The NCAA's message to everyone with this upheld Mizzou bowl ban: Don't ever cooperate
Congratulations, person reading this column.
You learned something today. It might not be something that’s applicable in your life, but it’s something that you can put in that spot where your brain stores useless information.
Contrary to what every episode of Law & Order has ever told you, cooperating with the investigation won’t get you a thing. Well, let me backtrack.
Cooperating with the NCAA investigation won’t get you a thing. In fact, it’ll hurt you.
That’s what was confirmed on Tuesday when reports came out that Mizzou’s bowl ban will be upheld. As you recall, Mizzou has had this bowl ban cloud hanging over the program for 10 months. So how fitting it is that 72 hours before the Tigers were supposed to play for a chance to get into a bowl game, the NCAA says “oh, wait. You’re still here? Go home, kid.”
RELATED: Missouri senator blasts NCAA
What a great message to send, NCAA. Your initial message of “cheating is bad and those who do so will face severe punishments” doesn’t really stand tall when North Carolina and Mississippi State both got slaps on the wrist compared to Mizzou.
That’s right. Mizzou, the school that willingly cooperated with the NCAA in that process. Unlike MSU, no current player on the football roster was part of the academic fraud, which involved former Mizzou tutor Yolanda Kumar completing classwork for 12 student-athletes (from the football, baseball and softball teams). It was Kumar who admitted her violations.
But according to the NCAA infractions panel, that was part of the reason the bowl ban came down to begin with.
“While Missouri promptly self-reported the violations, it did not promptly self-detect them. The offending conduct continued for one year,” the panel wrote back in January, adding that if the tutor had not admitted her violations, Missouri would not have been aware of them.
Wait a minute.
So coming forward, telling the truth and cooperating with an NCAA investigation doesn’t matter, but a tutor completing coursework for 10 MSU football players who didn’t cooperate with the NCAA does?
Uh, yeah, that’s messed up.
In trying to understand the backward logic the NCAA used to give MSU a punishment that didn’t involve a bowl ban (it included a loss of scholarships, 3 years probation, restrictions on official visits, etc.), I looked for different explanations as to what on Earth the NCAA was trying to prove with Mizzou that it didn’t feel like it needed to prove with MSU.
This, from the Kansas City Star back in August, was the best explanation I found:
The Bulldogs benefited from a rule that passed in August 2018, when Missouri was already going through the investigation process with the NCAA. The rule, which allowed Mississippi State to reach a “negotiated resolution” with the NCAA — essentially a plea deal, allowed both sides to move through the process without a formal hearing or summary disposition.
The NCAA didn’t like Mizzou’s plea deal and it was rejected while MSU’s plea deal, according to the NCAA, made more sense and was granted.
Again, didn’t Law & Order tell us that the school who cooperates gets the plea deal? Why is this the other way around?
Basically this sounds like if Mizzou’s tutor had called the NCAA and shared this information before posting it on Facebook, we’d be talking about a punishment comparable to MSU. But that didn’t happen.
RELATED: Greg Sankey disappointed in NCAA decision
Instead, the NCAA’s shoot-from-the-hip punishment decision came up with a bowl ban. That seems like a perfectly fair thing to do for a group of kids who literally did nothing wrong and had every right to go to Shreveport, get that swag bag with Beats headphones and hold up a trophy in front of 25,000 cold fans.
All jokes aside, it’s the principle and precedent of this deal that don’t make any sense.
Meanwhile, UNC ran one of the biggest academic fraud cases of all-time with bogus classes, but the NCAA ruled that it couldn’t find any fault because the classes were available to all students and not exclusively to athletes. Never mind the fact that dozens of UNC athletes took said classes and some stayed academically eligible because of them.
Surely UNC’s place as a college basketball blue blood had nothing to do with that ruling. After all, it’s not like banning a team with a massive national brand would have hurt the NCAA’s bottom line.
Oh, it would have? Stunning.
