February 19, 2008
Weis, Tressel in hot water over fundraisers?
Two of Yahoo Sports best columnists, Josh Peter and Dan Wetzel, pose some very interesting questions in the wake of high profile college coaches speaking at high school athletic fundraisers. The practice, which would seem to be a violation of recruiting rules, has come under recent scrutiny after Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis waived his speaking fee to appear at Cincinnati's Elder High School.
Elder High School garnered nearly $30,000 in profit from the fundraiser and Weis ended up with a new Notre Dame recruit.
Less than three weeks later, Weis received a signed letter of intent from tight end Kyle Rudolph, a top 20 national recruit according to Rivals.com. Rudolph's high school? Cincinnati Elder.During his speech at Elder, Weis made no mention of Rudolph – who had verbally committed to the Irish months before – and told the crowd why: NCAA rules prohibit coaches from talking publicly about high school prospects until the players have signed a letter of intent.
Weis hasn't commented, but Notre Dame spokesman John Heisler says the coach is in the clear.
But former NCAA enforcement czar Steve Morgan says not so fast, my friend.
"The basic rule is that colleges and their staff, which includes coaches, can't assist high schools in fundraising," said Morgan, who now works for a law firm in Kansas City that represents schools that have committed rules infractions. "It's just a general prohibition that's existed for awhile. …"I think the issue is that if you didn't have regulations in this area, you'd have the possibility that coaches would exploit the opportunity to curry favor with certain high schools, and their hope would be to get a leg up in recruiting in that high school."
The premise behind the NCAA rule is simple common sense - coaches can't raise a bunch of money for a high school, because it might cause a recruit to lean towards that college.
Makes sense, right? Right.
Common sense or not, Yahoo Sports says the practice is way more common than you might expect.
Ohio State's Jim Tressel, Cincinnati's Brian Kelly and other college football coaches have waived speaking fees for appearances at such events, mostly at schools in greater Cincinnati, including football powerhouse schools Moeller and Colerain. Tressel is scheduled to speak at a March 5 event involving Cincinnati La Salle High School, whose star wide receiver, DeVier Posey, signed with the Buckeyes this month.
Ohio State said Tressel's participation in the event March 5 is not a violation, but it is reviewing the coach's role at previous high school fundraisers for possible violations because money raised at those events may have benefited prospect student-athletes. That alone illustrates the confusion about what is and isn't permissible.
...
Over the years, featured speakers at the sports stags of various high schools have included not just Hayes, Tressel, Kelly and the Notre Dame coaches but former Ohio State football coach John Cooper, former Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler....
As you might expect, there is a certain murkiness to the NCAA rules that may have allowed the coaches to participate, under certain circumstances, as Notre Dame is quick to point out.
Notre Mike Karowski, director of compliance at Notre Dame, provided Yahoo! Sports with a specific NCAA rule interpretation he said addresses the situation.According to a 1991 NCAA ruling, it is "confirmed that a coach may speak at a banquet for prospective student-athletes in which fund-raising activities also occur only if fund-raising activities are not the primary purpose for conducting the banquet or meeting; confirmed that if the fund-raising activities are the primary purpose of the banquet or meeting, institutional staff members may attend the fundraiser subject to the following conditions:
1. The staff members could play no active role in fund-raising activities;
2. The attendance of the staff members at the event could not be publicized in advance;
3. No contact with prospective student-athletes or parents of prospective student-athletes would be permitted outside the permissible contact period, and
4. Conversations between staff members and the high-school's coaching staff members, parents, prospective student-athletes and other individuals could not include recruiting information or contain a recruiting presentation."
There ya go... clear as mud? Maybe... but those aren't "the rules", but rather one interpretation of the rules.
One thing is crystal clear - the NCAA is now looking into the practice.
Comments:
Zac said:
posted on February 19, 2008 9:14 PM — 205.188.116.136 — link — abuse?
OK, let me get this straight. It' OK for college football coaches to hold camps; i.e. invite kids from all over the country to their facility that these coaches can give of their time to assist these kids in improving their football skills; not that any future recruits could result from any of the kids who attend these camps.
