Scandals in College Football

There has been lots of news recently regarding scandals and improper behavior both at Ohio State and the University of Miami.  The issue at Ohio State regards the status of former quarterback Terrell Pryor in regards to the NFL Supplemental Draft, which had originally be scheduled for today, but has been postponed.  The postponement is most likely due to the NFL needing more time to consider Pryor's status.  He declared himself ineligbile to play college football in June, well after the regular NFL Draft in April.  According to NFL rules, a player is eligible for the supplemental draft if his collegiate eligibility changes between the regular draft and the time of the supplemental draft.  A variety of reasons can allow a player to become eligible for the supplemental draft such as conduct and academics.  However, there is debate as to whether or not Pryor's status actually changed. 



Pryor and Tressel
(from thesportsbank.net)

This who scenario stems from a scandal at Ohio State which forced not only Pryor but former head coach Jim Tressel to resign becuase of players receiving improper benefits from boosters, and Tressel knowing about it.  Originially, Pryor and seven other players were forced to sign a document promising that they would return for their senior seasons and serve a 5-game suspension at the start of the season.  This was in return for being able to play in the Sugar Bowl on January 4th.  This all occured before the January 15th deadline for underclassmen to declare themselves eligible for the NFL Draft.  The argument against Pryor is that his status did not change, but rather he has been ineligible since he was suspended.  Therefore, since there was not status change, Pryor declaring himself ineligible in June is meaningless. 

Ultimately, I feel like Pryor will be allowed to enter the supplemental draft, but I feel like he would be better off just waiting until April.  If he is drafted now in the supplemental draft, the best he probably would be able to do is a team spending a 6th or 7th round pick on him.  This is becuase he will have had virtually no chances (mostly because of the lockout) to impress teams.  He had scheduled a pro day for last Friday, with several teams planning on attending, but since there was no guarantee that he would be able to get into the supplemental draft, he cancelled that pro day.  This means that even if he does get a chance to work out in front of teams, he will have had a grand total of one chance to impress somebody.  If a team decides to take a chance on him, like I said, it would not be with anything higher than a late round pick.  If he decides to wait until April, yes he will miss out on a year of salary, but the payoff will be much better in my opinion.  He will have had an entire offseason to work out and impress coaches.  He will (most likely) attend the scouting combine and maybe even impress somebody enough to get up into the first half of the draft.  This rush to get drafted might send him the way of Mike Williams, who skipped school after his sophomore season at USC following Maurice Clarett (great role model...) into the NFL.  Williams is still in the league, but he's nothing more than a journeyman.  Pryor has a chance, especially at the quarterback position, to do some great things in pro football.  Wait until April. 

The other big news in college football today comes from the University of Miami, no stranger to the NCAA doghouse.  This latest issue deals with allegations from former booster Nevin Shapiro, who claims to have given improper benefits (including cash, trips, cars, VIP access to clubs, prostitutes, bounties, and even time on Shapiro's private yacht) to over 70 Miami football and basketball players during the last decade.  This includes several current NFL players who went to the U.  Now, Shapiro is currently serving 20 years in federal-pound-me-in-the-[expletive deleted] prison (ever seen Office Space?) for running a nearly $1 billion ponzi scheme.  I wonder where some of that $1 billion went...  In any event, Shapiro is naming names and the big debate right now is (assuming the allegations to be true) whether or not Miami will get the so-called "death penalty." 

For those of you who might not be totally familar with the NCAA "death penalty" concept, it has only been enforced one time in history: 1986 for SMU football.  It involves taking away the right of a school to play a certain sport.  In the 1980s, SMU was a football powerhouse, but for pretty much the entire decade of the 1980s, including after being banned from bowls and numerous probations, the NCAA cancelled their 1987 season after it had been revealed that several players had received improper benefits, including cash simply for signing a letter of intent with the school.  The repeated violations forced the NCAA to strip the university of football for that season, and SMU has never been the same since.  Several schools have come close to receiving the death penalty for numerous violations (including USC, Alabama, and even Maryland basketball in 1989), but SMU was the only confirmed instance when the death penalty was invoked. 



Jacory Harris has been implicated in the latest scandal
at the University of Miami (from deadspin.com)

Will Miami actually receive the death penalty for these allegations?  Hard to say.  It would be easier to say no if there were no current players implicated.  Unfortunately for the U, current quarterback Jacory Harris and other players have been implicated in the scandal (and one of the names dropped by Shapiro).  Since current players are involved, and since Miami is a repeat offender, the death penalty cannot be ruled out, especially considering the seriousness of the allegations.  Now, at the same time, the individual making the accusations is a convicted felon serving hard time.  How trustworthy is he?  However, what does he have to lose?  What incentive does he have to lie?  Shapiro claims to have all kinds of evidence backing up his claims.  All of this needs to be investigated thoroughly. 

All of this nonsense ultimately comes back to one very important question the answer to which we should know, but really do not.  What is the value of a college education.  These athletes going to school are receiving over a quarter of a million dollars worth of free education over a 4-year period.  There are kids who work their entire lives to pay off loans so that they can get the same education these kids are getting for absolutely free.  Where is the equity?  Now, we can talk about paying players all we want (that's another issue entirely), but the bottom line is that the kids who are receiving these athletic scholarships in the big money sports (football and basketball) are in essence abusing what they have been given.  Are the players entirely at fault?  They're not, bums like Nevin Shapiro and Ed Martin (from the fab 5 days at Michigan) are so bent out of shape to see "their team" win a national championship that they are not ashame of bending and breaking rules to make sure "their team" gets premier prep talent.  A national championhip in football is more important than an education that will be valuable for the rest of a person's life.  That's what this has come to, and it's a travesty.  As a teacher, I am a bit more sensitive to these kinds of issues than others might be, and don't get me wrong, I love college and pro football and I want to see my team win.  However, I understand that the vast majority of collegiate athletes on scholarship are aware that the eduation they are getting is really priceless, and I just wish that these so-called boosters would remind the players of that instead of giving them trips on a yacht. 

I'll be back later with the conclusion of our latest countdown featuring the top 10 running backs in NFL history.