NCAA and Katrina athletes

[mjrbaseball]

On August 31, right after Katrina hit, NCAA President Myles Brand said:

"The first priority of those schools caught in Katrina's path is the students, staff and families who have been put in harm's way. The NCAA will be working with conference offices to deal with reduced or lost athletics schedules, the ability of teams to host or travel for competition, and championship qualification. It is too early to say what the exact solutions will be, but the national office will work to accommodate these unique and unfortunate circumstances."

Now read the following from September 14:

Division I basketball and football players from schools closed by Hurricane Katrina will still have to sit out for a year if they transfer to one of the many colleges that have offered admission, NCAA president Myles Brand said Tuesday.

The NCAA said last month that it would bend some rules to help students and schools deal with the hurricane, including letting students compete without attending classes.

But during an appearance at the University of Rhode Island, Brand said the only rule the NCAA would not bend was the one that requires Division I basketball, football and hockey players to sit out one year if they transfer to another Division I school. In other sports, Division I athletes can transfer and play immediately at another Division I school if they receive a release from the original university.

Brand said the decision was made because the members of some teams, including at least one from Tulane, planned to transfer together to one school. That could lead to the new school taking the entire team as its own, Brand said.

"Let me call that athletic looting, to be provocative, and we won't stand for that," he said.

So the students come first ... unless it conflicts with intere$t$ of the universities.

[NJTank]

Myles Brand and the NCAA are a joke. Bobby Knight is right they need to be totally taken apart.

[OMMF]

On August 31, right after Katrina hit, NCAA President Myles Brand said:

"The first priority of those schools caught in Katrina's path is the students, staff and families who have been put in harm's way. The NCAA will be working with conference offices to deal with reduced or lost athletics schedules, the ability of teams to host or travel for competition, and championship qualification. It is too early to say what the exact solutions will be, but the national office will work to accommodate these unique and unfortunate circumstances."

Now read the following from September 14:

Division I basketball and football players from schools closed by Hurricane Katrina will still have to sit out for a year if they transfer to one of the many colleges that have offered admission, NCAA president Myles Brand said Tuesday.

The NCAA said last month that it would bend some rules to help students and schools deal with the hurricane, including letting students compete without attending classes.

But during an appearance at the University of Rhode Island, Brand said the only rule the NCAA would not bend was the one that requires Division I basketball, football and hockey players to sit out one year if they transfer to another Division I school. In other sports, Division I athletes can transfer and play immediately at another Division I school if they receive a release from the original university.

Brand said the decision was made because the members of some teams, including at least one from Tulane, planned to transfer together to one school. That could lead to the new school taking the entire team as its own, Brand said.

"Let me call that athletic looting, to be provocative, and we won't stand for that," he said.

So the students come first ... unless it conflicts with intere$t$ of the universities.

I could swear the point of going to University was to get an education? Maybe I missed something.

[Seadragon76]

What a bunch of bull. These kids need to have a chance to play and thanks to this boneheaded decision, some of these kids are forced to sit for a year without the chance to play because of a natural disaster.

Look, are you sure that's not Mike Brown (or whoever that dope from FEMA's name was) running the NCAA?

[NJTank]

Many of there schools are damaged and will have to take their classes elsewhere and go to school elsewhere to graduate, so what harm will it do by allowing them to play for their new school, its not like the are true NBA talent I dont think schools like Tulane and New Orleans are a hot bed for NBA talent.

[mjrbaseball]

... and a good many of the displaced students aren't even going to other Division I schools. A lot are going to Division II or Division III schools in their hometowns.

[OMMF]

... and a good many of the displaced students aren't even going to other Division I schools. A lot are going to Division II or Division III schools in their hometowns.

So then what's the problem? The rule only affects D-1 to D-1 transfers.

[slapshot]

Here's a question: are those displaced students who are now attending classes at other colleges officially considered transfers? Aren't these students just temporarily taking classes at other institutions until their original schools have re-opened? I think that just taking some classes for a semester and officially transeferring to another school are two separate actions. Especially if the new students are only taking specific classes whose credits will accepted by their original schools.

[Jigga]

While I can't stand the NCAA or Myles Brand's administration (and I was only a DIII athlete ), the ruling was made so that other programs couldn't just come in and take all the good players from the universities to unfairly bolster their programs. This is a very different situation than the Baylor situation lots of people are bringing up on radio shows. This ruling is to keep the programs of Tulane, UNO, Xavier, etc. in tact. It's not that the students are PREVENTED from playing, it's keeping them from abandoning their schools at a time when the schools are still being allowed to play!

mjrbaseball failed to mention that the students can petition and the NCAA will look at each request on a case-by-case basis.

Finally, I think it's laughable that Bobby Knight is seen as a reasonable figure in all this, but then again, Tank brought it up so I shouldn't be too surprised since he seems to live in a word completely void of reason. Bobby sure knew what he was talking about when he was assaulting his players, throwing things at employees and referrees, and shouting expletives at his superiors. What a fluffing role model!

[mjrbaseball]

mjrbaseball failed to mention that the students can petition and the NCAA will look at each request on a case-by-case basis.

