A JERSEY GUY: NCAA Needs To Penalize Louisville--The School, Not The Team
The news buzz item this week in college basketball was that the NCAA released its allegations against a Louisville basketball program then run by Rick Pitino.
The charges were significant and specific, including Pitno--who was fired 3 years ago--who was charged with running a program which "failed to present an atmospphere'' of compliance.''
Pitino spent a few years in exile coaching in Europe. Over the winter he re-appeared as the new basketball coach at Iona College in New York.
Pitino, not surprisingly, responded with a statement in which he said, "I firmly disagree with this allegation and will follow the protocols in addressing the allegation through the administrative process.''
There you have it. They said. He said.
Who do you believe?
What's next?
Louisville did what it could almost immediately, firing Pitino as well as athletic director Tom Jurich.
But that was yesterday's news. Now we are in the penalty phase of the process.
The knee jerk reaction would be to place Louisville, which is not a first-time NCAA rule offender under Pitino, with scholarship losses and probation.
There was even some chatter about the "Death Penalty'', the NCAA rule which was evoked 33 years ago when it shutdown a habitual rule breaking SMU football program.
I saw that unfold up close and personal. For five years from 1982 through 1987, I covered college football for the Dallas Morning News and saw the massive rule breaking, led by SMU, in the old Southwest Conference.
The NCAA caught SMU cheating time after time, penalized and waned them and then penalized them again.
Nothing short of shutting down the football program seemed to work.
Finally they did it. The SWC disappeared in a merger with the Big 8 and SMU football has never ever returned to its once elite national status.
It was a penalty that is unlikely to be utilized again, since it has far reaching consequences beyond a single bandit program.
Which brings us back to Louisville and Pitino, who claimed he had no direct knowledge of what was happening under his watch--which is impossible to believe from a micro-manager such as Pitino.
Here's my solution. Penalize Louisville heavily, but do it financially.
New men's basketballl coach Chris Mack and his recruits should not be penalized for Pitino's misdeeds.
No probation. No loss of scholarships for the program. But Louisville, as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference takes in approximately $36 million a year in media ritghts fees.
Let the Cardinal administration make do with 18 million a year for two years.
As for Pitino and Iona College, let them deal with some consequences. Iona knew Pitino's past when it hired him. He is not innocent in this matter.
Let him and Iona pay a price as well--say a 15 game suspension when college basketball eventually resumes..
Both penalties are measured and sever enough to send a message, but limit the consequences for those not directly involved.
The NCAA has always been a reactive, rather than pro-active orginization. This is a chance to create some new footprints.