is making an already complex system more complex. 

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MGoRob

August 3rd, 2016 at 1:27 AM ^

I think you're right.  The should be removed from the AAU immediately.

AAU's mission:

"Membership in AAU is by invitation and is based on the high quality of programs of academic research and scholarship and undergraduate, graduate, and professional education in a number of fields, as well as general recognition that a university is outstanding by reason of the excellence of its research and education programs."

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MichiganTeacher

August 3rd, 2016 at 8:33 AM ^

Mobile right now but didn't they already get "punished" by the accreditation association? They were on probation for a year iirc. Ended this June. So they had to spend a few bucks and hours on extra meetings. It is probably worth it to them and only encourages similar future scenarios. Burn the NCAA down.

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Mr Miggle

August 3rd, 2016 at 8:48 AM ^

They could technically be open, but were created for athletes and only athletes were told they were a sham. How is that not a special benefit?

How open were those classes? Did other students only get in because they were friends of the athletes? Were a small number allowed in just to make that argument? That's what Kentucky does to make their luxury accomodations for basketball players legal.

 

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grumbler

August 3rd, 2016 at 7:11 AM ^

I truly believe that ignorant hyperbole should be mocked with further ignorant-sounding hyperbole.

The NCAA is the universities.  To suggest that we "blow it up" (and thus, intercollegiate sports) because it is "corrupt" is absurd.  The NCAA isn't some group of aliens imposing themselves on upper-level intercollegiate sports, it is the universities sponsoring those sports.

It makes ssense to complain about the specific rulings that the universiies collectively make, but it is absurd to call for us to "blow up" intercollegiate sports because of rulings we don't like.

The bowl system you can fel free to blow up.  That's the corrupt outside system imposed on colleges.

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Mr Miggle

August 3rd, 2016 at 9:05 AM ^

The NCAA acted there because the member schools got involved. The Big Ten played a big role in that. Punishing Penn State was not a decision made by NCAA employees. This won't be either. If UNC wants to claim they can do as they please with regard to the education of their athletes, that's too big of an issue for the NCAA enforcement people. That's something other schools will weigh in on.

It's an interesting approach by UNC. They are hoping other schools will hold their noses rather than risk having their own academic shortcuts subject to penalty.They probably have reason to think it will work, but it's an all or nothing gamble. If university presidents step in and force the NCAA to act, the penalties will not be light. I wonder if they haven't underestimated the risk. I can just imagine our administration and others talking about what other schools will feel entitled to do. It flies in the face of the direction they have been steadily moving in raising the academic requirements for athletes.

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carolina blue

August 2nd, 2016 at 7:55 PM ^

Seems pretty easy to me. Athletes took "classes" that literally did not exist in any true sense of the meaning. The fact that non athletes also benefited is irrelevant. I understand that unc is trying to argue that there's no requirement that classes be worth anything, but I'm guessing there's something in the rules that states that the class must actually exist. Regardless, they should get the death penalty. It's ridiculous. I'm not exaggerating when I say they should get the death penalty. If the NCAA truly means the kids are students first, there is no better way to show that than right here.



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theyellowdart

August 2nd, 2016 at 8:33 PM ^

Unfortuantely, the fact that non-athlete students also benefited is actually releveant.

Now, I don't know all the rules inside and out, and I don't doubt that NC probably is still going to be guilty of an infraction that the NCAA can act on.  But if non-athlete students were also allowed to take and benefit from these BS classes, then it's not showing favoritisim towards athletes or giving athletes an advantage that other students at the school don't have.  That's actually a really big deal when it comes to the NCAA.


I also think that giving NC the death penalty doesn't show anything about how the NCAA is truly kids first... in fact you're really screwing over most of the kids that are there.    You'll also never see the NCAA hand out the death penalty ever again.

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grumbler

August 3rd, 2016 at 12:17 PM ^

You are correct.  The NCAA governs athletics, not academics.  If a course is available to all students, it isn't the NCAA's job to decide whether or not the course is "ridiculous."  UTSA (undergrad ranking 642) probably has 50 freshman courses easier than the joke UNC course.  Do we propose to give UTSA the death penalty?

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