In the wake of the sordid revelations at Ohio State (OSU) stemming from football coach Jim Tressel’s resignation, the university might want to change its nickname from the Buckeyes to the Blackeyes.  
But what may be lost in the big picture is that neither Tressel nor OSU is alone in violating NCAA Bylaws.  Many institutions – among them Tennessee, the University of Southern California, North Carolina, Auburn, Alabama and a host of others – along with their coaches have either found or could soon find themselves in a similar predicament.
It should come as no surprise that there were extensive violations of NCAA Bylaws at OSU, or that there was a massive cover up of those violations by Tressel and perhaps others at the university.  The signs were clearly present last fall when the NCAA suspended five members of the football team for the first five games of the 2011 season.  It was only a matter of time before the depth of the violations at OSU was exposed.  And as usual, it wasn’t the NCAA that caught OSU but the media, which uncovered not only the violations but the cover up that followed.  The NCAA Infractions Division doesn’t have the manpower, the investigatory tools, or the expertise to uncover most violations on its own.  It acts primarily like a vulture that swoops in to devour road kill.
But the real story here isn’t about one school violating NCAA Bylaws; virtually every NCAA institution involved in big-time sports is in a similar position.  The only difference is some institutions have been caught and some haven’t been – yet.  If the NCAA follows up on Rachel McCoy’s comments, the next domino to fall may be in Austin, Texas.  Speaking on ESPN Radio’s The Herd with Colin Cowherd on June 7, McCoy, wife of Cleveland Browns’ quarterback Colt McCoy, suggested that Texas players had accepted improper benefits during the time her husband was starring for the Longhorns.  “I know he was approached quite a bit (by agents),” said Rachel, “but you know how Colt is, he can brush it off, move on and not go down that road.  But I saw so many of his teammates who didn’t have the self control (of Colt) to be able to say no to somebody.”  
Uh oh.  Whether Colt did or didn’t say no, Rachel threw her husband’s teammates, and by extension the entire Longhorns program, under the bus.  Her comments essentially mandate an NCAA investigation, if for no other reason than to appear to be fair and equitable in dealing with member institutions.
If we assume that every big time sports institution is in violation of the NCAA Bylaws, what can the governing body do about it?  Recommendations range from disbanding the NCAA to paying all student-athletes as if they were professionals.  The former proposal sounds appealing, until one realizes that if the NCAA disappeared, a similar organization would be instantly created to take its place.  
Paying student athletes is unlikely to happen any time soon, despite recent proposals to increase payments to student-athletes to bridge the “gap” between what a scholarship is worth and the actual costs of attending college, an amount that varies from $200 to almost $11,000 per year, depending on the institution.  Steve Spurrier, South Carolina’s football coach, even suggested paying players out of coaches’ pockets.
However, one of the goals behind regulations against improper benefits to student-athletes is to level the playing field – to the extent that’s possible – among competing institutions.  Allowing any additional payments to student-athletes will only serve to exacerbate the differences in financial resources that already exist between member institutions.   
One possible, less drastic, proposal is to ease up on the draconian and intricate rules that govern the personal and financial relationships between student-athletes and university outsiders.  If a student on an academic scholarship accepts a meal from a university alum or supporter, the student is in no danger of losing his/her scholarship.  But if a student-athlete accepts a Happy Meal at McDonald’s from that same individual, it’s considered an improper benefit that could lead to loss of the student’s eligibility and sanctions against the program.  That hardly seems fair.
The only certainty is that the situation at Ohio State will be repeated, again and again, a fact that may provide little solace to Buckeye supporters.  
Jordan Kobritz is a former attorney, CPA, and Minor League Baseball team owner.  He is an Assistant Professor of Sport Management and Sport Law at Eastern New Mexico University, teaches the Business of Sports at the University of Wyoming, and is a contributing author to the Business of Sports Network.  Jordan can be reached at jkobritz@mindspring.com.
   

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