The NCAA SHOULD WAKE UP TO REALITY OR GO AWAY

Read this on my friend Ben Maller’s Website   http://benmaller.com

NCAA wouldn’t let Boise St. coaches attend funeral of dead football recruit

Leave it to the NCAA to regulate how much contact a member school can have with prospective student athletes and their families – even when they are dead. It’s a rule that needs changing. Boise State football recruit Emil Smith died in a July 18 car accident in Hemet, Calif. His brother Dimitri Garcia, 22, also died in the accident. Smith said the Broncos’ coaching staff was influential in his decision to join the Broncos’ 2011 recruiting class. Running backs coach Keith Bhonapha was Smith’s primary recruiter. … But when Smith died, the Broncos’ coaching staff was handcuffed by NCAA rules. Because Smith had not signed a National Letter of Intent (NLI) – signing day is in February – Boise State coaches could not comment on Smith. They could not attend his funeral. They could not send flowers. They could not call his grieving parents or any other family members. “There was nothing the school could do,” said Scott Hobbs, Boise State’s assistant athletic director for compliance. — Idaho Statesman

This is asinine, ridiculous, disrespectful, and just plain stupid!!!  With all of the cheating going on in  college football, just ask USC about that, this  outdated organization needs to focus on problems on the field and off the field activities such as paying for homes for players parents.

But not to allow coaches to attend a funeral of a recruit who died, what are they thinking?  The NCAA has also denied players from getting a plane ticket paid by the school to attend funerals of loved ones.

I was told I could take some kids out to dinner, but could not provide transportation!!

Come on NCAA get your priorities straight.  Come up with a division one football championship, you have one in basketball and lower division football.  But the big pay days you guys get from the bowls allows you to ignore what fans and schools actually want.  Investigate allegations of alumni giving financial perks to players and families with more vigor.   It should not happen years after a player is gone.

Stop having rules which do not allow coaches and players to pay their respects to grieving families.    School members you should insist on changes or maybe form a new organization.

NCAA, revamp your outdated ways, or do us all a favor and go away.