I don’t get you, NCAA. I really don’t.

On one hand, you ponder the possibility of deregulating recruiting, generating an environment in which engaging with recruits becomes a chaotic free for all.

On the other, you want to enforce strict guidelines around the types of logos that are permissible on the playing fields of member institutions, thus limiting their revenue opportunities.

So what’s your motive, NCAA? My hunch is you don’t know, but here’s the overall message it sends:

When it comes to money, you’re more than willing to flex your muscle. But when it comes to enforcing rules that establish an environment of fairness, your level of interest is beginning to wane.

If the NCAA ever presses forward with the idea of deregulating recruiting, you can score another huge win for the power conferences. The rule would enable their member schools to inflate their football coaching staffs with hired hands who focus solely on engaging with recruits.

Imagine a system in which Alabama and Oregon hire an army of talent scouts and salesmen who do nothing but evaluate and entertain recruits. That’s essentially what could occur at most athletics programs that possess the budget to fund it.

That would include schools from the major conferences that have had automatic access to the BCS bowls in the past. Schools like East Carolina will be simply unable to keep up.

What’s more, the NCAA’s restrictions around logos on playing fields places limitations on schools seeking creative ways to compensate for financial shortfalls.

If it seems like the NCAA caters to the demands of the power football conferences, it does. The last thing it wants is for those leagues to break away and form their own governing body.

Playoff will widen gap

The general thinking around the establishment of a college football playoff is that this is a major win for the sport’s fans. That, of course, depends on which fans are being considered.

If it’s the fans of schools from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, and SEC, then you can score a playoff as a major victory. Each league is likely to have regular representation in the playoff, and the financial returns will far exceed today’s Bowl Championship Series.

But if you’re a fan of a school from one of the remaining FBS leagues, the benefits are few and far between. That’s because your school is unlikely to ever make an appearance in the playoff as it is currently designed.

Whatever formula the selection committee uses to determine a playoff’s participants will certainly prove more favorable to the power conferences. And as long as college football’s postseason is controlled by five conferences — not the NCAA — that will remain the case.

The end result will be a wider financial gap between the Big Five and the other conferences. That will be paralleled by a growing competitive gap as well.

ECU must respond

If East Carolina has any chance of ever making it to one of college football’s new Access Bowls, it must follow the proven path to get there: Lighten the non-conference scheduling load, relax academic standards, and open the doors to more junior college and major college transfers.

That’s the model on which the Boise State program is essentially built, and it’s one new Pirates AD Jeff Compher must seriously consider if he wants ECU to elevate its football profile.

There is no doubt it would be taking a significant risk. But with the new college football playoff and the inflated television contracts of the power conferences, the challenge will be even greater moving forward.

ECU isn’t going to elevate its competitive status without taking a few calculated risks.