UConn AD on NCAA: “It’s a double standard”

The ongoing scandal over at the Flagship is now getting reaction from its peer institutions.

Michael Rosenberg, SI.com:

In a class called How To Embarrass Your School Without Getting In Trouble With the NCAA, I give the North Carolina Tar Heels an A-plus. And they don’t even have to write a paper.

The NCAA looked at the UNC scandal and announced that, as in one of the fake UNC classes, there was nothing to see here. No NCAA rules were violated. Of course, Penn State didn’t violate any NCAA rules either, but that is what we call a “technicality,” Sorry you have to spend the next decade in the wilderness, Penn State. Bring a blanket and a Thermos.

I don’t know how the NCAA can justify this. I don’t understand why Penn State has to spend four years in the NCAA’s intensive-care-unit for the abhorrent actions of a few former employees, while North Carolina gets a pass for its rampant academic fraud.

I don’t know what the NCAA can say to Penn State now. But I really don’t know what the NCAA says to Connecticut.

You remember Connecticut, don’t you? The Huskies are ineligible for the 2013 NCAA tournament because poor academic scores.

UConn athletic director Warde Manuel said he was not intimately familiar with the details of the UNC scandal, but that he found it “odd” the NCAA would punish Connecticut severely and not punish North Carolina at all. Manuel called it a “double standard.”

The NCAA just made it clear: The Huskies should have cheated. UConn should have given all its players a phony A. Then the NCAA would say, “No violations here!” Instead, UConn was honest about its academic failures, and the NCAA banned the Huskies. Tell me again about those “life lessons” the NCAA wants to teach.

Hartford Courant:

Here’s the message: If you do poorly honestly, you’re out.

If you fake it, you’re in.

“And the NCAA wonders why it’s a laughingstock?” ESPN college analyst Jay Bilas tweeted. “Cue NCAA Prez to lecture on integrity …”

UConn athletic director Warde Manuel didn’t have anything to do with the poor academic performance by the UConn basketball team, either. That happened long before he arrived. He has worked on NCAA committees for years. He has been part of the NCAA establishment. He only walked into UConn’s dark hour.

Don’t his words count for something?

“It is a double standard,” Manuel said Tuesday, a few days after he said those four words to Sports Illustrated. But then Manuel said plenty more and when he was done, he chuckled and said, “Now I’m in trouble.”

Not with the school president and certainly not with the state’s fan base. After harshly criticizing UConn and Jim Calhoun for academic problems, I don’t believe I’m being a homer here when I ask, “What in Tar-nation is going on?” Isn’t the new UConn AD, the big man from Michigan, allowed to stand up and ask what the hell is going on here?

“I don’t know all the intricacies of the North Carolina case at this point,” Manuel said. “But for the NCAA to say there is nothing for them to do with this case does appear that there is a double standard in the way they dole out punishment for lack of academic success and supposed cheating.

“If that’s what they are saying, we need to look at the rulebook. We need to determine what we should have in that rulebook that relates to academic fraud at institutions and the NCAA’s ability to hand out punishment.”

Honesty is the best policy. Don’t be a fool. Stay to school. … Evidently those words are not among the 500 or so pages in the NCAA rulebook. Cautionary note: If you do decide to add those words, Mr. Emmert, credit me. I worked hard to get an A-plus in one of those phony Carolina classes coining those terms. OK, I lied. I didn’t really coin those terms. That should clear me to cover the NCAA Tournament in March.

Make sure you check out the SFN Forums for a variety of ongoing discussions, including this Saturday’s important road game against UConn.

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UNC Scandal

25 Responses to UConn AD on NCAA: “It’s a double standard”

  1. Texpack 09/05/2012 at 8:53 AM #

    This is the only punishment the folks at UNC-CH will have to suffer over their organized system of fraud. Nobody I know here in Texas who has read about the fraud patrol understands why the NCAA hasn’t blasted them.

  2. Rick 09/05/2012 at 9:02 AM #

    The NCAA has made it obvious. Set up fake classes and degrees to keep your players eligible because if you do not and their grades are low you will be punished.

    And for pete’s sake, never EVER let them sell shoes

  3. TheCOWDOG 09/05/2012 at 9:26 AM #

    Call me naive ( you may, but it won’t work ), but the NCAA is not finished here.

    Too many guns being jumped. Let the SBI, and whatever Martin’s band is up to, finish. Then we’ll see where we’re at.

