University/Conference tie to the NCAA

The NCAA is the governing body in college athletics. From what I understand is the NCAA's responisbility to handle the monitoring of the amateur status of athletes and academic eligibility and so forth. While these ideals are very important, it seems to be the belief of most that the NCAA is most interested in promoting it's own prominence in college athletics than protecting universities and student athletes. This is an obvious case of what happens when a governing body is given power without checks.

My question is could there be a point when a university or conference would be so fed up with the hipocracy they could disband from the NCAA at least for a sport like football, and since the championship is not endorsed by the NCAA, still compete? Could the conference/university govern things "in-house?" Would the NCAA be powerless to stop them, or could their influence over the remaing universities be enough to kill a program?

Also does anyone feel we are close to that point?

 

I've often wondered this same thing. I don't know their contractual details w/ universities, but it would take one hell of a consortium of power schools to break off.

Having said that, three conferences could probably force the issue in football (SEC, ACC, Big XII) if they really really wanted to. And had an enormous risk tolerance, which I doubt most administrators have. SO the second half of the equation is determining what they have to gain.

 

You have to ask yourself who runs the NCAA? University Presidents and/or Chancellors do.

For the sake of argument, lets say one or more conferences choose to withdraw from the NCAA and start their own organization. Who do you think would be running this new organization? Yep, the University Presidents.

I agree the NCAA is in need of some major reform, but withdrawing from the NCAA is not the answer. We'll simply end up right back where we are now when the University Presidents screw up the new organization.

Maybe we can start by getting these University Presidents out of the athletic process...

 

Let me say this...I've worked in a number of universities athletics departments but don't claim to know the ins and outs of most NCAA compliance issues, but the NCAA does a lot more than just do investigations and dole out penalties. Once when I was bitching and moaning about an NCAA decision, an old boss of mine who was the AD and is now an assisstant AD at a major university, asked me - who is the NCAA? and who makes up the NCAA? Well of course the NCAA is made up of its 300+ member schools. NCAA decisions are usually mulled over by committees comprised of university presidents and ADs. Those in the hierarchy of the NCAA, like Miles Brand, were at one time for the most part either a university president, athletics director or some other athletics administrative personnel. To answer one of your questions, could a school drop out of the NCAA - yes, but it wouldn't behoove them to, and likely that school would end up in another organization - the NAIA or dropping athletics all together because they simply couldn't survive by themselves. Is there a possibility of a conference or two leaving the NCAA, yes, but highly unlikely. Because first off, those schools would only be able to compete against each other. And, they would need a guaranteed, big TV contract from some network because they'll be left out of bowl payouts, tournament revenue, ...etc. and those schools need some way to fund minor sports. I think the most likely scenario for change would be for it to happen inside the realm of the NCAA. Like in football, I could see the major power conferences try submitting legislation to break off into a Super Division and leave the mid-majors in Div. 1A and the others in Div. 1AA. But that would still have to be voted upon by the member schools. Anything I guess is possible but highly unlikely. After all, even a school like Tulane wanted changes made and the TU president Scott Cowan raised quite a stir about his stance on the haves and have-nots and heck it got Utah in the BCS.

 

I asked this question on the Neuheisel thread before I saw this:

The NCAA performs useful functions (or it wouldn't exist). If you want to leave, those functions must be performed by something else. How would you design it?

 

I've said for years that the SEC could break away from the NCAA and do their own thing in football. The television networks would break their necks to sign on and the SEC could crown its own Champion - I guarantee that the ticket sales and talent level would remain the same. Can you imagine playing 11 SEC games a year?

As for every other sport, it could never happen...

 

TSDUDE very good post. The NCAA is quite simply the colleges they govern broken up into commitees.

Back in the 70's, when the NCAA still controled TV revenue and contracts, approx. 70 schools were going to bolt if the NCAA didn't let schools start contracting with the TV networks by themselves and quit limiting the number of appearances. If the NCAA would not have went along with that I really believe there would be a new association in charge but it would still be some sort of governing body that most fans would dislike and be run very similar to the NCAA.

 

How/who would regulate football recruiting?

 

I understand your point. However, in today's world, it would take very little to establish a credible governing body with sufficient power and range. We pull this off every day in many different walks of life. A third party, hiring procedures, checks, voting regulations, on and on and on. Pay well and hire right - with a good balance it would work (in football). I can't get excited about basketball and baseball without March Madness and Omaha, but I can get excited about a secluded SEC Football League for a few years.

It would be fun to finally see who and where college football really is. It won't happen, but it could be pulled off (in football). It would be short-lived - but it would be fun...

 

Given the expectations placed on this organization by the general public, it's hard to imagine they could be met without subpoena and other legal powers. However, these will never be granted to non-governmental agencies. It's quite an easy thing to wave one's hand and say "Make it so." It's quite another to actually accomplish it when considering real world constraints. Other than shuffling org boxes around and changing people, most likely you would end up with something remarkably similar to what exists.