The Importance of Paying School Athletes

The NCAA is doing a very bad job on enforcing their rules. Multiple schools have been found guilty of violating rules. The NCAA doesn't do their part in enforcing their rules. They realize that if they are big money making schools such as the big basketball schools like the University of North Carolina, Duke University, Villanova University, Gonzaga University or even switch it over to the football schools like the University of Alabama or Clemson or Ohio State University where to get in trouble and find themselves in a bind with the NCAA, then they wouldn't make any money off of television proceeds because. There is one common thing that seems to make the world go round whether it be in sports or politics or really anything in the world, and that is that money is root of all evil, money controls people, and unfortunately many people, not all but many people can be bought if given the perfect amount. The NCAA was founded on March 31, 1906. The sole purpose of this group is to be an association in which they make rules and also be a governing body that limits what schools and student athletes can and cannot do. As the number of schools increased the amount of rules and regulations came along with it. Universities and colleges are supposed to abide by certain rules by the NCAA that do not compromise their stance on amateurism. Such as signing a contract with a professional team, playing with professionals, participating in tryouts or practices with a professional team, accepting payments or preferential benefits for playing sports, accepting prize money above your expenses, accepting benefits from an agent or prospective agent, agreeing to be represented by an agent, or delaying your full-time college enrollment to play in organized sports competition.('Amateurism,' n.d.).

The NCAA is a non for profit organization that promotes an amateurism stance in which student athletes cannot receive payment or any other type of financial value aside from scholarships to attend Universities and play a sport. Multiple schools have been exposed for paying college athletes such as the 2002 Alabama Crimson Tide football team for having the booster club pay money for certain high school players to play for the Tide. The boosters were accused of making payments of up to five figures to two recruits so that their services would be used for the Crimson Tide('Alabama Is Penalized,' 20002). Some other examples of violations would be as followed. The SMU Death Penalty

This scandal took place in the late 1970's in which boosters set up a ¨slush fund¨ so that they could make under the table payments to players and their families and in return the player would commit and later on sign a letter of intent on coming to Southern Methodist University. During the 1985 and 1986 season 13 players had been paid a total of $61,000, Payments ranged from 50 to 725 per month , During the 1986 school year the players had received a total of $47,000. The whole reason that this was so significant and gained so much attention was that they repeated these violations and didn't just quit after the first time. After the first set of violations had been sanctioned upon SMU instead of immediately cutting off payment to players they issued a phase out plan in which they would continue to pay the players that they promised money to until they graduated. It all worked fine until a player who had been kicked off the team by the name of David Stanley had gone on a televised interview and explained the benefits he received from SMU. After this surfaced the NCAA dropped the atomic bomb of sanctions upon SMU being the most harshest sanction in all of college sports these three words would forever leave an impact that may never be recoverable for Southern Methodist University. The Death Penalty. The Death Penalty is about as harsh as it sounds. The 1987 season was canceled; only conditioning drills were permitted during the 1987 calendar year. All home games in 1988 were canceled. SMU was allowed to play their seven regularly scheduled away games so that other institutions would not be financially affected. The team's existing probation was extended until 1990. Its existing ban from bowl games and live television was extended to 1989. SMU lost 55 new scholarship positions over 4 years. SMU was required to ensure that Owen and eight other boosters previously banned from contact with the program were in fact banned, or else face further punishment. The team was allowed to hire only five full-time assistant coaches, instead of the typical nine. No off-campus recruiting was permitted until August 1988, and no paid visits could be made to campus by potential recruits until the start of the 1988-89 school year. And finally they canceled the 1988 season entirely. SMU has yet to fully recover from this penalty as it still has an impact on their football success, the aftermath was catastrophic. Since 1989 SMU has defeated only two ranked teams and has had only three winning seasons. SMU didn't even return to a bowl game until 2009 in which they routed Nevada 45-10. The Death Penalty has been used five times in NCAA Division 1 sports since the sanctions imposed upon SMU and is regarded as the harshest penalty in Collegiate level sports. ('The Death,' 2015).

UNC Paper Classes

These classes were otherwise called “fake classes”. These classes were led by Julius Nyang’oro and Debby Crowder of the African Studies department so that athletes could take GPA booster classes to stay eligible. These paper classes were set up so that certain athletes specifically basketball and football players who were at risk of becoming ineligible to play would take these classes so that they would remain eligible to play. Since the classes had been discovered there have been 9 employees. These classes were set up so that anyone could take these classes and not just student athletes. The class requirements were very loosely based being that sometimes the students didn’t even show up to class some of the times. The class consisted itself of a paper that was to be written but the paper could be of any topic and did not have to have any strenuous effort put into it. When it was taken to the court they ruled that the paper classes were not in violation because they were not issued to just student athletes and ordinary students could take them as well. The NCAA let the University of North Carolina off the hook for one of the worst academic frauds in the history of collegiate athletics. ('N.c.a.a. North,' 2017).

Reggie Bush Scandal

The first report of this scandal came out in September 2006, this report would forever change the life of star running back Reggie Bush. The Bush family was accused of receiving gifts and cash from sports agent Lloyd Lake. The gifts were received from approximately 2004 onward. Lloyd Lake later sued the Bush family for $290,000 because they did not repay him for the gifts he brought them. These events forced Reggie Bush to give up his Heisman trophy. USC was given four years of probation and forced to vacate its last two wins of the 2004 season – including the 2005 orange bowl– as well as all of its wins in the 2005 season. The Trojans were also banned from bowl games in 2010 and 2011 and lost 30 scholarships over three years. Running backs coach Todd Mcnair was banned from off-campus recruiting for one year after the NCAA determined he had known about Bush's dealings with the agents. This is the first time in the heismans 75 year history that it has ever been forfeited by a player. Although the case was settled Reggie Bush never got to tell his side of the story. Even though Reggie Bush had to give up his Heisman Trophy, everyone in college football knows that Reggie was the best player that year. “It doesn’t matter if he gives it back. Everyone still knows Reggie Bush was the best player that year. Look at the runs. He was clearly the best player,” -Johnny Rodgers, 1972 Heisman winner from Nebraska. ('Reggie Bush,' 2010). ('Reggie Bush,' n.d.).

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