Bubba Cunningham
Let’s talk a little bit more about the Rice Commission.
Bubba Cunningham put out a statement with smoke between every line after Condoleezza Rice threw his school under the bus. Someone like Rice, who knows next to nothing about college athletics, isn’t going to fix what is wrong. But mentioning Carolina was a cheap way to get inside some nodding heads.
“Sweeping reform?” Where have we heard that before? Probably from former NCAA chiefs or conference commissioners without enough savvy to truly understand how the system works in its underbelly. Those guys have lost their jobs long ago.
The one-and-dones? That is controlled by the NBA Players Association who voted in the 19 year-old minimum age rule. For every LeBron James and Kobe Bryant there are 20 Tony Bradley’s who have no business going out after their freshman year, chasing guaranteed money that won’t last very long.
One-and-dones cost NBA teams for players who aren’t worth it yet. The developmental league helps give the one/dones who can’t play in the NBA somewhere to go, but veteran roster spots are always in jeopardy. Besides, power college teams like the rule because they get all of them. The other schools don’t.
Penalize college coaches? Tell that to Auburn, which hired Bruce Pearl after he was banned for three years, and Cal State-Northridge, which hired Mark Gottfried and should have known he got N.C. State in big trouble the Pack is now dealing with.
Control AAU Basketball? Good luck with that. Some of it is very good for the game and kids who play in those leagues. Most of it is legal and benefits their growth and pathways to college. Some of it is illegal and leads to what happened at Louisville. But that line is so blurred that the NCAA will only get involved when the Feds drop something in their laps.
The biggest fear of so-called sweeping change is that the non-profit, tax-exempt college athletic departments and related fund-raising organizations will lose that status, and then the entire financial model will have to be turned on its head, which would force most schools to abandon or cut college athletics drastically.
Condi Rice was chosen because she can only pontificate, and that makes NCAA President Mark Emmert look good by comparison. Let’s go back to what I said yesterday, major rules changes must be voted in by the schools. And that ain’t happening.
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