NCAA Football FanHouse

Indiana Reinstates QB Kellen Lewis, to the Delight of Tens of IU Football Fans

Mark Hasty — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 12:27:00 EST

Filed under: Indiana Football, Big 10, Indianapolis

Four months almost to the day after he was suspended for the perennial favorite "unspecified violation of team rules," Kellen Lewis has been reinstated to the IU football team. There is still no word on what, exactly, got Lewis sent to Bill Lynch's Naughty Chair, and it's a good bet we'll never officially know.

This is great news for all 34 fans of IU football, who had to endure the departure of the freakishly good wideout James Hardy, now a Buffalo Bill. The recent resurgence of IU football came largely from the Lewis-Hardy connection, who feasted on the bones of defenses that persistently failed to cover the underneath routes. (Not that I'm bitter about that or anything.)

IU now moves into a Hardy-less future, but having Lewis back calling the signals should provide some much-needed continuity for a team that needs leadership. The Hoosiers installed a no-huddle offense in spring practice, all of which Lewis missed. If Lewis can pick up the new system Indiana could make a run at the top four of the Big Ten, which figures to be as wide-open as it ever has been. If not, well, at least the bowl drought is over.

Indiana Reinstates QB Kellen Lewis, to the Delight of Tens of IU Football Fans originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Tue, 08 Jul 2008 12:27:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Best Moments in Big Ten Football History #5: Indiana's 2007 Season

Mark Hasty — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 11:40:00 EST

Filed under: Indiana Football, Big 10, Bowl Games, NCAA FB History, Indianapolis

To say that there haven't been a lot of great moments in the history of Indiana University football is more than an understatement. In 108 seasons of football the Hoosiers have won exactly two conference titles. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the University of Chicago has seven Big Ten football titles, and they quit playing big-time football in 1939.

Terry Hoeppner looked to be the one who could turn it around. He was that rarest of breeds, a proven college coach who didn't consider a stint in Bloomington to be an act of violence against his professional reputation. Hoeppner arrived from Miami University in 2005 and quickly installed self-confidence in his Hoosiers. He wasn't able to get them to a bowl game in his first two seasons, but anybody who followed the Big Ten had to figure it was just a matter of time.

Time, unfortunately, was running out. Hoeppner had a brain tumor and, following a rigorous course of treatment, the university announced that he would not coach in 2007. A few days after IU's announcement, Hoeppner died.

There are times you just wish the clock could stand still for a few days or weeks. But it doesn't, ever. The Hoosiers had only a little time to grieve for their coach. Most of us quietly wrote off Indiana's upcoming season, figuring the Hoosiers couldn't recover from the tragedy. We were wrong, of course.

Hoeppner's right-hand man was Bill Lynch, a very well-regarded offensive coordinator, but a coach whose previous stint as head coach at Ball State (1995-2002) had rather mixed results. He did lead the Cardinals to a bowl game in 1996 but never had a winning season after that, even enduring back to back 1-10 and 0-11 seasons. So there was yet one more reason to lower one's expectations.

Suddenly it was the first Sunday in October and IU was 5-1. Two more victories would cinch the Hoosiers their first bowl bid since 1993. The stretch run proved difficult, however. IU lost at Michigan State, at home to Penn State, and then again at Wisconsin. A home game with Ball State provided win #6, good enough for theoretical bowl eligibility, but not good enough to guarantee a postseason appearance.

The Hoosiers just fell short against Northwestern, 31-28, making the season closer against Purdue an even more meaningful game than usual. Not long after halftime IU was up 24-3, but Purdue tied the game with 3:39 to go. Indiana drove as far as they could, then, with 30 seconds to play, Austin Starr hit a 49-yard field goal to guarantee Coach Hoeppner's dream of "playing 13" would finally come true.

The Hoosiers went to the Insight Bowl to face Oklahoma State, a team apparently coached by a 40-year-old man. IU lost, 49-33, and it wasn't as close as the score might indicate. All's well that ends well, but even without a Hollywood ending, the 2007 season proved Hoosiers can play sports other than basketball, too.