    If there is anything to read from that NCAA Email response, I believe that’s exactly the tact that they are taking.

  4. Wufpacker 09/05/2012 at 9:40 AM #

    Logically, I don’t really see how the NCAA can ignore it. Especially if the “review” turns up more evidence that it’s been systematic and long term (pre-2007 or longer). Ignoring it only gives implied consent for other schools and pretty soon they have an even bigger steaming pile to deal with.

    The realist in me, however, will believe it when I see it.

  5. HPWolf 09/05/2012 at 9:53 AM #

    I gotta agree with Cowdog. This isn’t over. We have to give the other investigations time to be completed. The NCAA is under the microscope on this one and if they don’t penalize the holes on this they will have a very hard time in the future enforcing any academic fraud by any member school. By not enforcing the rules on UNCheat the NCAA is giving the blueprints on how to cheat and not be punished.

  6. YogiNC 09/05/2012 at 10:16 AM #

    I still think Swof should be fired. He hasn’t even come close to commenting and HE KNOWS it’s a problem because he was PART of the problem.

  7. packof81 09/05/2012 at 10:45 AM #

    I’m glad to see UConn making some noise about this. I hope other schools that have been penalized by the NCAA will weigh in.

  8. highstick 09/05/2012 at 11:04 AM #

    Guess I’m also one(and seems like a minority at times) that have trouble believing that the NCAA has finished or said it’s last words. If so, they are signing their own death warrant and anarchy will rule..

  9. Wufpacker 09/05/2012 at 11:05 AM #

    “[Swofford] hasn’t even come close to commenting and HE KNOWS it’s a problem because he was PART of the problem.”

    This is kinda my thing as well, Yogi. I actually have the basic construction finished of a rather long write up with timelines, etc. and what the various revelations (and the timing thereof) may imply for Mr. Swofford.

    I haven’t posted it to this point because it’s still mostly innuendo, which makes it tedious at best to write about. Constant disclaimers tend to screw up the flow of anything and reduce it to a bunch of incongruent rumors. To go further right now could invite cries of libel/slander.

    But give it time. 🙂

  10. hellfishtat 09/05/2012 at 12:20 PM #

    Take 5 minutes out of your day and write the Govenor and/or members of the UNC Board of Govenors. I did…

    http://www.northcarolina.edu/bog/members.htm

    Don’t be confrontational, be NICE. And make sure you word it so you don’t feel like a disgruntled State Fan (I know that will be harder on some of you), but try.

    Here what I wrote…

    Dear _____,

    I am probably one of the many that have written you about this that feels that College Athletics as a whole is completely out of control. Every time I see an article like Michael Rosenberg’s in this month’s Sports Illustrated I am sickened.

    I feel that way because I grew up in North Carolina, and I proud of what our State and our Schools stood for and the great achievements they have made in making our State and the Country better. I do not wish for the State to spend any tax payer money trying to get to the bottom of what has happened in Chapel Hill, but I do implore you to use your Office and your connections to make sure whatever happened there is brought to the full light of day. That is the only way we will know that it will never happen again.

    Sincerely,

  11. Rick 09/05/2012 at 12:38 PM #

    Maybe it is not over but the NCAA already “investigated” this and found “nothing”. So they would have to admit they were wrong were they to admit their is wrongdoing now. I just do not see that happening. I could be (and hope I am) wrong though.

  12. Hungwolf 09/05/2012 at 12:45 PM #

    Well we as State Fans know you only in trouble with the BOG if you violate the “Spirit” of the law.

  13. wolfonthehill 09/05/2012 at 12:52 PM #

    This popped up as a “hit” on Google but won’t open now… seems to be more disbelief over the NCAA’s view of the situation..

    http://staugustine.com/sports/2012-09-05/ncaa-clearing-north-carolina-leaves-some-disbelief

    Edited – it opens now – looks like a reprint of a Dan Kane piece. I still like this quote…

    “If the intent of the no-show classes and independent studies were to keep athletes eligible, the university could face major sanctions that could potentially bring down championship banners for its men’s basketball team. The team won the NCAA tournament in 2005 and 2009.”

  14. DC_wolf 09/05/2012 at 1:33 PM #

    Nice job, SI. Thanks for calling a spade a spade; I might even buy this month’s issue.

