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NCAA To Miami: Hey, We Know Lack of Institutional Control When We See It

Just a day after their report discussing their missteps in the Miami investigation came out, the NCAA served the school with its Notice of Allegations, citing the dreaded "lack of institutional control".

By Dan Vecellio

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Brian Spurlock-US PRESSWIRE

Mark Emmert must have the biggest pair of testicles on this planet.

On Monday, the NCAA released its report on its unethical handling of the investigation into the University of Miami's football team and the dealings of former booster Nevin Shapiro who is currently in prison for ripping off hundreds of investors in a Ponzi scheme. The organization that is supposed to uphold the integrity in college athletics found that their enforcement officials were guilty of the following things:

  • Knowingly circumvented legal advice to engage Shapiro's defense attorney
  • Violated internal NCAA policies in the enforcement investigation process
  • Failed to provide sufficient oversight to the investigation process
  • So, so, so much more

As a result, both the director of enforcement and the VP of Enforcement of the NCAA were fired. Emmert said he was never aware of any ethical inconsistencies in the investigation until last month when it was widely reported. All of that can be found in a previous article I wrote.

Talk about your lack of institutional control.

Fast forward 30 hours. After finally completing the investigation on what went wrong in their methods and determining what information they could use in their investigation into Miami, the NCAA issued the school its Notice of Allegations, and while Miami and school president Donna Shalala don't plan on releasing it, it is said to contain the dreaded "lack of institutional control" charge, something that the NCAA basically found itself guilty of just a day before. Shalala was quick to fire back, saying that while Miami has willingly cooperated over the past two and a half years, going as far as allowing anyone at the university to talk to investigators and self-imposing bowl bans in two straight seasons, the NCAA still went outside its rules and allowed their investigation to essential run amok.

The battle lines have been drawn.

That's the news. Here's the opinion.

Forget for a moment that I am a fan of a school that was royally screwed over by the NCAA's incompetence. If you don't even take the Penn State case into consideration, the Miami situation is the most transparent definition of sanctimonious bullshit spewing that we have seen in college athletics.

Growing up, most of our parents instilled the "do as I say, not as I do" phrase into our heads so that we would never forget it. Well, the NCAA and Miami aren't kids anymore. There's a level of ethics that cannot be breached and a level of professionalism that must be upheld in real life. Sure, there were probably violations abound at Miami and under any other circumstance, they should be held fully accountable for what rules they broke.

But, not this time.

When your investigator shows an equivalent or greater amount of disregard for the policies and principles that their organization is supposed to stand on, something has got to give. When your organization is considered a laughingstock because you don't have the moral backbone to stand up straight on when handing out these punishments, or lack thereof, something has got to give. It's not just Miami. Remember the Cam Newton debacle where everyone got off scot-free, even though pay-for-play was found to happen? Or the organization gunning for Shabazz Muhammad? And then, well, you know, Penn State fans.

Miami has already self-imposed bowl bans for the last two years. It has been wronged when giving the fullest cooperation with investigators. It's time for the NCAA to cut its losses and move on. Move on to doing something about the academic integrity issues at North Carolina. Move on to the repeated rape cases by football players at Montana, if they have decided that ethics breaches are more than a one-time, Penn State things in their eyes. But most importantly, moving on to clean up their own organization. And, frankly, that starts at the top.

Other interesting reading:

SB Nation - Why Firing Mark Emmert Would Not Be Enough To Fix The NCAA

SB Nation - Explaining Lack Of Institutional Control

State Of The U - [StoryStream] Miami and the NCAA: Are We There Yet?


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