Best Moments in Big Ten Football History #5: Indiana's 2007 Season originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Mon, 14 Apr 2008 11:40:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Colorado's Probation Was Avoidable

Brian Grummell — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:18:00 EST

Filed under: Colorado Football, Big 12, Indianapolis

There's a phrase that goes "the perfect is the enemy of the good". In college athletics, the NCAA often expects perfection with rules compliance from schools. when they aren't perfect, they suffer.

We told you recently about LSU's inability to provide peanut butter to its athletes so as to avoid NCAA scrutiny. Now, Colorado's been placed on two years probation after confusion led to them undercharging athletes for athletic department provided meals. It is that confusion which has a former Colorado staffer thinking probation was avoidable.

David Hansburg thinks CU administrators eventually might have realized the issues stemmed from unclear wording in a contract between the athletic department and its food vendors.

"Had the contract been worded differently, and it clearly stated what the food value of the meal was, we would not have been in violation,'' said Hansburg, CU's director of football operations for five seasons under former coach Gary Barnett and one season under current coach Dan Hawkins. "I think 95 percent of the universities out there would have looked at all the evidence available and not considered it a violation. "(But) we called the fire department, and they're going to come."

Simple confusion once again may have trampled an athletic department otherwise doing its best to reasonably provide for its athletes.

It gets better after the jump - learn about how some athletes skipped meals altogether.
Hansburg further elaborates on where it all went wrong:

he said the discrepancy came in the difference between what the meals cost the athletic department and their actual worth. Hansburg said what the contract with vendors identified as a $14 meal included labor expenses, equipment, etc.

"The value of the food was $4," he said. "If a kid pays $7, we are not in violation."

Freshman football walk- ons who lived in dormitories were encouraged to buy a full meal plan, which allowed them to eat at the training table once a day if they could not get to another dorm serving a meal.

Until about 2000, Hansburg said no dorms were available in-season for walk-ons at the dinner hour. But with one dorm serving dinner, the NCAA ruled a walk-on had an option - if he believed he could shower, reach the dorm during serving hours, then return to the Dal Ward Athletics Center for study table.

"A lot of kids just weren't eating - and I told that to the NCAA," said Hansburg, noting he believed CU had similar training-table practices as far back as 1996. The NCAA scrutinized a period from 2000-2005 and said 133 student-athletes from six sports were undercharged $61,700.

That's an awesome quote. Read that again: "a lot of kids just weren't eating".

The NCAA gets credit for giving the walk-ons an option, but at the end of the day it sounds like they had to rush to practice, eat and study. Not the heaviest burden in the world, but it reeks of inflexibility on the part of either Colorado or the NCAA. Rational choice for some athletes meant skipping meals, which is troubling.

(H/T: Larry Brown)

Previously at FanHouse:
NCAA President Myles Brand is Paid $895,000 to do What, Exactly?
NCAA Weary of Peanut Butter, Doesn't Mind Weed
NCAA Absurdity on Display With Supplement Issues
Colorado Feeds its Players too Much

Colorado's Probation Was Avoidable originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:18:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Should All NCAA Schools Screen Athletes for Sickle Cell Traits?

Brian Grummell — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 17:34:00 EST

Filed under: NCAA FB Campus, NCAA FB Injuries, NCAA Basketball Campus, NCAA Basketball Injuries, Indianapolis

The National Athletic Trainers Association recently released a report discussing sickle cell issues. Although they only "suggest but don't recommend" screening, they apparently are looking for increased awareness to sickle cell related issues as several young athletes have died from the condition in recent years.

The sickle cell gene is inherited. NATA says it is most common in people (including one in 12 African-Americans) originating from malarial regions and that "over the millennia, carrying one sickle cell gene fended off death from malaria."

Sickle cell trait differs from the disease sickle cell anemia, in which two sickle cell genes are present.

"It's typically a benign condition ... outside of an intense, sustained physical activity," said Scott Anderson, head athletic trainer at the University of Oklahoma and co-chair of NATA's sickle cell task force.

