College Football 2012: The NCAA and Why the New Rules Won't Change Things

One of the best perspectives opining on the NCAA and the rules has come from The Chronicles of Higher Education. Yesterday, The Chronicles of Higher Ed had a quick story on Kathryn Shea, a professor of sports management, and her study on NCAA violations and the issues surrounding the discovery of these violations.

It is, as has proven the case time and again with the publication, an intriguing read that I highly recommend to those of you interested in college athletics from a more than "root for my team" standpoint.

The most interesting findings revolved around programs unwillingness to truly self report violations and the NCAA's movement away from stiff, financially damning penalties. With regards to self reporting, it just doesn't make sense to self report anything but minor, secondary violations. Too much money, wins and program progress at stake for schools to blow the whistle on themselves.

As for financial penalties, the stark contrast between the heavy levying of post-season and television bans prior to 1997 and the limited usage of such tools since, speaks to the NCAA protecting their properties financially.

Not a tremendous surprise as the teeth have gone from the NCAA as the money has increased. Tough for the organization out of Indianapolis to get tough on schools when they need those very same schools to drive their biggest cash cow, the NCAA tournament.

As the NCAA looks to rev up their enforcement policy in the coming years many expect this financial penalties trend to be reversed. The plan calls for longer postseason bans, more scholarships lost and direct budget cutting as penalties for major violations. It's a good theory and one that a lot of folks are on board with.

The problem with this it assumes people will be forthcoming with information. The NCAA doesn't catch people, they collect information from others. From disgruntled pseudo-agents like at USC. From reporters who break stories like at Miami. From a terrified school that bares its soul in a state of panic like at North Carolina.

The idea is that stiffer penalties are going to make people fly straight. That wasn't the case in the past when schools got slammed, yet their peers continued to carry-on in their own rule-abusing fashion.

It most likely will not be the case now. Schools are more apt to get better at hiding their dirt than they are to self-report violations or stop cheating altogether. That's the nature of the beast. Seeing USC absorb their penalties, tremendously harsh by today's current standard, didn't stop North Carolina or Ohio State. As Shea tells it:

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“You can write any rule you want,” she says, “but if you don’t have people reporting or catching violations, it won’t mean a thing.”

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That's where we are. Wins mean a lot. Money means even more. With those two things driving the system and an enforcement staff that is waiting on tips like crime stoppers, don't expect teams to stop their behind the scenes dealings. Things that have been a part of the sport for decades like free cars, under the table cash and extra benefits aren't going anywhere, new rules or not.