If this is true, my apologies for omitting it. I did not notice any reference to possible appeals in any of the reports I saw.

[NJTank]

Finally, I think it's laughable that Bobby Knight is seen as a reasonable figure in all this, but then again, Tank brought it up so I shouldn't be too surprised since he seems to live in a word completely void of reason. Bobby sure knew what he was talking about when he was assaulting his players, throwing things at employees and referrees, and shouting expletives at his superiors. What a fluffing role model!

Why does everybody hate Bobby Knight so much? He is a great coach and an honest coach he never breaks a rule all his players graduate and he lays down the law, we need more Bobby Knights.

[lost_limey]

Why does everybody hate Bobby Knight so much?

His choking, chair-throwing antics and his general anger issues.

[gashouser27]

I hate Myles Brand as much as anyone but don't think he makes these decisions without all the big colleges giving input.

This ruling is to protect the affected schools and students. Most of them are trying to hold their programs together. The kids are keeping their scholarships. Students might be attending classes at other schools but they are trying to keep the teams going. I read some touching articles about the Tulane women's soccer teams and football players at Louisiana Lafayette. A lot of the smaller programs have kids from the area and their families have been affected so the last thing they need is having to deal with scholarships and being recruited all over again by other schools.

This seems unfair to the kids but it really isn't. A year to get their head together and see what happens isn't that big of a deal. It was really done to prevent "athletic looting" of kids from schools who are trying to deal with a million things right now. That would ruin some schools. I think giving schools and kids a year to sort things out and see what happens is okay. I mean there are a lot more important things going on right now

[rockchalk]

Finally, I think it's laughable that Bobby Knight is seen as a reasonable figure in all this, but then again, Tank brought it up so I shouldn't be too surprised since he seems to live in a word completely void of reason.  Bobby sure knew what he was talking about when he was assaulting his players, throwing things at employees and referrees, and shouting expletives at his superiors.  What a fluffing role model!

Why does everybody hate Bobby Knight so much? He is a great coach and an honest coach he never breaks a rule all his players graduate and he lays down the law, we need more Bobby Knights.

He doesn't always break rules, but he has broken the law a couple of times

[yh]

This is a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. Is it fair to deny a college athlete the opportunity to compete because he had to transfer to another school to continue his education? Not really. Is it fair to athletes at the transferee's choice of schools that they might lose their opportunity to compete if the transferee takes their spot? Not really. Not unlike much of the aftermath of this disaster, there are no easy answers and everyone loses something in the process. I think the NCAA had to make a decision - and a very quick one at that - in order to keep things from hanging in a state of flux and to let the kids make a decision on where, if anywhere, they were going to go.

[Jigga]

Why does everybody hate Bobby Knight so much? He is a great coach and an honest coach he never breaks a rule all his players graduate and he lays down the law, we need more Bobby Knights.

I don't hate anyone, and don't get me wrong, he's been a good (but not great) coach, he's always run "clean" programs, and he's done a great deal for college basketball and his institutions. I just think Coach Knight is a blowhard and an that has no grasp of reality and whose logic is unlike that of any other rational human being (wait, I think I've said that about someone else before...hmmmmm).

We don't need more Bobby Knights, we need more Mike Krzyzewskis. Now THAT'S a great, honest, and rule-abiding coach who graduates players, runs a "clean" program, and is actually a GOOD human being!

[slapshot]

No one can question the fact that Knight's an . Personality-aside, he has been one of the best coaches to emphasize the student part of the student-athlete. From what I've heard and read about him, he demands that his players be students first, athletes second. Check the graduation rates from Indiana and Texas Tech during his tenures. I'm pretty sure they'd be ranked in the top 5% of schools with a high graduation rate for their student-athletes. I don't think Krzyzewski would be in that group, most of his players leave early for the pros.

[HatCityEnforcer]

No one can question the fact that Knight's an . Personality-aside, he has been one of the best coaches to emphasize the student part of the student-athlete. From what I've heard and read about him, he demands that his players be students first, athletes second. Check the graduation rates from Indiana and Texas Tech during his tenures. I'm pretty sure they'd be ranked in the top 5% of schools with a high graduation rate for their student-athletes. I don't think Krzyzewski would be in that group, most of his players leave early for the pros.

Agreed there on one Robert Mongomery Knight...

Yah, he's a Grade-A A-Hole, but I will give him his due for keeping his kids in class and putting the emphasis on the "student" in "student-athlete"...

Coach K should be there as well, mostly because his players did stay in school...heck, they didn't have one leave early until after the 98-99 season (when Brand and Maggette both declared)...

Now, if ya wanna rip someone for being bad for college hoops, rip Bobby Huggins (recently canned coach at The 'Natti)...how many Bearcat players got their degrees again? That's right...ZERO...

[Jigga]

...I don't think Krzyzewski would be in that group, most of his players leave early for the pros.

That's because his players are actually good enough to leave

[NJTank]

Yeah COach K is a class act too and the lower grad rate is because when the NBA is waving millions its hard for these kids to resist. COach K had a nearly perfect grad rate until a few years ago and he still gets a majority of his player to stay all 4 years now.

BTW Coach K was mentored by Bobby Knight he was his Coach at Army I believe.