I think college football and basketball counts as a sustained physical activity. The good news is that according to the AP story, 64% of colleges responded to a survey saying they screen for sickle cell traits. Neither the NCAA or NATA appear to feel alarmed about the issue, although voluntary universal screening by member institutions would be a wise move assuming the costs aren't prohibitive.

I'm not much for the NCAA mandating things to schools and am not urging their energies here. However, this seems like a common-sense preventative health issue to make athletes aware that they may have a condition that could cause harm under physical strain. It would behoove schools to at least be aware of this and consider screening if they haven't already.

Should All NCAA Schools Screen Athletes for Sickle Cell Traits? originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Thu, 28 Jun 2007 17:34:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NCAA President Myles Brand Is Paid $895,000 To Do What, Exactly?

Brian Grummell — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:01:00 EST

Filed under: NCAA FB Fans, Indianapolis

The Indianapolis Star is reporting that NCAA President Myles Brand was paid $895,000 in salary, benefits and expenses last year. What for?

University of Hartford president Walter Harrison, whose term as head of the NCAA's executive committee ended in April, said Brand is doing a "spectacular job."

"The job is incredibly challenging in a way most people wouldn't recognize," Harrison said. "Most people think of the major headlines -- congressional inquiries, overseeing academic reform, the controversies of the day. But there are lots of other things, like how one keeps the peace among numerous constituencies. And, he's running a $500 million organization."

So, the parts of his job that nobody knows about, he handles with enough aplomb to merit 4% and 3% raises in the last two years. Cool. No problems there.

The problem is, the part of his job that people do see --- they tend to think he sucks at it. Congress is breathing down the NCAA's neck as it considers eliminating its tax-exempt status. There's a pending class-action lawsuit filed on the behalf of former and current athletes who are seeking greater compensation. In the college football world, the NCAA's weak investigation and enforcement powers, silly and inflexible rules and tone-deaf handling of something so basic like the clock rules have people furious with NCAA leadership. There's also that little supplement issue where schools are afraid to give their athletes peanut butter for fear of breaking the rules.

And then there's the kicker, Brand's stated position of having the NCAA's mission overlap with "social advocacy". Last I checked, social causes weren't really part of the organization's fundamental mission.

In fact, it looks like a perverse overreach and has eroded public trust in the organization. Save the advocacy for groups professionally committed to those tasks who have the expertise and clarity of mission to pursue such causes. The NCAA has other fish to fry and frankly I'm not sure it has done a superb job at handling some of its more pertinent, basic, fundamental issues.

I don't find fault with Brand drawing such an impressive salary. I'm a capitalist - I say more power to him and may he find ways to make much more money through whatever legal avenues he can. But I am curious and deeply skeptical as to whether he's earned it and whether both Brand and the NCAA can do better for what he is being paid.

(H/T: The Wiz)

NCAA President Myles Brand Is Paid $895,000 To Do What, Exactly? originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:01:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NCAA Absurdity On Display With Supplement Issues

Brian Grummell — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 14:09:00 EST

Filed under: LSU Football, Indianapolis

The NCAA regulates what kind of supplements and drugs universities can provide to their scholarship athletes. This is a good thing. However, some of their rules and regulations create problems. Says LSU Strength and Conditioning coordinator Tommy Moffitt:

"The NCAA came out with rules which say that we can't give muscle-building products.

"If we give [the athletes] weight-gain products, there must be a limit of 30 percent protein. That means all the rest, 70 percent, is bad stuff like sugar. Really, we couldn't give them peanut butter or milk. I've never understood that rule."

Strange, but it gets worse. A burden has been placed on the athletes who are quite often far less versed in the supplement world as to what's good or bad, legal or illegal.

When athletes are unable to get supplements from their school, they must go to other places - namely, health food stores. Now, difficulties can surface.

"It's so strict as to what we can give them, it forces the athletes to go to health food stores," Moffitt said. "(LSU Senior Associate Athletics Trainer) Shelly Mullenix and I evaluate what the athletes can and can't use.