Stunning it is to look back on that case and realize that the NCAA’s only sanctions came because why? You guessed it. Julius Nyang’oro and Deborah Crowder, AKA the creators/enablers of these bogus classes, didn’t cooperate with the NCAA. But did that matter? Of course not. Why? Because the NCAA adjusts the goalposts as needed.
It’s comical to think that the NCAA deliberated on Mizzou’s appeal for the past 4 months and it decided to make a ruling just 3 days before the all-important regular-season finale. Well, I guess it isn’t very important anymore. Mizzou isn’t going to a bowl game, regardless of if can avoid tripping over its own shoelaces and stumbling into a ditch, which is essentially what it takes to lose to Arkansas.
Let’s call it what it is. “Cooperating” was never at the forefront of the NCAA’s ruling. Not now and not back in January.
This was about trying to play the part of “enforcer” after the UNC ruling was mocked mercilessly by everyone with at least half a brain. This was about trying to look tough amidst an appeal that surely should have been granted but wasn’t because that would have been a tail-between-the-legs look for the NCAA. Seems like a fair way for a governing body to operate, right?
The precedent the NCAA hoped to set backfired in the worst way. Now, the message is simple — you want to cheat? We don’t approve of that, but just make sure the key players involved in the cheating don’t cooperate by telling us what they know.
There, reader of this column. You learned something else today.
But this will mean my beloved Wildcats didn’t beat a Power 5 team that is going bowling!
I feel for you Mizzou fans.
Ain’t right.
And yet they have experienced more success in life than you.
Wait a minute Connor, I think you’re treading on Adam’s turf here.
Connor is just warming up the webosphere for Adam, just you wait.
That man’s about to drown twenty hotty toddys and break forth all hell on his keyboard.
Just waiting for Adam to ‘break bad’, he gonna let it fly!
As an impartial observer, I gotta say this whole thing stinks to high heaven.
UNC got a slap on the wrist for much worse violations. Missouri is a top-tier athletic program (heck, they are in the SEC), but Jerry Tarkanian’s old quote applies here: “The NCAA was so mad at Kentucky, they gave Cleveland State another year of probation”.
I completely agree. NCAA needs to change to NCHA… National College Hyprocites Association
Apparently not knowing about a single rogue tutor is just as bad as a conspiracy to cover up for a child molester on your campus.
It’s good to know that Ivy league and elite school grads are running the NCAA, we can feel better with the high sense of morality they clearly impose.
I’m pretty sure the lesson is “Don’t Cheat!” Seems pretty simple. So as long as no one currently at the school actually cheated, they could’ve been cheating for over a decade and not expect punishment? It’s not the players, it’s the school that’s penalized. Players are welcome to transfer to wherever they want. This is like getting upset that Penn State was punished if Sandusky hadn’t worked there for 5 years prior to being indicted.
Sandusky was an “invited participant” on the campus in the athletic dept, but rather than exposing and correcting the criminal activity the fine folks at PSU decided it was better to “cover up”, deny and pretend nobody knew anything. This seems to be in total agreement with how the people in the NCAA see it as well.
Apparently the NCAA’s view of “student well being” DOES NOT include the rape and brutal sexual molestation of said students by the University’s personnel.
Only an UGA (ok maybe UF) fan equates crimes against children to impermissible tutoring.
It’s not really the state of the crime that everyone’s mad about, nor the actual punishment, but the hypocrisy and total lack of a level standard that’s equally applied. Mizzou isn’t really elite blue blood in a particular sport like UNC is in basketball, so it’s ludicrous that the NCAA would crackdown like Roger Goodell on Mizzou for what is a pretty minor violation in comparison to what UNC did, for which they received a much smaller punishment.
But wait, you just said this teaches folks not to cooperate and then turn around an blame another program for being evil by following a new rule and cooperating. UNC doesn’t apply as it was academic fraud by an entire university department and that falls under the purview of a different organization to police.
