U.S. senator from Missouri sends letter urging NCAA to overturn Mizzou sanctions
The Missouri Tigers were recently hammered by the NCAA for violations that occurred several years ago, and it cost them postseason eligibility in 2019.
The school is appealing the decision, and now a senator from Missouri is trying to throw his weight behind the Tigers.
As you can see below, U.S. senator Roy Blunt is urging the NCAA to reverse what he calls “overreaching” sanctions:
Dear President Emmert,
Recently, I issued a statement in response to the NCAA Committee on Infraction’s (COI) severe punishment of the University of Missouri Athletics Department. I wanted to take the time to expand upon my original statement and voice my support for the University of Missouri (MU) and its current leadership as they continue to navigate this punishment – one that is harmful to the coaches, student-athletes and staff who had nothing to do with the actions of a sole individual.
As a former university president, I believe the sanctions levied by the NCAA’s COI were overreaching, especially considering the university was transparent and open during the process of the investigation. In COI’s own report, they agreed these transgressions were performed by a rogue tutor and MU took immediate action to rectify the problem. The committee even cited MU officials for their exemplary cooperation. By issuing these sanctions, the COI has set a dangerous precedent that cooperation is wrong.
Most of all, these sanctions negatively and directly punish student-athletes and coaches who had nothing to do with the charges. Student-athletes are being told they cannot pursue championships at the highest level, and they can no longer chase their dreams, because of isolated violations that occurred years ago. Rather than punishing innocent student-athletes, the COI should continue to encourage schools to report violations and look for solutions.
It is my hope that the NCAA will revisit this case and not punish today’s upstanding MU athletes because of isolated violations that occurred years ago. The University of Missouri and the state of Missouri deserve a second look at this situation.
Sincere regards,
Roy Blunt
United States Senator
Every little bit helps, so we’ll see if Blunt’s letter speeds along the appeals process. So far, Barry Odom has managed to keep the football team together, but that could change if this process drags out.
Perhaps his politico voice will have the NCAA taking notice — considering the NCAA is nothing more than a bureaucratic holding tank for overpaid political wannabes. Their behind-the-scene staff drives the discussion, not their boards.
The punishment is some what steep. But just because it happened years ago isn’t an excuse to not have to face consequences.
We all know Mizzou wasn’t going to make the playoffs regardless next year. May miss out on a crap bowl.
Respectfully, I don’t know that that is a foregone conclusion as Mizzou’s schedule is somewhat conducive to possible success, far more than many East teams. And they have done it before when it was unexpected — twice. There are severe cracks in the East division this year that most here don’t discuss. And I don’t have time nor interest in doing so.
Missing out on a bowl hurts the conference. That revenue is shared you know.
The US Senator should focus more on the NCAA as a monopoly.
You are correct.
Wow, a politician that actually made sense. Why are the athletes today paying for someone else’s sin. Dawg44 says they have to face the consequences. Again, why should a totally innocent person pay those consequences? The statement about teaching schools not to cooperate is accurate. Ole Miss got caught with multiple major violations and got a 2 year ban. Mizzu cooperates about a lone tutor a gets 1 year. On the flip side, UNC gets busted running fake academic tracks for years with no punishment. When a university systematically provides no education on purpose you should have a major problem. Crickets. The NCAA is a corrupt organization that has zero continuity for the rules, infractions and punishment.
Your telling it like it is DarthA… but will we see any change? I doubt it.
That’s our senator. Just because we voted against building a new crime lab shortly after the banks broke the world, not because we didn’t need it. No one had jobs. Our boy Roy thought if he got an earmark added to a bill that paid 1.3 mil of the 4 mil to build it it would be ok to go ahead and build it. And they did. So much for majority rule or democracy as you would have the simple minded believe. Thanks Roy. You owe us 2.7 mil. A hole.
State won’t be the team to offer in our stead when we win the east. I still wonder how both state and A&M were both ranked ahead of us with identical conference records but our SOS was tougher than both their schedules together. Does anyone else see the blatant cheating and dogging of our beloved school? Just because we’re a helluva lot better than anticipated by teams we smoked in the 60s and 70s. We are not the post Powers pre Pinkel team you hoped for. So look out boys we’re here to do more with less.