Over the past couple of weeks, I have been discussing the series of punishments handed down by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) upon the schools and individual players involved in what is known as the “agent scandal”. Now another twist in this story has come into play. An agent by the name of Josh Luchs has come forward to confess his crimes. Luchs has come forward and confessed that he had broken NCAA violations by giving players money. In his “confession” to Sports Illustrated, Luchs estimates he paid more than thirty players over a six year span. Also, Luchs did not hesitate to release the names of players who accepted money from him.
Josh Luchs confession has revealed to the public that the agent scandal has been going on for quite some time. Now that more names have come to the surface of players who have accepted improper benefits, is the NCAA going to investigate these allegations and punish their schools like the NCAA sanctioned USC? Wouldn’t that be the fair thing to do? There is no way that the NCAA could look into all of these cases. However the release of this information asks a simple question: is there a way to fix this problem? If so, then how? Numerous of solutions to this problem have been suggested in open debates on radio talk shows and sports news shows such as ESPN’s Sports Center. However, no current action, known to the public, has been taken to try to stop this problem. Ralph Cindrich, a sports agent, said in a radio interview that he would guess that approximately 70 to 75 percent of athletes have broken the rules. In other words, the majority of athletes have broken rules making this problem extremely widespread. Cindrich went all to say that he didn’t think the problem could be solved unless the whole system was changed. Personally, I agree with Cindrich. I do not see any way to rid collegiate athletics of the agent scandal completely. There apparently has been illegal agent-player contact in the past and more than likely there will continue to be illegal agent-player contact in the future. Whether the NCAA searches for a solution to the fix the problem or whether they just let it be, the NCAA needs to make a decision and stick to it.
Lately, NCAA collegiate sports have been a stir. Along with some of the athletes being paid over the years, Bruce Pearl (Men's Tennessee Baksetball Coach) has hosted recruits inside of his home as future prospects of the team. With this situation, Pearl hosted a cookout housing the recruits inside of his home and later asking them to keep quiet about it. Usually, the NCAA enforces its rules heavily when it comes to eligibility as recruits. Although for these actions taken Bruce Pearl would usually be fired, but somehow the university has managaed to protect him from the NCAA itself, sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story. Allegedly, bruce knowingly violated the rules of the NCAA. Hosting and paying recruits are two major rules of the NCAA. It's difficult to understand by most why coaches would be taking such high risks regarding their careers and this also affecting their teams. What can the NCAA do to penalize the happenings of these violations and yet still be fair?
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