Article about the NCAA's consistent enforcement of rules

[peruna81]

Since when is ignorance of the law a viable defense?

uhh...uhh...move on citizen. Nothing to see here.

[Stallion]

that kind of argument would have never gotten to trial because it would get dismissed for failure to allege or plead a recognized cause of action. (there is some recognition of this type of claim if an accused can allege discrimination based upon a prohibited constitutional classification such as race, religion, national origin etc.) But SMU was a voluntary member of the privately organized NCAA who agreed to follow NCAA rules and regulations. There is no state action that would implicate constitutional due process rights. SMU could resign from the NCAA if they didn't want to follow its procedural due process.

SMU alumni did sue in federal court and it was dismissed at the pleading stage on the basis of lack of standing to assert a cause of action owned by the university.

Some of you seem to forget that this is a university not a football program and that would have been a ridiculously humiliating and embarrassing lawsuit that would have caused even greater damage to the reputation of the university. Hey I got news for some of you-if subpoenas were issued to all of those who cheated and were on the Board of Govenors it would have gotten even worse than what we know today.

We were paying a large percentage of these players in tens of thousands of dollars. Pay attention to those comments that Rod Jones and Doug Hollie stated about SMU having a W.O. Bankston Dealership on campus. The Payroll was about 50,000 in 1986. Folks in reality we are talking about a recruiting slush fund in the multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars over 10 years and 5 probations.

Heck we know only 2 recruits cost over $40,000. How much did Dickerson's Texas Trans A&M payments cost. Which recruits took the $20,000 offer Endicott admitted SMU made to Mark Lewis -Lewis was a top recruit but we got a bunch better than him. Pay attention that allegation which was in 1981 BEFORE Bobby Collins took over. Endicott was not retained by Bobby Collins. The time frame for big piles of cash was at least from 1977-1984 with payments continuing thereafter. Who would have ended up in jail if these allegations had been exposed-money laundering, tax evasion of multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars etc? All of those facts would have been disclosed in discovery and open for public examination and inspection. Govenor Bill might well have been impeached

[Junior]

so, you're saying i can't call this "penalty" BS?

how does this justify suspending players for the first 5 games of NEXT year but no for the bowl game in a few days?

[Stallion]

They really involve 2 different types of violations that have always been treated differently by the NCAA. SMU's involved recruiting inducements by boosters which are sanctioned more harshly because you get a competitive advantage when the recruit signs. Ohio St's involve extra benefits which doesn't usually involve a competitive advantage-just kids taking money from a person who moht not even be a booster, NCAA has generally imposed sanctions and required repayment of the benefits. I don't really know what precedent the NCAA has set in prior cases involving teams in bowl games. I would agree they should be consistent. Haven't seen anybody show how NCAA has ruled on similiar recent cases. I would be critical if someone showed me they had been inconsistent in similiar situations involving Bowl teams

[Junior]

gotcha. valid points.

[ponyte]

Not exactly apples to apples, but in 1984 the NCAA prohibited Bruce Smith of the VT Hokies from post season bowl participation. Allegedly, Smith's father was given a bunch of tree roots by a booster (he cut them up and sold them as firewood). This was seen by the NCAA as an inducement for Smith. The NCAA banded Smith from post season play.

Smith obtained a Virginia court injunction allowing him to play. As expected by the 'fair' NCAA, the Independence Bowl was threatened with bowl decertification if Smith played.
To save the certification, the Independence Bowl band Smith from playing. Smith got a Louisiana Judge to issue a restraining order which allowed Smith to play. The NCAA, never one to give up when their heavy handedness was threatened, asked a LA court of Appeals to overturn the order the day of the game. The Court denied the appeal and Smith played.

I was living in S'port then (Went to the game with, though I didn't know it at the time, my future wive and her family) This was a very big deal in S'port at the time and the NCAA wasn't viewed very favorably.

[Topper]

It is true that we were a voluntary member of an association but so were Georgia and Oklahoma when they sued the NCAA over their television package. Don't tell me we couldn't sue the NCAA. Jerry Tarkanian took the route I proposed when they were after him at UNLV and he won because the NCAA didnt want to air their very dirty laundry.

And no one can convince me that we were cheating any more than UT, A@M or others down here. I recall in the early 70s UT players were on the payroll of the legislature printing shop. The problem was there was no printing shop. Nothing came of it. Never would because UT knew how to play the game with the NCAA.

[Stallion]

NCAA v OU/Georgia was an anti-trust suit. No one has ever claimed that SMU had suffered an atitrust injury. UNLV v. NCAA was a defamation suit. Truth is an absolute bar to a defamation suit. A defamation suit is usually against an individual's reputation not a non-profit corporation. There is a rarely used business defamation claim in Texas-most notably against Oprah Winfrey. Good luck with that considering it was all true

[Topper]

Point is that a member of an organization can sue the organization. The member is not considered to be suing itself.