"Our kids go to health food stores and ask if the supplements contain something that will cause them to fail a drug test. Some stores know the rules. But, there are some unscrupulous salesmen out there."

As a result, the LSU players are told to bring the products they purchase to Moffitt before they use them.

"We ask the players to bring to me what they buy," Moffitt said. "It never fails that someone brings something that would make him fail a drug test.

"By going to health food stores, it forces the players to buy things on their own. The players are more exposed to something that can make them fail a drug test."

So what we have here in some situations is cases of athletes potentially suffering punishment that could have been avoided if the schools had more leeway to provide supplements. Any accidental failure of an athlete thus becomes the athlete's fault but the school will also suffer in having lost the contributions of said athlete and prestige from a preventable drug test failure.
Even when schools are doing the right thing, mistakes can be made. Look no further than the controversy surrounding Oklahoma this week. The school reported secondary violations for providing two banned supplements to players.

The situation apparently involves a supplement company messing up the school's order in one case and the strength and conditioning staff failing to review the ingredient list of a second supplement. The names and types of supplements were not included in the report.

Oklahoma made a mistake, but it's a mistake almost any school could commit. As it stands, the NCAA has a small enforcement wing, placing the burdens of enforcement on the schools (or their rivals) to self-report any mistakes. Unfortunately some of the rules are unnecessarily inflexible such as with the case of LSU not being able to provide peanut butter to its athletes.

The NCAA means well but the current rules and expectations are sometimes unfair and burdensome.

Exceptions should be made for schools to provide certain basic foodstuffs and supplements. Enforcement should balance the spirit of the rules with the realization that mistakes can easily be made. Right now a certain information burden is placed on the athletes to stay within the rules when taking supplements outside of their schools' limited assistance. Their preventable mistakes should be treated with leniency until this burden can be narrowed given what we have seen here.

NCAA Absurdity On Display With Supplement Issues originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Sun, 17 Jun 2007 14:09:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Not Enough Minority Head Coaches? Here's A Fix

Brian Grummell — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 13:29:00 EST

Filed under: General CFB Insanity, NCAA FB Coaching, NCAA FB Scandal, Indianapolis, Washington, DC

Last Wednesday, Congress allocated some time to addressing the "lack of minority head coaches in college and NFL" issue. It's a serious and worthy issue, but I think for a while now its biggest advocates have been going about things inefficiently.

The basic assumption for some may be that the combination of "old boys networks" and just plain discrimination are the biggest obstables getting in the way of legitimate opportunities for minority head coaches. Although it's insane to argue in the face of that, I will say it may not be the major stumbling block preventing more hirings.

I think the real issue is a lack of minority coordinators.

Coaching is a funny business. Besides the informal buddy-buddy networks that do create opportunities for those within them, one other feature is fairly dominant: the Order of Operations. In school many years ago we all probably learned how to solve certain mathematic equations through the word PEMDAS. That is, Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiply, Divide, Add, Subtract.

Just as there's a natural order to basic math functions, there is a general order to ascending the coaching ladder. Although college and the NFL blend, young coaches must generally climb successive similar rungs to become head coaches.

In college, one's first position is often as a graduate assistant. The GA's are the lowest on the totem pole, often assisting position coaches and whatever else the head coach asks of them. After serving as GA's, they may jump to another GA spot at another school or be hired as an assistant/positition coach. Several years should follow at multiple schools assisting with various positions, learning lots of new ideas and ways to do things and networking with coaches from more than one school of thought.

Eventually, talented assistants will rise to the top and become offensive and defensive coordinators. This is a key point in a coaching career, because becoming an OC or DC is a lot like having that college degree, it gets you places. One also must manage an entire side of the ball, develop an offense or defense, develop game plans, create an agenda for the position coaches to follow and report to and work with the head coach. It's a lot of responsibility and one of those "sink or swim" jobs that can either elevate or destroy a career.

From a coordinator's position is where many coaches will launch their head coaching careers. There's almost no way around it except for a handful of coaches who somehow "pass go" without having been a coordinator (Mississippi's Ed Orgeron, for example).

