Very good column Gregg, and although I would love to know some of the names you're alluded to, something tells me that, with about ten minutes thinking, I could come up with probably 75% of the ones you're talking about. Some of these guys you just KNOW are doing it, some of these schools you just KNOW are doing it....
Brand might have had the best of intentions, but all he succeeded in doing was to facilitate illegal actions by the players and agents/runners (schools may or may not know, who knows?). Let's face it, even if these kids go to school and keep their name clean, chances are the ones that are good enough to leave in a year, or think they are, are not studying or hitting the books or showing up for class, thinking by the time it is time to pay the piper I will be ready to hit the draft.
Dumb rule; drop it if you can't enforce compliance, and the NCAA can only act AFTER the fact.
If they start hitting coaches and the colleges in the pocketbook when stuff like this happens, it would be less likely to continue. Fine the coach a years salary, fine the college an amount at least double to what they earned from making the tournament and from anything else they were paid due to the "awesome freshman phenom" that caused the problems. Weather the coach/college administrator knew about the things going on or not, they should know. You cant claim innocence by ignorance. Any good boss takes responsibility for their "emplyoees" and does what needs to be done. The loss of some scholarships and a post season ban hurts a bit but that hurts over the coarse of a few years. Hit them all with big fines upfront and maybe other coaches will think twice about associating themselves and the universities with athletes or agencies that are likely to cost them millions of dollars. The reason they take the chance on these kids is they think they can make a lot of money. Make it so they can lose even more money than can be gained and they will be less likely to do it.
If the NCAA REALLY wanted to fix this, they could in a second. The NCAA has ALL of the power...the schools have none. The NCAA just has to be WAY more authoritative with there punishments. Something on the order of, if your institution is caught with a player who has received illegal benefits, your team does not play the next season. This would decrease the likelihood of recruiting "questionable" players, and it would dramatically alter self-policing by the institutions. The players would also self-police themselves. If you know that one of your teammates is doing something illegal, wouldn't you be more inclined to turn that person in if it meant that you would not be able to play the following year, negatively effecting your draft position?
So, if one kid, by himself, accepts gifts and money, everyone else pays the price except for the one year wonder. In Mayo's case, the Pac=10 and the NCAA conducted investigations at USC's request and gave him a clean slate prior to his admission to USC. The allegations state that the illegal gifts and money started in high school so I guess not only USC but his high school team should also be punished because one kid accepted graft from an agent of an agent. Heck, he probably even accepted gifts while he played on his AAU teams so they should also be punished.
If the universities are not involved, by action or deliberate inaction, what can they do? They can not watch these kids 24 hours a day. They can not force their way into their living spaces and take inventory of their belongings. They can not monitor their wallets or bank accounts.
A possible solution is simple contract law which would require NCAA rule revision. Enable the universities to once again offer the four year scholarship instead of one year scholarships. The high school kid upon acceptance of the four year offer, and when he/she is also of the age of being able to enter into legally binding contracts, signs said contract. Now, the contract is a double edge sword, it binds each other for four years, independent of performance. Further, said contract can contain provisions for early termination and/or penalties for early termination. Standard non-compete clauses are enforceable.
For the one and done kids, go play in Europe. One of these days, I can see some kid going to a school that he does not like and tear the program down on purpose, knowing he will not be there to suffer the consequences. You know, the life long Duke fanatic goes to North Carolina, and after the first semester, comes back to school driving his brand new Escalade, co=signed by his great aunt, the one who works two jobs to feed her family.
