Free Dez Bryant!: Oklahoma State Waits, NCAA Delays Deion Sanders Case

(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

"He's not doing good," Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy said on Monday when asked how All-American wide receiver Dez Bryant is handling his ineligibility.

"Not being able to play in the last three games, it's extremely difficult for him to handle that."

"The penalty has certainly achieved. I mean, it's worked."

Intentional or otherwise, Gundy's words serve as a subtle jab at the NCAA, an organization too afraid of legal liability to directly suspend a college player, that instead intimidates its member universities into holding athletes in question out of action.

Such is the case of Bryant, who was recently caught in a lie regarding a spring visit with former NFL All-Pro Deion Sanders. So long as there wasn't an agent present (and one would suspect that is the primary focus of the NCAA's current investigation), it does not appear that any major violation occurred that would disqualify Bryant.

So exactly what "penalty" has he been serving?

Despite repeated questioning, Gundy has done his best to walk the fine line of "no comment" mandated by the NCAA while at the same time supporting a player he recruited and nurtured into a surefire 2010 NFL Draft pick.

Gundy's implied point is that Dez has done his time...and continues to do time.

The de facto suspension will extend to four games this weekend. It has demoralized Stillwater's superstar, brought him back down to earth (something opposing defenses never could accomplish), and made him realize the error in his ways. Bryant conveyed as much in a recent letter to the NCAA, in conjunction with last Tuesday's visit to Indianapolis.

Seems like just punishment, if not overkill for an immature, panic-stricken college football player who so far is only guilty of lying, doesn't it?

Mission accomplished.

Bryant's better for it, having learned a valuable life lesson. And so are the Pokes, who haven't been defeated since losing their most dynamic threat and are prepared to welcome him back to a championship-caliber team.

So, if there's nothing else, Gundy and the rest of college football would like to see Bryant in uniform again, preferably before next weekend's prime time showdown with BCS No. 3 Texas.

Yet, the NCAA refuses to offer any insight into what's being done to further this investigation, much less provide a time frame for a decision.

"You're guess is as good as mine," said a dual palms-up Gundy, admirably masking the exasperation that afflicts all college football coaches cornered in the NCAA waiting lounge.

In a matter of months, Bryant will have the support of the NFL Players Association. Say what you will about the impotence of that entity in the face of the most domineering commissioner in league history. It still beats the imbalance of leverage with which Bryant is contending.

In professional sports, athletes routinely play through appeals, placing the onus on the governing body to make a ruling in a timely manner in order to enact a punishment.

Who puts the bur in the NCAA's saddle? Who represents a student-athlete against an organization so ill-equipped to conduct investigations such as these in a timely fashion?

At best, a university compliance officer who's trained in fire prevention, not firefighting, and whose loyalties ultimately lie with his or her employer (in this case, Oklahoma State) not the individual (Bryant).

As a result, the NCAA gets away with punishing Bryant indefinitely, without even having to define the punishment.

And the next time we see Bryant in a Cowboys uniform, it's just as likely to be Dallas' as Oklahoma State's.

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