College Football Scandal, Again

In September of last year I blogged about Reggie Bush returning his Heismann Trophy amidst the scandal of him receiving impermissible benefits which was in violation of an NCAA rule. My point then was that these would be NFL professionals should know the rules and strictly follow it. Not only does it make sure that your name, school and championship is not tainted by any scandal but it sets what you can be in the future. There will be monetary benefits as well as fame and these things can easily corrupt a young man. And if they are not guided properly this practice that may have started in college may go on in their professional life.

Last December NCAA suspended Ohio State quarterback Terelle Pryor and four others for the first games of the 2011 season and suspended one other for one game. They violated the NCAA rule that states they cannot sell memorabilia such as jerseys, championship rings, and trophies while they are still in school. The rule against selling sports gear while playing NCAA is quite new since it has just been added after players from the University of Georgia were caught selling a jersey and some championship rings on eBay in 2003. Again, these football players are flouting rules even when they are just in college. Can you imagine what they might be doing once they have the fame, the endorsements, the money and the women?

What was worse about this is the fact that Ohio State coach Jim Tressel found out about it in April from an email that was sent to him but never reported it. He was suspended for two games and was fined $250,000 but NCAA is still investigating the matter and might impose steeper sanctions against Tressel. Coach Tressel was publicly reprimanded and apologized Tuesday night, saying he had let some people down. And I have to add that he not only let down the people of Ohio but more importantly his players because he had a wrong idea of protection. He did not report because he was protecting his kids knowing they would be taken out of the game. The point is these players know that there is a rule against selling sports gear like championship rings, uniform pieces, “gold pants” charms, and awards but still they did it. Then they should be accountable for what they did. Not doing anything about them breaking the rule or any wrong doing is sending other people, especially kids, the wrong message. It would seem that it is but right to keep quiet about broken rules so that they would not be punished.

The NCAA is increasing their enforcement and a lot are getting caught by it and thus there has been a deluge of scandals over the past year. There have been criticisms over some of their decisions but players and coaches alike are starting to realize that NCAA does have an idea of what’s going on and they have better ways of getting information these days.

Reggie Bush Returns his Heisman Trophy

Reginald Alfred "Reggie" Bush II returns his Heisman Trophy amidst the scandal. And so for the year 2005 there will be no Heisman Trophy winner.

The Heisman Trophy is awarded to the most outstanding college football player whose performance best exhibits the pursuit of excellence with integrity no matter what sportswear uniform you wear. In 2005, it was awarded to Reggie Bush of USC Trojans but the scandal that tinted his award and has left USC heavily penalized. In fact due to the violation (inadvertently according to Bush) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) caused the USC Trojans a lot including “a two-year ban on post-season games, placed on four years of probation, lost 30 scholarships, and were forced to forfeit their 2004-05 victories.” And then USC decided to return the school’s trophy and though the Heisman Trust have said they have not made a decision yet to strip Bush of his trophy, it was returned back to them by Bush himself.

The scandal started with the NCAA’s investigation on what they believed as Bush rules violations of when he was a Trojan football scholar. According to the 4 year investigation made by NCAA investigators, Bush received impermissible benefits, meaning cash and gifts as well as picking up the tab for tens of thousands of dollars worth of housing for him and his family by 2 sports marketing companies.

Bush returning his Heisman Trophy only removes the trophy and leaves the position vacant. He may have violated the rules but we cannot discount that in 2005 he was still the most outstanding college football player. Not that I am saying it’s okay to cheat. But his being given impermissible benefits certainly disqualifies him from the award but does not take anything out of his playing ability as a running back. Even the runner up Vince Young is not willing to accept the award if ever because he also believes that Reggie Bush is still the Heisman awardee and Bush is still the 2005 best college football player.

Let us just take the lessons that can be learned from this which is know the rules first and strictly follow it in order that your winning is not tainted by any scandal. And I am not just talking about college football but in everything that you do. And if there is one opinion that I see quite fit for this is what Los Angeles Times put very concisely:

What schools can and should do is make it abundantly clear to athletes, coaches and athletic directors that sports take a back seat to studies.

Because of the monetary benefits as well as fame that these young sportsmen are getting, many are easily corrupted and forget why you really went to college and that was to finish your education.