    And The Hartford Courant, that may be some biased journalism, but you got to like the way they “call it like they see it” – too bad it’s not the NY Times…

    And thanks for the link wolfonthehill, looks like this story might be gaining some momentum around the country; maybe the beginning of a tempest in a teapot.

  15. PackFanInLA 09/05/2012 at 2:07 PM #

    Disagree. The state MUST spend taxpayer money to investigate this. Setting up what is in effect a fake diploma mill over the course of a decade or more amounts to MILLIONS of dollars in fraud. Do the math on it… the fully-loaded cost of a single class formed for dubious purposes likely costs the taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars – AND it denies legitimate students access to those resources, AND it denies tax-paying employers the transparency they need to make hiring decisions, AND it throws away the opportunity to challenge students to step up as a true student athlete and strive for excellence.

    If we don’t investigate the use of STATE and FEDERAL tax money to finance a fake program to CHEAT in athletics, then what are we going to investigate??

    Take some of those fat boys who raid stills in the hills and throw them at the smurfs.

    This UCONN guy should set up a “Department of NCAA Studies,” and hand out “A’s” to all his athletes just to poke them in the eyes.

  16. fullmoon1 09/05/2012 at 2:12 PM #

    I think penn state got what they deserved. Unfortunately unc* has not. At least not yet. I don’t see how the cheating over there can be ignored. I hope others speak out and call the NCAA to the carpet.

  17. tootallorder 09/05/2012 at 2:51 PM #

    fullmoon1 wrote:

    “I hope others speak out and call the NCAA to the carpet.”

    http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/feed/2012-08/firstand10/story/usc-scandal-braxton-miller-ohio-state-nick-saban-north-carolina-academic-scandal

    “The NCAA spent the last two years in Chapel Hill investigating North Carolina and failed to uncover the biggest academic fraud case in the history of the association. And then, to cover up its mess, the NCAA told North Carolina last week it won’t be punished for athletes taking no-show classes because—are you ready for this?—non-athletes could take the classes, too. ”

    “The NCAA made $32 million in profit in 2010, reinvesting it into “enhancing and elevating the college competitive experiences of student-athletes while maintaining a level playing field” to keep that tax-free status.”

    “Organizations lose their tax-exempt status when their mission—their foundation for gaining the status—doesn’t line up with the results.”

    “Hello, Mr. Emmert? IRS on line 1, sir. “

  18. bluelena69 09/05/2012 at 3:17 PM #

    Uconn hasn’t seen a double standard yet. Wait until they see life in the ACC

  19. TLeo 09/05/2012 at 3:35 PM #

    I just wonder why it too UConn so long to call out the ncaa and why more schools are still remaining quiet. Hello FSU, Ga Tech and others?????

  20. wilmwolf80 09/05/2012 at 6:24 PM #

    UConn better watch out, or Ol’ Johnny will have them on double secret probation before they ever even get to the ACC.

  21. fullmoon1 09/05/2012 at 6:51 PM #

    I just saw on twitter even the unc student paper called out the NCAA for not investigating.

  22. bill.onthebeach 09/05/2012 at 7:21 PM #

    …I am sure most all of us have a good deal of experience with “Brunswick Stew” and
    all that it entails….

    that said… here’s where I think we’re at on the UN*/Ncaa fiasco…

    “everything’s in the pot…. but it ain’t stew yet… it just needs time and a gentle stir…”

    In the meantime… we all can do what men do when they cook a stew… stand around… tell tales…enjoy each other’s company.

  23. Virginia Wolf 09/05/2012 at 7:39 PM #

    Did any of this occur after the NCAA investgated. Of coure we all know it continues even today. If it occured after the investigation, shouldn’t UNX get more probation. Ga. Tech got 4 years probabtion for something that occurred while they were on probation. BTW, saw that they changed the name of the AFAm dept. to “Africa, African/American Diaspora” over at the hole. I guess this is another deception!!!!

  24. Semper_WolfPack 09/05/2012 at 9:29 PM #

    This, along with most things in life, I’m still clinging to hope that someone will step up and do the right thing. I know we shouldn’t expect athletes to be chemical engineers and lawyers, but they should be expected to attend REAL classes, not have unauthorized grade changes, play while ineligible, etc. My main hope is that Carolina fans will recognize they are no better than anyone else, and “the Carolina Way” is a joke. I’m really tired of hearing, “we don’t need to cheat to win”. If not, then why are they?

  25. Wolfy__79 09/05/2012 at 10:21 PM #

    down with the ncaa

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