University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
First off, I want to be clear - in no way is accademic fraud as bad as a child sex abuse scandal - that being said there should have been some kind of punishment for UNC's transgressions.
Dan Kane, News Observer --- The NCAA’s position that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has done nothing wrong by offering bogus classes that helped athletes maintain their eligibility has spurred a wave of skepticism from national sportswriters and others who follow college sports.Again, I want to be clear, while child rape and abuse for 15+ years is much worse than academic fraud - in anyone's universe; because in the end the fact that PSU athletic department knew about Jerry Sandusky and and covered up the crimes of Sandusky is not acceptable and inexcusable and I have no problem with how the NCAA treated Penn State University. I honestly don't know, if you can punish the PSU football team enough to make things right - they are going to be cleaning up Sandusky's mess for a very long time.
“The NCAA concludes no violations in UNC academic scandal,” tweeted Stewart Mandel, a college football writer for Sports Illustrated’s website. “This actually happened.”
Several said the announcement last Friday has given universities looking to gain the advantage in the big-money sports of football and basketball a license to bend the rules.
Bruce Feldman, a college football columnist for CBSSports.com, said in a blog post the announcement shows that the “NCAA MAKES IT UP AS IT GOES ALONG. The NCAA finds pretty much whatever it wants to find ... or not find.”
Jay Bilas, ESPN analyst and former Duke basketball player, said on Twitter: “And the NCAA wonders why it’s a laughingstock? Cue NCAA Prez to lecture on integrity, and who’s ‘in charge.’ ”
Neither UNC-CH officials nor the NCAA offered an explanation for the determination. UNC-CH officials announced the news Friday morning ahead of a holiday weekend. The NCAA did not issue a statement, but provided a brief confirmation of UNC’s announcement later in the day.
That being said, the NCAA also set a precedence by letting big basketball/football programs let players that shouldn't have been eligible continue to compete on the playing field. By letting one college fudge academic records to keep a player eligible has set a precedence for other schools that might be entertaining this idea and this is also not acceptable.
If any thing the next school that get's caught cheating and doing the same thing should immediately stand up and say hey, you let UNC get away with it and if they are sanctioned the NCAA will open itself up for a lawsuit in my opinion. I was also wondering how long before something like this happen - you knew the NCAA would return to it's hypocrisy of not treating all institutions of higher living the same way. We should know by now that the big schools in many instances are allowed to skate while other smaller schools feel the full brunt of the NCAA.
Column: After UNC ruling, what does NCAA tell Penn State? Or UConn? m.si.com/news/wr/wr/det…
— Michael Rosenberg (@Rosenberg_Mike) August 31, 2012
And NCAA wonders why it's a laughingstock?:bit.ly/O1bzUF Cue NCAA Prez to lecture on integrity, and who's "in charge."
— Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) August 31, 2012