INTERCOLLEGIATE RECRUITMENT VIOLATIONS AND PRESSURES

Intercollegiate Recruitment Violations and Pressures Alexandra Adams Georgia State University

INTERCOLLEGIATE RECRUITMENT VIOLATIONS AND PRESSURES In the intercollegiate world student athletes and programs must be governed by

organizations in order to maintain rules and provide a regulated atmosphere in the world of sport. Athletes are recruited to play on the college level, on university teams by the NCAA, NAIA, or NJAA. Though there are other organizations, the NCAA governs the largest amount of University leveled athletics. The NCAA is a regulatory organization that according to Siedentop (2012) ensures to, Protect the athlete and to ensure reasonably equal competition among schools trying to influence young athletes to attend their universities. (p. 283). NCAA rules though often criticized for being overly strict include many regulations in a universitys pursuit of a wanted player, including the process of meeting, signing, communicating with the athlete, as well as regulating the amateurism of the player. Though the pressure to win, succeed and profit becomes exceedingly great for coaches and universities, in order to keep a sanctified and educational atmosphere for sport, the NCAA must maintain strict regulations to catch illegal recruiting, abide strictly by the rules, and harshly punish the offenders that disturb the peace of the collegiate athletic game.

Pressure becomes increasingly strong at the college level to produce star athletes in order to have winning records that coaches, alumni as well as the university will do almost anything they can to attract the most promising players. If succumbing to these pressures, the universities have thus violated the rules and regulation of its governing body and essentially cheated. With college sports being such a dominant industry in the athletic field it becomes imperative to regulate actions in order to ensure fair treatment, hold up university standards and abide by moral and societal laws in order to create a fair atmosphere for college athletics to perform fairly.

INTERCOLLEGIATE RECRUITMENT VIOLATIONS AND PRESSURES The NCAA, though difficult, distinguishes the vilest offenders and sanctions them

accordingly. Recruiting violations include such things as illegal compensation to attend schools, falsifying grades and transcripts, extra benefits to athletes that enroll at that particular university, and communicating and visiting prospects in illegal time frames. According to Stangel (2000), written in the University of Marquette Sports law review, One corrupt student athlete or coach can set an athletic program back for years and unquestionably damage reputation and finances of the university for several years. It is apparent that the idea of these teams to perform at their highest is imperative and therefore the pressure to receive the best athlete becomes far too high. Universities will break NCAA rules for several reasons. Attaining excellent players gives the university a better chance to win a championship which would result in a large production of money for the school and coaches, a good program creates better university life creating an increased want for students to attend, and revenue from broadcasting rights and apparel merchandise gives the school a high income rate. (Stangel, 2000). However, all this must be done with winning teams and typically the most winning of teams have exceptional athletes and players. Though for a multitude of reasons, the central idea in the appeal of cheating and violating NCAA standards is the lust after money and furthering ones own personal career as well as the Universitys reputation, however the cost is sometimes at the expense of a college athletes career and future.

Before anything is legally decided or any student verbally commits and signs, precautions must be taken place when universities want to recruit athletes. This is the first step in assuring athletic decency within collegiate sport. There are specific regulations recruiters must follow in order to get in touch with a student. The way they communicate, when and how they visit the player and what is discussed before commitment time is all regulated by the NCAA. If recruiters

INTERCOLLEGIATE RECRUITMENT VIOLATIONS AND PRESSURES violate communication periods or schedule unauthorized visits, the University will be penalized and jeopardize the scholarship and eligibility of the student (Weston, 2011). Overseeing this communication process is the first step taken place that universities must follow precisely in order to see that they legally receive their player of choice.

Once the communication process has been finished and a player has signed to a University, the athlete is now in the schools hands, however, all rules must still be followed by the organization. According to NCAA regulation, by no means is the University allowed to grant players money or give other compensation for that athlete to attend the school. The NCAA is charged through its membership, with regulating and administering collegiate sports to ensure that athletics are part of the educational process and to retain a clear line of demarcation between intercollegiate athletics and professional sports (Remington, 1983). A clear separation between collegiate teams and professional athletics is shown through the acceptance of money. If for example, a college athlete accepts a certain amount of compensation he or she would no longer be considered an amateur athlete and thus not be allowed to play, by NCAA rules. Similar to money compensation, student athletes are also not allowed to take other rewards that put them at an advantage of picking a school above another student. Similarly if such compensation is given and accepted, students could lose their eligibility to play for that University.

If the NCAA suspects a university of breaking the rules it will begin investigation for proof of cheating. If cheating is confirmed, sanctions will be handed to the university, which imposes severe consequences on the team, suspected players and coaches as well as the university as a whole. Consequences such as fines, suspensions, forfeit of games and championships, loss of eligibility, as well as an individual players reward losses are given to the

INTERCOLLEGIATE RECRUITMENT VIOLATIONS AND PRESSURES university depending on how severe the recruiting violation is (Remington, 1983). In May of 2008, reports surfaced that former University of California basketball player OJ Mayo had

received illegal gifts and money before and during his stint at the university. In 2010 after strong investigation by the NCAA, USC determined that Mayo had received improper rewards and thus retracted his amateur status even before his first game at the University of Southern California. USC vacated its winning games for 2007-2008 season and withdrew from post-season consideration in 2009-2010 (Clark & Batista, 2009). The pressure to win has become the goal of college athletes and to a cost it is being paid. The Mayo case depicts the severity of repercussion if NCAA regulation isnt abided by. The organization must continue to enforce the rules in order to tighten up on University recruiting violations and misconduct. The idea at the college level is to not be paid for being an athlete, it is to pursue in the sport world and develop on and off the court for educational and life-long purposes. The pursuit and lust after money should be held for that of only professional athletes.

Pressure to become an above average team and win championships seems to increasingly get worse. High profiled players are sought after in hopes that coaches and athletic programs will win and receive prestige, honor and of course money for themselves and the university. The lust after wants becomes overly high and thus the cheating and violation scandals begin to take place. The central idea of college athletics is to promote leadership, further educational purposes and provide healthy entertainment for sport diminishes drastically due to cheating and behaving inappropriately during recruiting. The NCAA has taken strong action to regulate such a trend within high profiled players and imposes major sanctions for violators. In order to keep college athletics as sanctified of a community as possible and return it back to educational level progression of the game of sport, it needs to continue to regulated and monitored.

INTERCOLLEGIATE RECRUITMENT VIOLATIONS AND PRESSURES References Siedentop, D. (2012). Physical Education Fitness & Sport. New York, New York: McGraw- Hill. Weston, M. (2011). NCAA Sanctions: Assigning Blame Where it Belongs. Boston College Law Review, 52(2), 551-583. Retrieved March 17, 2014 doi: 01616587/60848919 Stangel, k. (2000). Protecting Universities Economic Interests: Holding StudentAthletes and Coaches Accountable for Willful Violation of NCAA Rules. Marq. Sports L. Rev., 11(1), 137. Retrieved March 18, 2014 http://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/sportslaw/vol11/iss1/10 Remington, F. (1983). NCAA Enforcement procedures including the role of Infractions. JC & UL, 10, 181. Retrieved March 20, 2014 from doi: 45556/1111 Clark, R., & Batista, P. (2009). Do BCS National Championships Lead to Recruiting Violations? A Trend Analysis of NCAA Division I (FBS Infractions). Journal of Sport Administration & Supervision, 1(1). Retrieved March 18, 2014 from doi: 6776111.0001.104