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What N&O must do: Stop, please stop, for the love of God please stop
Posted on Jun 2, 2015 by Brett Thompson
http://tarheeldepot.com/author/brettthompson/
With the NCAA handing North Carolina its Notice of Allegations, many columns have been written about the university as we await the redacted release of the NOA. Some have anticipatedhow the NCAA will view the scandal, others have made the point that a postseason ban would punish the wrong people.
One, however, stands out among the rest.
Monday night, this tweet popped up, rather innocently, on my timeline:
POV – What #UNC must do: Fire Roy Williams, remove banners, forfeit wins http://t.co/E3gMDIcP1a
— newsobserver.com (@newsobserver) June 2, 2015
I couldn’t believe my eyes. This was a gift from the heavens, a take so nuclear hot that it could melt through the iciest tundra, hot enough to make Earth’s core feel like a dive into an Alaskan swimming hole. I was given, giftwrapped with a bow on top, the mother of North Carolina takes. It sat there in front of me, smoke rising from it, a fiery orange glow emanating from it. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, and that was only the title.
So, let’s get through this work of art together, with commentary added when necessary. Take a deep breath, guys. This is going to be a #LONGREAD.
We start with the opening sentence:
“More important than whatever action the NCAA takes against the University of North Carolina for what is perhaps the worst athletics-academic scandal in collegiate history is what the UNC administration will do to reel in its corrupt athletic department and its aiders and abettors.”
Okay, first and foremost, that is the clunkiest lead I’ve ever read. The writer, Patrick O’Neill, starts off his passionate op-ed piece with a lot of words about how North Carolina’s reaction to whatever punishment it may receive is more important than the punishment itself. It’s a solid premise, although a closer look would have alerted O’Neill that the university has already started the process of assuring such egregious academic irregularities will not take place again. But let’s continue.
The NCAA is between a rock and a hard place because it badly needs North Carolina athletics to be vibrant and healthy. A few years of severe sanctions against UNC means a potentially huge revenue loss for the NCAA, from both television rights and post-season play.
This has become a recent favorite conspiracy theory as the NCAA continues its investigation of the paper class scandal. For some reason, apparently any sanctions against North Carolina will greatly damage the NCAA’s revenue. I disagree, for a few reasons:
“Before these revelations of extreme cheating, Carolina had a squeaky-clean reputation, due in large part to the integrity of late basketball coach Dean Smith. That’s all over now. The UNC athletic department will likely never again enjoy such a lofty status in collegiate sports.”
It’s not just cheating, but EXTREME cheating. It’s like normal cheating, but with backflips off a 20-foot ramp on a dirtbike. O’Neill is correct with his statement that Dean Smith’s integrity gave North Carolina a large part of its clean reputation, but that last sentence is interesting. North Carolina can never go back to the days of the admittedly obnoxious “Carolina Way.” This scandal will forever be tied to the university’s history, and North Carolina will never be able to change that. That doesn’t mean that the athletic department can’t do its part to assure a highly improved student athlete experience, though. Given the national attention given to North Carolina’s scandal, it will be intriguing to see if the reform aspect of the scandal is covered as closely as the crime itself.
“On the other hand, UNC, as the state’s flagship institution of higher learning, should see the reputation of its university and the integrity of its academics as pre-eminent and thus institute dramatic and historic reforms. Up until now, the UNC administration has maintained a laissez-faire attitude toward the athletic department. “Trust us,” was their cry. “We pay our own way, and we follow the rules.” This relationship provided the athletic department reckless freedom to self-destruct.”
Was any research done before writing this? Again, see the Carolina Commitment website to see exactly what those reforms are.
What N&O must do: Stop, please stop, for the love of God please stop
Posted on Jun 2, 2015 by Brett Thompson
http://tarheeldepot.com/author/brettthompson/
With the NCAA handing North Carolina its Notice of Allegations, many columns have been written about the university as we await the redacted release of the NOA. Some have anticipatedhow the NCAA will view the scandal, others have made the point that a postseason ban would punish the wrong people.
One, however, stands out among the rest.