Please stop defending Mizzou for getting having to deal with a 2nd lack of control charge from 2016…yes second as prior to coming clean on this situation they had just wrapped up a lack of control matter from the mens basketball team for 2016. That is 2 lack of control charges for the same year. Doesn’t matter they were reported separately. It was the second bigtime violation from the same year…which is the point most are skipping.
you said “UNC doesn’t apply as it was academic fraud by an entire university department” so then if the fraud is just big enough to include more than student athletes, it’s all hands off.
In other words had the bad tutor been taking tests for non-athlete students, the NCAA would need to stay hands off.
Do you now see how ridiculous your agreement with the NCAA is?
That’s exactly what the NCAA said Tigurr. Makes sense because it doesn’t make sense. Do you see?
Apparently it’s the NCAA’s fault Missouri has an awful compliance department, and anything you confess to has to be automatically forgiven?
MU’s compliance is really no better or worse than the average schools, it’s just that UMC is not a cash cow like UNC so it costs the NCAA nothing to drop the anvil on Mizzou.
Are you catching on yet slow poke gumper?
Incorrect. It’s bad. That’s why this happened. It really is that simple. Have fun with the conspiracy theories though.
Again tigurr is correct. Dump gump.
Why in the world did the schools extend Emmert’s contract. Him and his cronies have made the NCAA a joke.
Agree it is odd, there are a few select schools that are TOO BIG TO TOUCH by the NCAA yet the remainder of the schools happily go along with the charade.
I’d ask USC and Ohio State how “too big to touch” works.
The NCAA’s real cash cow is the Big Dance, they make very little off of Bowls by comparison. The NCAA’s annual budget is more than that of the nation of Argentina. I’m sure they don’t really consider this when they are doling out things like violation penalties. How would you like to buy a bridge?
So once more, Ohio State and USC are primarily football programs that got punished despite a high profile. Really easy stuff that you’re struggling with here, so I’d probably skip the snark.
tOSU and USC got minor penalties as a “show” is all, PSU and UNC got the same for far worse, the ncaa is a joke and that is obvious to everyone, well everyone except blind and stupid gumps.
Is it the golden gate or London Bridge? Yes please.
NCAA’s message is that they think more was going on than what appears on the surface. I think they would’ve lessened the punishment otherwise. It’s either that or they just hate Mizzou.
On the whole, however, schools would be foolish to buck up against the NCAA rather than cooperate. In 99 percent of cases where the school’s cooperate in good faith the punishment isn’t as severe as it would’ve been otherwise. Something different happened here and we don’t really know why but we do know that pissing the NCAA off and daring them to come and get you usually results in a far worse outcome than this.
“In 99 percent of cases”
I question the accuracy of your estimation, more like 50 to 60% at best. The relevant point being, if you aren’t one of the NCAA’s cash cow shools, like UNC, IT’S BEST TO KNOW YOUR PLACE.
“It’s either that or they just hate Mizzou.”
Importance of this can’t be understated, if you aren’t an “ncaa chosen” then you are a pleb, and the ncaa is comprised of ivy school elites plus “blue blood” operatives, many of who hate Mizzou or SEC schools in general.
“Something different happened here and we don’t really know why”,
again this “mileage” varies and greatly, depending on your importance and political affiliation within the ncaa office itself.
Footballgirl, at least you are looking at and asking the important questions. Cheers!
NCAA – Not Consistent At All
Perfect.
Very nice. Not only are they inconsistent, they don’t clearly state why they punish or block transfers. A bloated bureaucracy.
Now we know why they needed 9 months to come up with a decision, it took that long for their lawyers to munge through the rule books and find some sort of plausible excuse.
Worthy comment . points scored. As are so many here following this article. I appreciate the circling of wagons but the Raiders got what they came for. And that was to continue the work of Texas and keep most universities from threatening blue blood standing.
Nice boss hog!
No Competence At All fits the bill as well.