A lack of minority head coaches indicates, at least in my mind, a lack in number or quality minority offensive and defensive coordinators. This should be the real push for those looking to see the necessary increase in minority head coaches. Lawsuits and embarrassment can only go so far when it's only reasonable that if there aren't many minority coordinators there won't be many head coaching opportunities.

Now, I don't have the hard data on how many minority coaches are coordinators in college and the NFL, but it makes sense that if talented minority coaches can saturate those ranks, head coaching opportunities will only continue to increase. Maybe I'm wrong and the proportion of minority coordinators is substantial enough that there should be more head coaches, but the coordinator issue remains important just the same.

Not Enough Minority Head Coaches? Here's A Fix originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Mon, 05 Mar 2007 13:29:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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UNC-Charlotte Wants A Football Team

Brian Grummell — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 14:28:00 EST

Filed under: NCAA FB Campus, NCAA FB Fans, NCAA FB Rumors, Charlotte, Indianapolis, Carolina

And they may just get one.

In fact, they'd join Division I in either the bowl or playoff subdivision. Not bad for an upstart program.

The issue was put to a vote within the student body. The results indicate that among participating students (38%), they're willing to support some form of a jump in student fees to accomodate the team and the majority are willing to travel modest distances to attend a home game.

The snag is that because UNC-Charlotte isn't a big-time program - its athletic teams are funded mostly through student fees. If the upkeep related to an average football team is in the millions of dollars, that comes out to a great many extra dollars on top of the usual college expenses mix of tuition/books/board/food/liquor. The Charlotte Observer puts a rough cost estimate at $8 million/year.

Students are already paying $450 in fees which may jump several hundred more dollars if the school adds football to its athletic department. A panel of impressively credentialed people has been assembled to study the issue further. Stay tuned, as they should be finished within a year.

(H/T: Google Alerts)

UNC-Charlotte Wants A Football Team originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Tue, 27 Feb 2007 14:28:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It's Time To Let USC and UCLA Party Like It's 1969

Brian Grummell — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 23:51:00 EST

Filed under: UCLA Football, USC Football, Pac 10, NCAA FB Fans, General CFB Insanity, NCAA FB History, NCAA FB Video, Indianapolis, Los Angeles

Back in the day when the NCAA wasn't so rule happy and quasi-repressive, competing teams were allowed to wear similar uniforms. Certain teams could wear their Saturday finest home uniforms, and their opponent could do the same. This was aesthetically pleasing and created something of a tradition between cross-town rivals USC and UCLA.

Those days are gone however, and we're left with NCAA Rule I, Article 3 (a):

Players of opposint teams shall wear jerseys of contrasting colors, and the visiting team shall wear white jerseys.

White jerseys per Rule I, Article 3 (b) are defined as follows:

A white jersey is one with only contrasting playing numbers, player's name, school name, NCAA Football logo, school insignia, conference insignia, mascot insignia, game insignia, memorial insignia or the American flag attached.

In other words if I'm home you're wearing the road uniforms or one of us is getting docked a timeout. To put it kindly, this is lame.

I guess the reasoning was that back in the day with people still owning black and white televisions it was difficult to distinguish the good guys from the bad guys. Times have changed and the dinosaurs who before owned black and white TV's are now the ones who have yet to hop on HD train. With technology and the great American wealth machine doing the sport a favor, it's time to put the kibosh on this rule and restore a particular tradition within one of the game's great rivalries.

There's a famous painting of the 1967 USC/UCLA game well known to fans of both schools. In it, Trojan tailback O.J. Simpson is seen near the goal line amid a pile of football bodies. His home cardinal and gold complements the powder keg blue and gold of UCLA's players attempting to prevent a touchdown run. It's a beautiful scene and for a while was representative of the rivalry until the rule came into use some years later.

