The same committee that allowed much to poison the prestigious image of college football wasn’t historically stern enough to investigate a repulsive, ongoing scandal.
Before the recent revelations of wannabe or legit sports agents lavishing student-athletes with a wealthier style of living, the NCAA was deceived and publicly embarrassed when dishonest college stars were duplicitous and extorted the indulgent system.
But suddenly, the NCAA is imposing severe sanctions for any wrongdoings and infractions, tarnishing the reputation of collegiate sports and grasping a sense that athletes have had relationships with corrupted agents.
The brand of the NCAA is scams and shams as numerous schools make a mockery of academia, disrespecting the tenor and significance of education.
By now, trustees and the committees are discerned of the average student-athletes’ wishes, unlike decades ago when education represented higher value, rather than lifting to unimaginable heights at the pro level.
But now that we live in the modern age of athletics and reside in a country where the average kid dreams of blossoming as the next acclaimed superstar, it’s realistic to assume kids aren’t attending school to establish a profession as a doctor, lawyer, or even a sports writer.
As of recently, the dark and gloomy times indeed reduces the aspects of purity and rectitude.
But more than anything, schools aren’t getting involved in the unscrupulous infractions that have created dreaded woes and expunged believability.
Four schools are under investigation for agent-related incidents and apparently, it is only the beginning of an ugly ordeal that maligns the integrity and ignores the magnitude of amateur refinement.
There’s a nightmare brewing in the SEC with the issue of incongruities and hypocrisy as the NCAA is conducting investigations in the Southeastern Conference, aiming to drag down the high-powered and superior conference.
If there are top prospects committing to high-caliber universities and older adults are capable of influencing the minds of college athletes, it’s very unlikely to jettison the scandals.
But the NCAA waited too late in cracking down on sleazy agents and allowed matters to turn worse. The probing of Florida, Alabama, North Carolina, and South Carolina are warning signs of infringement and the epitome of ignorance and unawareness within an association in denial.
Years ago, the NCAA never reacted to agents or addressed the countless violations destroying a school’s pride and respectability.
Years ago, the so-called business advisers approached campuses and athletes, awarding uneducated and unprofessional athletes with unlawful gifts and cash. It’s been a fraudulent industry and rarely were the Infraction Committees proactive in probing misleading agents, labeling collegiate sports as a disingenuous business.
Because agents are the sphere of college sports, as are athletic directors for permitting immunity and having no awareness in what strangers are introducing to their student-athletes, it’s disturbing to know that frauds and lies still exist in college sports, looming as the dirtiest crisis in the NCAA.
Greater than coaches recruiting over the phone, overworking players in practice, or hiring hostesses as a way to coax prospects into committing with the program, the NCAA mismanaged conspiracies and negated the poison of a tattered Tank Black—the former sports agent who donated payments to several Florida players.
But eventually he was charged with federal conspiracy and sentenced to seven years in prison. What’s staggering is that the NCAA refused to investigate Black and had access to public records of his payments.
That year, the Gators won the national title with the deepest and most talented team in the nation, but considering that Black had a meaningful relationship with Florida, ultimately the finest program in the nation wasn’t legit and had tarnished because of the misdeeds.
With all the dismal scandals, the NCAA is finally taking action and helping fortify its own cause for monitoring faulty agents, eroding an industry that profits on high-powered talent, rituals and images.
If ever there were a time to dismiss college football, it would be a good time now, with all the latest destruction at USC.
It used to be the most prestigious university before turning into the most poisonous University for violating NCAA rules, deciding to return its replica of Reggie Bush's Heisman trophy and withdraw from all the achievements of Bush and O.J. Mayo.
It took NCAA investigators three years to probe a malicious scandal at USC, accusing the star running back of unlawful deeds. Bush obtained $300,000 from two wannabe agents during his prosperous career with the Trojans, and his parents were given a $757,000 house.
As a way of punishing Bush for embarrassing the program and violating rules, he will be remembered as a forgotten Trojan.
It’s hardly fair to crack down on two players and insult a pair of prolific stars who aren’t fully accountable for the Trojans infractions.
If the administrators weren’t aware, obviously Bush or Mayo weren’t aware of the scandals becoming a trend and casting facades in college football.
Ravaged by shame, Athletic Director Mike Garrett was dismissed of overseeing the ruptured department at USC on Tuesday.
The mental state of the Trojans is anything but flawless, and punishing Garrett is a severe lesson as Southern California is essentially trying to remove the indulgence and apathy in their program. His cockiness and stubbornness impaired a well-respected program, as did Pete Carroll, who is in denial and arrogantly denies the violations as well as the sanctions.
Maybe he fled Southern California for Seattle because of the sanctions. Above all, they are on four-year probation, losing recruits and stripped of a Heisman. All of this ruins the opportunities of grabbing the top prospects in the country.
But now, the affliction resides allegedly at the Swamp and Alabama. Mostly at SEC Media day, all the talk circulated the muck agents, a nightmarish situation that threatens a program withheld of accusations.
Mike Slive, commissioner of the SEC, vented on the ongoing obstacles and requested for “national strategy” and “education not enforcement.”
If there was one irate coach harshly ripping agents, it was Alabama’s Nick Saban during the press conference on Wednesday, once Marcel Dareus of the Crimson Tide was reportedly announced ineligible after the university compliance officials investigated his involvement with agents.
It certainly doesn’t mean he’s an asterisk or a criminal, until proven guilty. And even if he’s accused of violating rules, then accuse the agent of influencing the minds of young and inexperienced athletes.
There are accusations pending against Maurkice Pouncey, but the ex-Florida star denies ever accepting $100,000 from the representation of a sordid agent at the Southeastern Conference title game and the Sugar Bowl last season.
“I did not accept $100,000, it is an absolutely ridiculous claim. I have completely cooperated with the investigation and answered any and all questions put to me,” Pouncey said in a statement released by his attorney, M. Stephen Stanfield.
Recently, he met with Urban Meyer and Athletic Director Jeremy Foley, and told them he’s innocent and never had a relationship or any connections with agents.
“He never lied to me before,” Meyer said.
Isn’t that what we all want to believe?
As much as the nation admires college football, the investigations involving agent-related inquiries are upsetting and absurd, nauseating our stomachs and disappointing our consciousness as North and South Carolina's programs were announced last week to be part of the NCAA investigation.
This isn’t a coincidence or an illusion, but an omen of corruption—something that should have been discovered and handled a long time ago.