This entire article is a lie and is just butthurt crying. You absolutely should cooperate with the investigation and it has proven time and time again to help the chosen schools who have done wrong. When Florida had impermissible benefits for some players back in the 1980’s the fact that UF cooperated and headed up the investigation is what prevented the NCAA from considering the death penalty for the program. Florida got hit ridiculously hard back then, especially in comparison to Missouri’s light penalties here when you compare the two infractions against each other. The NCAA went light on Missouri, as it did on FSU just a number of years back in what amounted to the greatest collegiate cheating scandal in NCAA history. The fact that FSU cooperated helped prevent them from getting the death penalty as well. Sure they had to kick Bobby Bowden out of the system and remove a number of his coveted wins, but there was a light at the end of the tunnel. Same with USC in the 2010’s.
Cooperating always is helpful to your cause and I guarantee you that the light punishment that Missouri got in the first place is very indicative of the fact that they did just that, cooperate. Had they not, then in all likelihood, their program could have been shut down for a few years ala SMU.
This seems like a very silly take. Neither UF or FSU was ever under consideration for the death penalty. Missouri cooperated and got hammered. UNC didn’t and got off. Defending the ncaa puts you on an island. Enjoy.
The old joke seems to apply as well, IF Stanford commits another infraction while on probation the NCAA will respond by doubling down on their penalty of Wofford.
Maybe it’s more like, if you are big enough you can simply ignore the NCAA and let the smaller schools deal with the hubris you helped create.
You’re trying to rationalize a guy who thinks Butch is a better coach than Pruitt-just warning you.
I honestly think UNC is about as scandalous as it gets. They were smart enough to circumvent the rules enough to get away with having a shortcut for student athletes that can’t read or write.
Actually if you “learn” by watching Law & Order, you are a fool, tv shows are notoriously unrealistic in their representation of the world, better to google Law Professor James Duane and his excellent presentation titled “Never Talk To The Police”. If you watch it you will understand why.
I have seen this
It lacks a lot of information. Especially when it comes to PC. Many questions by police are illegal because they require PC.which is why you don’t answer anything to begin with. However not cooperating also ratchets up the traditional intimidation of calling in too many officers while asking you to leave the comfort of your vehicle to feel the full effect of the intimidation. I get my info from my supervisor and current TO on the weekends at springfield IL. TO= training officer. Training included direction to circumvent the rights of individuals
Still waiting on the PEDs investigation at Clemsuck….
I’m sorry Missouri. Maybe it’s time to involve the real courts?
“Maybe it’s time to involve the real courts?”
when you sign on to the ncaa, you pretty much accept their dictatorship, not that it’s an excuse, but thanks for the kind sentiments just the same.
The UNC things just goes to show how corrupt the NCAA is. What they did vs what Mizzou did isn’t in the same universe.
The mental hoops you have to jump through are astounding, visa vie, UNC was cheating for ALL students, not just athletes so we(the ncaa) really shouldn’t get involved.
At Mizzou, a tutor cheated for a few athletes, BOOM drop the hammer. You can’t possibly buy the ncaa excuses for taking it easy on UNV and PSU, ergo you have to accept they are a very corrupt organization that looks out for their own interest far and well ahead of carrying out their so called charter to oversee the membership.
So much corruption, the only place you would find more is in D.C.
Drain the swamp!
I guess its better to self report but some extreme stupid punishment on yourselves and go about your business like here at USC. Kelly Bryant could have stayed at Clemson and been on another playoff team instead gets hurt and home for the holidays with no bowl. Quit on your team midseason and this happens couldn’t happen to a better person.
He didn’t quit on his team, he was replaced. Just like if you and me are demoted at our jobs we would be looking for a new employer too.
Someone needs to take control of the NCAA, this is the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen in all my life as a football fan.. just ridiculous..
Waylp… The silver lining is that at least on this website, a whole lot of folks from other schools are sticking up for us instead of the usual “Mizzou doesn’t belong in the SEC” crap
Give us time. We’re still on the first wave of your crybaby conspiracy BS.
Bubba, you’re boring. Kindly dismiss yourself.
No. We can still sue for justice but it’s a gamble that will include a loser. Whether it’s us or them