Open Mic: Surprise! The NCAA Needs to Stop Improper Benefits

The NCAA has had student athletes receiving improper benefits for just about its entire existence.

The NCAA punishes its programs by stripping scholarships and imposing postseason bans but merely suspending the student-athletes for a few games.

These antiquated punishments are no longer deterrents for student athletes to accept improper cash and gifts or for programs to step in and stop the infractions. The NCAA cannot punish a player who enters a professional draft.

For most of these student athletes, "erasing" of records and accomplishments have no bearing on them because all they want to do is make it to the pros.

A new system would include punishments handed down from professional sports leagues to players who were previously involved with handlers paying out improper benefits.

These punishments could range from restitution and community service (i.e. speaking to collegiate student athletes about receiving cash and gifts from handlers) to suspensions for the more egregious offenders.

Although student athletes who receive or have received improper benefits from handlers play many collegiate sports, most play basketball and football.

The kids who have a chance to make an impact in Division I are coddled throughout high school. 

These student athletes receive many gifts like cell phones and clothes and are not subject to the same rules as the other students.  Sometimes they have grades fixed for them.

These particular student athletes may have their entourages comparable with one that may follow a professional boxer. The handlers often make contact with student athletes before they even consider a program to commit.

The NBA's rule of requiring players to be 19 years old or be one year removed from high school has brought a new element to the world of improper benefits and shady dealings.

This rule has lead to more basketball players forfeiting the final three years of eligibility in hopes of making a large payday in the NBA.

Instead of a member of the high school booster club giving the kids money and gifts, agents and their runners now make contact with these student athletes in high school. 

They offer cash and gifts in exchange for representing these student athletes in the NBA like O.J. Mayo and BCA Sports.

The NCAA cannot totally prevent the agents, runners, and other handlers from making connections with these student athletes, but they can make these connections more difficult to make.

The NCAA can educate high school coaches and administrators on how to identify handlers and students who appear to receive improper cash and gifts, and students on how to resist the temptations that come with connections with handlers, as well.

The NCAA can work with the professional sports leagues to new ways to eliminate the incentive of giving out improper benefits.

Some new ways might be to ban these agents from representing any other player in the future or finding ways to prosecute these handlers in a court of law.

The NCAA and professional sports leagues (primarily the NBA and the NFL) need to avoid systems that inhibit one another from policing infractions in the area of improper benefits.

The bottom line is if the NCAA can force student athletes who transfer for legitimate reasons to forfeit a year of eligibility, then they can also find ways to stop student athletes from receiving improper benefits and not being punished.