Myles Brand, Letting The Big Guys Get Away With It

Atlanta, Ga - NCAA inaction is punishing those who do it right.  The only explanation I can postulate is that Myles Brand, the head of the NCAA, was bullied in high school and trying to catch up for lost time with his new-found power.

First, one should look at Brand's stint at Indiana where he was president of the university.  He fired a good coach in Bobby Knight who probably intimidated Brand each time they passed each other on campus.  Knight fit perfectly, however, into Brand's calculated assent to the top of the NCAA. 

While Knight was brash and hot-tempered, he was a fantastic coach who had his kids' priorities straight and happened to make a few headlines for Indiana - both good and bad.  Any publicity, however, is good publicity, so they say.  Let's face it, if you are Indiana, you need any publicity you can get.  You can't earn top party school every year.  

A quick look at Knight's credentials places him among the greats of college basketball.  He is the winningest coach in college basketball history, has won the NIT, NCAA, and Olympic gold, maintained a 98% graduation rate for his players, and is well respected amongst his peers.  Did you know that Mike Krzyzewski was once a Knight player?

Brand, in a move to become head of the NCAA, instituted a "zero-tolerance" policy against Knight when it became apparent the NCAA would soon need a new person to steer its ship.  Though Knight's teams were never put on probation and were successful both on and off the court, Knight's antics placed in the middle of Brand's trap.  Yes, Knight actions were over the top, but he never cheated and players regularly thank him for their personal and professional development.

After firing Knight, Brand appeared to be the embodiment of an administrator who was tough on coaches and maintained institutional control.  He was exactly what the NCAA wanted in a leader.  Instead, however, it's become abundantly apparent that Brand was a sheep in wolf's clothing.

Fast forward to 2008 for a brief look at the Myles Brand led NCAA.  Apparently, "zero-tolerance" only applies to Indiana.  While Brand fired Knight and hammered Indiana with penalties for Kelvin Sampson's blatant disregard for the rules, other universities have gotten a pass.  Brand appears to have shifted his focus from overpowering bullies to being a popular do-nothing administrator for the largest institutions.  Meanwhile, the schools who comply with NCAA rules are disadvantaged.  Either Brand is a conniving politician or he is still grappling with childhood issues.

To illustrate Brand's do-nothing approach, one should look westward towards the Pacific Ocean, land of the stars, home to OJ Simpson, Britney Spears, and Yahoo.  Of course, we are talking about doing a case study of the University of Southern California. 

USC is a media darling who seems to receive the benefit of the doubt any time the writers get an opportunity to help them.  When LSU won the BCS Championship in 2003, the writers gladly handed USC an AP national title after beating a 2-loss Michigan team 28-14, despite USC's absence in the actual national title game.

(On a side note: When I lived in LA, I saw a man at an Olive Garden wearing a red USC shirt saying "3-Time National Champions: 2003, 2004, 2005."  I thought, "USC didn't play in the Title in 2003, they legitimately won the title in 2004; and is it me, or didn't they LOSE to Texas in 2005?")

Between the Reggie Bush scandal and the OJ Mayo scandal, it is obvious that there is a lack of institutional control at Southern Cal.  Amazingly, there is also a lack of sanctions imposed by the NCAA, led by Myles Brand. 

When news of the Reggie Bush scandal on broke on Yahoo, the trigger happy writers were reluctant to publish the story while Yahoo kept publishing and publishing and publishing.  Yahoo did quite a diligent report about the Reggie Bush scandal when no other media outlet wanted to address the issue.  In their research, they learned that Bush took multiple gifts and even accepted an expensive home from an agent for his parents.  The evidence is traceable, tangible, and compelling, yet, the NCAA has refused to do anything.  Maybe Brand is waiting for Bush to make his statements official under oath, but even so, it is ridiculous that Brand hasn't levied a single sanction against USC, when the head of the NCAA was so tough on Knight as president of Indiana.  This isn't USC's first major violation, either, which makes it even more difficult to swallow Brand's ambivalence and inaction. 

OJ Mayo is another glaring example of a USC athlete thumbing his nose at the rules.  In high school and as a USC basketball player, Mayo received numerous gifts from Rodney Guillory.  Again, the evidence is documented and public, yet, there has been no punishment doled out to USC.  Keep in mind that a kid who receives a suit at another university will get punished, but due to USC's prominence, Brand won't make a move against the Trojans.  Two USC athletes have committed MAJOR violations of NCAA rules, yet Brand won't act.

Isn't Brand the guy who had a "No-Tolerance" policy at Indiana? 

While Oklahoma was caught in a similarly large scandal, it isn't quite the media favorite as USC.  Oklahoma was forced to forfeit their eight wins in 2005 and lost two scholarships for two years.  While this is action, it isn't really significant considering Oklahoma didn't achieve anything notable that year.  Additionally, two scholarships out of 85 won't make a team limp into the next season.  Maybe I should adjust this argument, however, and give the NCAA a little credit.  They aren't do-nothing, they just discriminate based on your popularity among the media and your success on the field.  If you had an average season, it's acceptable to punish you.  If the AP doesn't love you, it's acceptable to punish you.

There are other institutions, though, that are far from bastions of control.  Phil Fulmer's football team has more run-ins with the law than any Dennis Erickson coached football team.  If the players are good, you can bet Phil will have them on the field on Saturday.  At Florida, kid's are wielding AK-47's!  When is this acceptable?!?!  Even the Bengals have reigned in their players!

Myles Brand is an embarrassment to the institution of college athletics.  By failing to act properly, he punishes those who do it right.  The one time he did act, he punished a man who was doing it right.  We don't need a politician running the system who lets the pupular institutions push him around.  We need a person with conviction and strength like Roger Goodell, the head of the NFL, to come in and cleanup the corruption in college sports and enforce the rules.  If we found someone like that, maybe we could get rid of the BCS and actually find a fair system.  If we found someone like that, maybe all institutions would be treated the same. If we found someone like that, maybe EVERYONE would get fair and equal punishments.

Until then, the teams that aren't the USC's of the world will have to live in fear that they will be an example, while the big guys get away with cheating.  Until then, we'll have to be satisfied with what we get...  A do-nothing politician who takes care of the Big Boys.