There's been talk in recent years of reviving this tradition, but neither Trojan coach Pete Carroll nor UCLA coach Karl Dorrell has been willing to part with timeouts to make it happen. This is tragic - but hopefully the NCAA can get around to either giving these teams an exemption or modifying the rule somehow to add just a little more tradition and prestige to this great game.

I've added the YouTube video of Simpson's famous 64-yard touchdown run below. The 1967 game was actually one of the better college football games ever played, matching number one UCLA against number two USC. The stars were UCLA's eventual Heisman trophy winner quarterback Gary Beban and USC's Heisman runner-up and 1968 winner tailback O.J. Simpson. USC would win 21-20 thanks to Simpson's run, catapulting them to the national championship.
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It's Time To Let USC and UCLA Party Like It's 1969 originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Mon, 19 Feb 2007 23:51:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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College Football Fan Hypocrisy Knows No Bounds

Brian Grummell — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 12:04:00 EST

Filed under: Penn State Football, USC Football, Big 10, Pac 10, NCAA FB Fans, NCAA FB Gossip, NCAA FB Recruiting, NCAA FB Rumors, General CFB Insanity, NCAA FB Police Blotter, NCAA FB Scandal, Indianapolis, Los Angeles

Let's try a little exercise for a moment here. Close your eyes and think of a 'crooked' college football program. What comes to mind? USC? Florida State? Ohio State? Alright now close your eyes and think of a 'clean' college football program. Now what comes to mind? Penn State probably tops that list what with Joe Paterno and all the talk of doing things the right way, right?

But is there really a significant ethical difference between many of these schools?

Let's take a closer look at Penn State for a moment. They've spent the greater part of four decades cultivating an image as college football's white picket fence and apple pie team. They are led by the amiable, cuddly and grandfatherly Joe Paterno, among the most respected coaches in the game's history. They wear simple blue and white uniforms without names on the backs. They play in gritty central Pennsylvania and graduate their players.

But beneath that veneer is just enough to make you wonder.

The big recruiting hoopla this week was over USC's alleged recruiting violation in pursuit of Joe McKnight. USC coach Pete Carroll allegedly had McKnight directly or indirectly speak with Reggie Bush, a no-no per NCAA rules as Bush and all former players are considered boosters.

Well guess what, Penn State is perhaps just as guilty of a similar violation. When the Nittany Lions hosted tailback Broderick Green a few weekends ago, he met at least two former Nittany Lion players: Larry Johnson Jr. and Tamba Hali.

Broderick Green took an official visit to Penn State two weeks ago and came back very excited about his time in Happy Valley. He got to speak with Larry Johnson Jr. and Tamba Hali as the two were in town for the weekend.

"He called me from Penn State and he was so excited," [Green's Mother Wilma] Mrs. Murdock told BWI. "When he wasn't calling me, I was calling him. He loved the place and fell in love with the players."

Exsqueeze me? Whistle blowing time here. Based on what we've learned from the Joe McKnight situation this sounds like a similar recruiting violation. Last I checked Hali and Johnson are big name former Nittany Lions who are clearly classified as Boosters in NCAA rulespeak.

Noticeably absent is the requisite media firestorm about this apparent violation.

Update: Several commenters add that for various technicalities this is in fact not a violation. Apparently booster contact is illegal, except when it isn't illegal. Iike I wrote yesterday, welcome to the hell that is NCAA bylaws.

Ethically Penn State is also dubious at best here according to at least one standard: recruiting players who are verbally committed to another school. Green had been a longtime public commit to USC for almost a year. It's not really a big deal but so many people make hay about schools pursuing committed players it should be noted that Penn State is just as guilty as the next guy.

The strategy worked so well that Penn State felt they had Green in the bag come signing day. They had an urgent need for a tailback yet only pursued a committed guy (Green) and a player coming back from junior college in LeSean McCoy. Their brazen arrogance is clearly on display here.

Not every player on the Penn State roster is an angel, either. Former defensive lineman LaVon Chisley was arrested last month and arraigned on murder charges for the death of a student who was stabbed 93 times. He's innocent until proven guilty but that's a heck of a charge.

