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SEC example proves money no cure-all
From The Associated Press with staff contributions
[ Originally posted 05.30.03. ]
DESTIN, Fla. While television markets and
cash-distribution formulas are at the epicenter of the Atlantic Coast
Conference's move to expand to 12 schools, the experience of a powerful
neighboring conference indicates that stacks of money do not necessarily
equate to smooth sailing.
The Southeastern Conference will distribute more than $100
million in revenues this year, yet another gaudy reflection of the strength
of the nation's richest league.
Then there are the facts and figures nobody at this week's
annual conference meetings wants to discuss.
Three of the SEC's 12 schools have football teams on
probation. Six more have had football or men's basketball teams under NCAA
investigation in the past 24 months.
In addition, Alabama is reeling from an embarrassing
coaching scandal, and when the Crimson Tide failed to hire a black coach,
Jesse Jackson called the conference a bastion for racists.
"I know we've got our issues and our problems," LSU football
coach Nick Saban said. "But I think we're trying to correct these things as
quickly as possible."
The man trying to make the fixes is new commissioner Mike
Slive. Soon after he took over for Roy Kramer last July, the former
commissioner of Conference USA issued a bold some said unrealistic
challenge: In five years, he wants every school in the SEC off probation.
He reiterated that point earlier this week to football
coaches, and he seems to have sold everyone on the idea, no matter how
farfetched it may seem.
"I started saying that a little earlier and I haven't really
wavered from that at this point," Slive said. "I really believe we can get
there."
Cleaning up this mess won't be easy. Academic fraud,
overzealous boosters, recruiting violations and corner-cutting coaches have
resulted in probations and investigations from Knoxville to Starkville. It's
a daunting task to keep tabs on it all.
"You educate, audit, double-check and keep your fingers
crossed," said Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley, an assistant in the
1980s when the Gators were on probation. "We've learned some painful
lessons. We know it could happen again tomorrow. All it takes is for one
person to step out of line."
Most painful? When that single person is someone inside the
program who should have intricate knowledge of what's right and wrong in the
voluminous NCAA rulebook.
Georgia officials recently sent a letter to the NCAA stating
assistant basketball coach Jim Harrick Jr. was solely responsible for
academic fraud that left two players ineligible and compelled the Bulldogs
to withdraw from the NCAA tournament last season.
Harrick Jr. was fired in March and his father, Jim Harrick,
resigned as head coach shortly after.
Since then, nine football players have been declared
ineligible for violating NCAA rules by selling their SEC championship rings.
"You have to take care of yourself first, but the way I look
at it, whenever anyone's in trouble, it's not good for the league," Florida
basketball coach Billy Donovan said.
University presidents still are tinkering with the idea of
an oversight committee to help schools deal with athletics compliance. The
Pac-10 has a similar system, but Slive said he is against giving the
committee the ability to impose sanctions.
It was a popular idea among SEC presidents last year. But
Kramer and others opposed it, saying it could put schools in double jeopardy
for the same violations forcing them to face sanctions from both the
conference and the NCAA.
The SEC's most-recent problems don't end with the NCAA.
When Alabama fired coach Mike Price after his reported
hijinx at a topless club in Pensacola, its decision to replace him with a
white lifetime assistant, Mike Shula, instead of a black assistant with more
experience, Sylvester Croom, gave Jackson ammunition. In 70 years of
football, the SEC has never had a black head coach.
"The SEC maintains a culture of excluding blacks beyond the
playing field," Jackson said earlier this month.
Slive said he had "confidence" that Alabama made a
responsible decision.
Of course, problems regarding race and the NCAA don't mask
the fact the SEC is in good fiscal health.
During a time when the Big East is faced with possible
extinction, the SEC is stable. The 12 conference teams share more than $100
million in revenue. That's about $15 million more than the next-richest
conference, the Big 12. The figure is even more staggering considering it
was at just $16.3 million in 1990.
But clearly, the SEC has problems to fix, lest it become
permanently tainted as a conference full of cheaters.
"My main concern is Auburn," Tigers athletic director David
Housel said. "But people know what's going on around the league. This is a
conference, and when another team has a problem, obviously, it affects us
all."
Copyright 2003
The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Bonesville.net contributed
to this report. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
02/23/2007 10:36:33 AM
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