OR, it's OK for coaches to host special scrimmages featuring a variety of HS All-Americans and future HS All-Americans at their facilities; not that any recruits could result from any of the kids who attend these scrimmages.
These things are apparently OK; the fact that the coaches and schools make money from these events is also apparently OK. But, let a coach do a school a favor by waiving his fee at a fund raiser, especially if it's a school at which a prospective recruit, who has already made a verbal commitment, attends, and stand by for Law & Order.
(Sure, the school earned $30,000 at the door. What they didn't tell you involves the $40,000 they lost in cheeseburgers. OU-Ron got it right.)
AgRyan04
posted on February 19, 2008 9:59 PM — 98.199.64.233 — link — abuse?
said:
Zac, I think that the intent is to prevent a college coach from coming to a HS and raising a lot of money, which would be beneficial for that HS's coach who might have his player's ear.
It would be reasonable to think that if that HS coach wants to continue to have successful fund raisers it would help to send kids to the universities that help him. I'll rub your back if you rub mine.
I'm not saying those things have happened here but I think the NCAA's goal is to keep that from happening.
Neville said:
posted on February 19, 2008 11:56 PM — 70.164.69.146 — link — abuse?
The NCAA rule book has gotten bloated and silly, kind of like the US tax code.
Look at Kelvin Sampson / Indiana basketball today - it is not OK to make a phone call, but there is nothing against NCAA rules about choking your own players...
Big Tide said:
posted on February 20, 2008 6:45 AM — 12.208.88.211 — link — abuse?
Neville, you got it DEAD ON!! Our society is suffocating under the weight of too many rules. Who cares if a coach comes and helps raise money? School budgets are being cut and in many cases school sports HAVE to help pay their on way and if a coach wants to come to the school what's the big deal? If that gives a coach an edge, then great. If he's willing to take his valuable time to come to your school and help out, then maybe he SHOULD get an edge.
Big Tide said:
posted on February 20, 2008 2:25 PM — 71.49.27.214 — link — abuse?
U of SC #7, I saw Spurrier speak this past Friday night at an awards banquet in Destin, Florida that raised money for area sports programs. I'm sure there were potential college recruits at this function and I'm sure he may have played golf with, eaten with or just sat down and chatted with someone connected to a recruit. What if someone suddenly complained? Are you taking the position that he shouldn't be able to make a speach for a charity? The Emerald Coast Sports Foundation donated over 75K last year to charity!! What's the difference in helping the area YMCA earn money or helping a high school? What if it was the high school you graduated from? You see where I'm going with this? How do you make some stupid, blanket rule that covers every situation? YOU CAN'T, so you end up with SELECTIVE ENFORCEMENT of the rules. I'm against victimless crime and selective enformcement of stupid laws - that's my point.
Zac said:
posted on February 20, 2008 2:34 PM — 64.12.116.136 — link — abuse?
The idea that the NCAA should tighten up, and that society's problems should take a back seat to......what ever, is about as narrow minded as it gets. Major corporations have learned to invest in education. They know; if they want the best coming out of college or high school, they need to invest where it can best happen and serve them with the personnel they need.
College football is no different. It's as big as any corporate business; we the fans are in part to blame. So, when a college coach invests in an area known to be a hot-bed for recruiting, it's only fair he get a return on his investment.
As for fund-raising, that is among those things that corporations do in order to get young men & women interested in their firm or industry. Sometimes VP's or even CEO's will make visits appealing for kids to consider these schools, these programs, or these fields of study, because they've seen the need on the horizon.
Why can't coaches do the same thing? Not to mention, it often helps when you have a celebrity supporting your fund raiser. Major program head coaches basically have celebrity status. They are a big draw. The benefit to the school is guaranteed. The benefit to coach, though potentially substantial, is not. There's the difference, and that's why this is BS.
The NCAA to college football, basketball, et. al., is like INPO to the Nuclear Power Industry: Self induced root canal work. It's time to do something else.
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OU-Ron
said:
posted on February 19, 2008 8:24 PM — 71.16.13.146 — link — abuse?First off, it's ND, the NCAA is not gonna do anything.......Second, It's probably cheaper to pay Charlie for speaking than it is to feed him....