Yes, it was in the Gainesville Sun. It is an Associated Press article, so not written by a local Gainesville Sports Writer. I was curious to see what response it got.
Sent From Shane's iPhone Go Gators! & Skol Vikes! On Oct 19, 2011, at 9:59 AM, "Oliver Barry" <[email protected]> wrote: > Shane, > Was this in the Gainesville Sun or did you find it somewhere else? > Why would the NCAA lobby for passage of laws for agents and then not > cooperate with their prosecution? > This is a nutty organization!! > > Oliver Barry CRS,GRI > Real Estate Broker > Bob Parks Realty > 1517 Hunt Club Blvd > Gallatin TN 37066 > Phone: 615-826-4040 > Fax: 615-822-2027 > Mobile: 615-972-4239 > > > Column: Is the NCAA hiding something? > > By JIM LITKE > AP Sports Columnist > Published: Wednesday, October 19, 2011 at 6:01 a.m. > > Last Modified: Wednesday, October 19, 2011 at 4:10 a.m. > > > > > > Fifteen months ago, Alabama coach Nick Saban called for a crackdown on > agents, saying some were no better than pimps. It seemed like a curious > choice of words at the time, since the same could be said about some college > coaches, who play just as fast and loose recruiting those kids in the first > place. But the comparison was spot on in one regard: Like pimps, rogue agents > rarely have to worry about getting caught. > > Two weeks after Saban kicked off his crusade, an Associated Press survey > found that despite laws on the books in 42 states governing agents' dealings > with college athletes, they were almost never enforced. Twenty-four states > reported taking no disciplinary or criminal action against agents; most > didn't even know whether state or local prosecutors had ever pursued such > cases. Around the same time, North Carolina's secretary of state decided to > take the opposite tack. > > With the NCAA investigating whether agents had funneled improper benefits to > UNC defensive tackle Marvin Austin and receiver Greg Little - the probe would > eventually expand to include former UNC associate head coach John Blake and > others - Secretary of State Elaine Marshall set in motion an investigation of > her own to determine if the state's sports agent laws were broken. > Considering how little cooperation her office has received from the NCAA thus > far, it seems fair to ask whose side the organization is on. > > Making a case against rogue agents has never been easy. But a decade or so > ago, the NCAA tried to make it easier by lobbying state lawmakers to agree on > a set of standardized rules. The result was the Uniform Athletes Agent Act, > adopted by 39 states, including North Carolina, and similar to those in > California, Michigan and Ohio, which retained their own laws to deal with > agent oversight. The UAAA gives schools the right to sue agents who violate > the law, though there's no chance of an award large enough to undo the > damage, which in UNC's case has already been considerable. > > Fourteen players missed at least one game and seven players were forced to > sit out the entire 2010 season - including Austin and two others taken in the > first two rounds in this summer's NFL draft. A Tar Heels team considered a > good shot for a BCS bowl wound up 8-5 and in the Music City Bowl instead. > Head coach Butch Davis was fired in July, even though he was never tied > directly to or cited for any violation and the school still owes him nearly > $3 million. In a bid for leniency ahead of next week's meeting with the > NCAA's infractions committee, UNC penalized itself last month - vacating all > 16 wins from the 2008-09 seasons, cutting nine scholarships over the next > three years and agreeing to pay a $50,000 fine. > > Considering how much wrongdoing is alleged, gathering evidence wouldn't seem > hard. But because the law provided no funding, the secretary of state's > office has had to deploy staffers who usually investigate securities fraud to > build a case. Getting the NCAA to help has proven an even more daunting task. > After some early cooperation, Marshall's office went to state court last week > to force the NCAA to turn over documents from its investigation. > > `This came as a surprise to us," NCAA spokeswoman Stacey Osburn said in an > emailed statement. "We were under the misimpression that we had a cooperative > relationship with the office." > > There's been too much legal and jurisdictional wrangling to recount here. > Suffice it to say that the NCAA provided some documents when North Carolina > made its requests through the secretary of state's office in Indiana, where > the organization is headquartered, but even those had the confidential > information redacted. The NCAA said that was because of the federal Family > Educational Rights and Privacy Act - known as FERPA - then added, "We are not > sure of the Secretary of State's motives or agenda, but we plan to fight this > action aggressively in court." > > The NCAA's response is more pragmatic than principled at this point. It's no > doubt worried that if it cooperates fully with North Carolina's request for > documents from its investigation, it will have to do the same with any other > state law-enforcement agency doing the same. Yet that's exactly what the NCAA > proposed when it sought out cooperation from the states, the NFL and its > players association to deal with an "age-old problem that not just one group > or organization can solve on its own." > > Where the secretary of state's effort goes from here is anyone's guess. A > hearing on its request for an unredacted copy of the NCAA notice of > allegations outlining nine violations as well as records of interviews > conducted by NCAA staff is set for Nov. 28. The office is running on a > limited budget, although some of its subpoenas, especially those involving > Blake's financial ties to the late NFL agent Gary Wichard, suggest it might > be onto something. Though no one in the office will say as much, they were no > doubt hoping that several other states whose flagship schools got caught > breaking rules because of improper contact with agents would take up the > cause. None have thus far. > > Few organizations like to conduct their business in public, which hardly > makes the NCAA an exception. But policing the schools, or at the very least > helping the schools to police themselves, is the reason the NCAA exists in > the first place. And if it can't be counted on to provide cooperation in an > instance like this, it has to make you wonder what else the organization > might be hiding. > > --- > > Jim Litke is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to > him at jlitke(at)ap.org. Follow him at htttp://Twitter.com/JimLitke. > > > > -- > GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! > 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions > 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions > 2008 National Football Champions | > Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), > Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us > -- > GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! > 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions > 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions > 2008 National Football Champions | > Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), > Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -- GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us