Monday night, this tweet popped up, rather innocently, on my timeline:
POV – What #UNC must do: Fire Roy Williams, remove banners, forfeit wins http://t.co/E3gMDIcP1a
— newsobserver.com (@newsobserver) June 2, 2015
I couldn’t believe my eyes. This was a gift from the heavens, a take so nuclear hot that it could melt through the iciest tundra, hot enough to make Earth’s core feel like a dive into an Alaskan swimming hole. I was given, giftwrapped with a bow on top, the mother of North Carolina takes. It sat there in front of me, smoke rising from it, a fiery orange glow emanating from it. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, and that was only the title.
So, let’s get through this work of art together, with commentary added when necessary. Take a deep breath, guys. This is going to be a #LONGREAD.
We start with the opening sentence:
“More important than whatever action the NCAA takes against the University of North Carolina for what is perhaps the worst athletics-academic scandal in collegiate history is what the UNC administration will do to reel in its corrupt athletic department and its aiders and abettors.”
Okay, first and foremost, that is the clunkiest lead I’ve ever read. The writer, Patrick O’Neill, starts off his passionate op-ed piece with a lot of words about how North Carolina’s reaction to whatever punishment it may receive is more important than the punishment itself. It’s a solid premise, although a closer look would have alerted O’Neill that the university has already started the process of assuring such egregious academic irregularities will not take place again. But let’s continue.
The NCAA is between a rock and a hard place because it badly needs North Carolina athletics to be vibrant and healthy. A few years of severe sanctions against UNC means a potentially huge revenue loss for the NCAA, from both television rights and post-season play.
This has become a recent favorite conspiracy theory as the NCAA continues its investigation of the paper class scandal. For some reason, apparently any sanctions against North Carolina will greatly damage the NCAA’s revenue. I disagree, for a few reasons:
- The NCAA doesn’t need any particular school to be successful in order to make money. Since O’Neill is happy to bring Penn State into the equation (believe me, we’ll get to that later), let’s use the sanctions against the Nittany Lions as an example. Penn State had been established as one of the best football programs in the country, but after the Jerry Sandusky scandal broke, heavy sanctions were placed on the team. Did the NCAA crumble after a marquee program had been harshly punished? Not exactly. In fact, in 2014, Penn State football raked in the 12th highest revenue in the country, bringing in $117,590,990. Despite still reeling from lost scholarships, the football team is still profiting for the school. It feels safe to assume that North Carolina could find itself in a similar situation financially.
- Not to go full-Darren Rovell, but North Carolina, as a brand, will continue to make money regardless of sanctions. Whether it’s the Jordan-association, the new brand identity the university just released, the loyalty of fans/alumni or even the projected success of the coming year’s team, North Carolina is still a marketable program, especially when talking basketball.
- Another recent example of a team being sanctioned despite value would be the Syracuse Orange. In 2014, Forbes named Syracuse the 9th most valuable team in college basketball, and in March, the NCAA drilled the Orange with penalties, including a suspension for legendary head coach Jim Boeheim.
“Before these revelations of extreme cheating, Carolina had a squeaky-clean reputation, due in large part to the integrity of late basketball coach Dean Smith. That’s all over now. The UNC athletic department will likely never again enjoy such a lofty status in collegiate sports.”
It’s not just cheating, but EXTREME cheating. It’s like normal cheating, but with backflips off a 20-foot ramp on a dirtbike. O’Neill is correct with his statement that Dean Smith’s integrity gave North Carolina a large part of its clean reputation, but that last sentence is interesting. North Carolina can never go back to the days of the admittedly obnoxious “Carolina Way.” This scandal will forever be tied to the university’s history, and North Carolina will never be able to change that. That doesn’t mean that the athletic department can’t do its part to assure a highly improved student athlete experience, though. Given the national attention given to North Carolina’s scandal, it will be intriguing to see if the reform aspect of the scandal is covered as closely as the crime itself.
“On the other hand, UNC, as the state’s flagship institution of higher learning, should see the reputation of its university and the integrity of its academics as pre-eminent and thus institute dramatic and historic reforms. Up until now, the UNC administration has maintained a laissez-faire attitude toward the athletic department. “Trust us,” was their cry. “We pay our own way, and we follow the rules.” This relationship provided the athletic department reckless freedom to self-destruct.”
Was any research done before writing this? Again, see the Carolina Commitment website to see exactly what those reforms are.