And finally there's sweet old JoePa himself. He's a nice enough guy and all but he can also be a real jerk. Several years ago with no solicitation he accused USC wide receiver Dwayne Jarrett of being unfit for college.

"There is a great wideout in the country now playing for one of the best football teams in the country, if not the best football team in the country, New Jersey, we never even looked at because of the academics and things like that," said Paterno, according to Penn State's transcript of his news conference.

"We could take a step backwards, but that is not what I wanted to do for Penn State and I am not going to do for Penn State."

The comment was lacking in tact, substance and class and was shocking coming from Paterno. He never apologized nor backed down from the comment. Classy, Joe, classy.

I write all of this not out of an animus against Penn State but to make a point: college football's long fan history of mudslinging is hypocritical. Penn State is a great light for the game but they clearly have their faults. If the purest among us are doing bad things perhaps it's best to refrain from gathering the torch and pitchfork after every accusation against a major program.

This is big time college football, every single program is going to sin and sin often. A fans' hypocrisy often knows no bounds and it's best to be mindful of how things really are before casting aspersions against rival programs.

College Football Fan Hypocrisy Knows No Bounds originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Tue, 13 Feb 2007 12:04:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NCAA Tells Oklahoma Something It Already Knew

Brian Grummell — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 01:28:00 EST

Filed under: Oklahoma Football, Big 12, NCAA FB Police Blotter, NCAA FB Scandal, Indianapolis

College football's governing body informed Oklahoma this week that their compliance kinda messed up in about as many words.

The NCAA alleges Oklahoma failed to adequately monitor the employment of several athletes, including some football players who worked during the academic year.

Well no freaking duh. Either the NCAA was just being thorough or it moves about as fast as a glacier. The story broke in August and it's now February.

Either way, Oklahoma and everyone else in college football already realizes the nature of the alleged violation. Oklahoma responded swiftly in booting quarterback Rhett Bomar and offensive lineman J.D. Quinn off the team after it was learned they were involved in a cash for fake work scheme at a nearby auto dealership.

How much of this is Oklahoma's actual fault is anybody's guess but the Sooners did respond quickly and that has to be given some weight at their hearing before the NCAA in April. I'm more apt to blame the players, as Bomar was twice arrested during his short Sooner stay for underage drinking, once while at an NBA game.

All of this and more is what is troublesome about college football's offseason. What passes for news this week is mostly a series of allegations against big time programs for recruiting improprieties and the rehasing of old gaffes whose expiration date passed long ago.

When's spring ball? Please tell me it's tomorrow somewhere, anywhere. Is there a college football team in Alaska we can follow for a few weeks? Can USC or Florida assemble a skeleton squad and barnstorm? Where is the real news? Aaaaargh.

NCAA Tells Oklahoma Something It Already Knew originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Tue, 13 Feb 2007 01:28:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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07 Issues: Recruiting Insanity

Brian Grummell — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 16:25:00 EST

Filed under: Clemson Football, USC Football, ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Big East, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac 10, SEC, WAC, NCAA FB Fans, NCAA FB Gossip, NCAA FB Recruiting, NCAA FB Rumors, NCAA FB Coaching, NCAA FB Scandal, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Illinois Football

Signing Day came and went almost a week ago but recruiting is still a hot topic in college football. The FanHouse has been all over the issue this week. As always, USC leads the headlines with Joe McKnight's communications with Reggie Bush and the limo sent to a recruit. Both are obscure no-no's. But there's also a storm brewing at Clemson between the divergent missions of the university and the football team. And then this morning came news of Urban Meyer's near-violation of yet another obscure rule.

In the years I've followed recruiting I don't recall this much carryover of issues a week after signing day. Perhaps this is because of the rise of the recruiting websites, perhaps it's because of the game's tremendous popularity right now. Perhaps a million other things but this may be the proverbial bubbling before cauldron's lid bursts off.

And perhaps it's because a Midwestern school with great pull managed to register their complaints against lowly Illinois and its big recruiting class all the way into the pages of the New York Times.

Look no further than Brian's entry today about NCAA President Myles Brand forming a committee to review recruiting practices to see that things are definitely heating up.

As for remedies, Brian suggests getting rid of the idea of singing day. Eh. I'd rather they just simplify and reduce the rules and ask that the NCAA spend the necessary dollars to credibly enforce them. Of course the NCAA has earned the reputation of a bad lover over the years, all take and no give so my suggestion is probably pie in the sky but you never know.

07 Issues: Recruiting Insanity originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Mon, 12 Feb 2007 16:25:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pete Carroll Is Not Backing Down

Brian Grummell — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 12:47:00 EST

Filed under: USC Football, Pac 10, NCAA FB Gossip, NCAA FB Rumors, NCAA FB Coaching, NCAA FB Scandal, Indianapolis, Los Angeles

Say what you want about Pete Carroll, the man has backbone. In the face of allegations that he violated an NCAA recruiting rule and video of said recruit saying the violation happened, Carroll remains stridently confident of USC's innocence in the matter.

From the Daily News' USC beat Writer Scott Wolf's blog:

Regarding the Joe McKnight situation, the last time Pete Carroll sounded this confident about an NCAA controversy was Dwayne Jarrett's living arrangement.

"I'm not backing down on this one," Carroll said of the McKnight case.

The attention on the recruit's comments surprised Carroll, but that is one of the byproducts of the Internet.

In spite of the hoopla at the time, Jarrett's situation worked out well enough for USC. Jarrett was made to repay a portion of the rent to regain eligibility but no other sanction was placed on him or USC.
Carroll also has an unusual ally in his corner: Rivals.com's Mike Farrell. Farrell penned an article yesterday for The Sporting News titled: "Don't Believe the Rumors: Pete Carroll Isn't Cheating".

So is this really a program that is cheating and will do anything and everything to secure commitments, or is this simply some serious sour grapes? My guess is the latter, and I'll tell you why. If McKnight spoke to Bush, and that's a big if since everyone seems to deny it and no proof has come to light yet, it would be about the 100th time I've heard of a high school prospect speaking to a former college great about the legend's former school.

Attend a spring game or a football game at many major programs and you'll see plenty of former great players milling around the sidelines. You think these guys don't talk to recruits at all? It happens. And phone calls from former stars to recruits? That happens as well. I'm not saying its right, but if this Pandora's Box is opened, more schools than USC will be scrutinized.

It's interesting that Carroll is on the offensive. When he feels he's in the right... he's usually in the right. The Jarrett situation worked out amicably and - digging a little farther into the past - Carroll had a legitimate gripe about the way the NCAA handled Mike Williams' attempts to return to college football.

I felt the NCAA made the right decision at the time to not readmit Williams, but how it was handled was callous at best, and Carroll gave them hell in the press for it.

It was a very quick decision. It's hard for me to understand how the NCAA can be so insensitive to wait this long when we are an hour from getting on the plane.

We knew all along from the tone that we got from the highest level, that he would be denied. Their tenor was that he didn't deserve this opportunity. I could tell from the very beginning how hard they were going to make this, but to take it all the way to one hour before we leave? I couldn't be more disappointed. It's very cold and insensitive for them to deny him this opportunity.

As a football team, we have been prepared for this for a while. I'm not surprised by it, but I'm disappointed for Mike and his family. You'll have to go and ask the NCAA for answers, how they can turn someone down who is otherwise academically eligible. They flatly denied him with an attitude from the beginning and the timing is really, really terrible.

This isn't the Wizard of Oz making these decisions, these are people. There's a supposed tone of student friendliness now, but that's not the case here. I'm talking about the NCAA at his highest levels. Mike's OK, he could sense it, too. It's been difficult for him. He felt it was an uphill battle from the start. I feel sick for him. The team will be OK, we've prepared without him.

Them's fightin' words! Obviously Carroll isn't as hopping mad at the moment but the way he's approaching this situation is similar to the other situations detailed here.

Pete Carroll Is Not Backing Down originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Mon, 12 Feb 2007 12:47:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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