Ohio State AD Gene Smith is getting desperate

Ohio State fans and alums need to voice their disagreement with the following proposal from highest mountain top.

Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith is considering going down the slippery slope...

Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith said Thursday he is considering hiring private investigators to strengthen the monitoring of Buckeye student-athletes.

Smith spoke at the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Convention at the Orlando World Center Marriott Resort. He was part of a panel representing the Division I-A Athletics Directors Association Compliance and Enforcement Task Force.

In 2008, Smith was one of the first members initiated into the task force trying to solve compliance issues in collegiate sports. Thursday, he talked about Ohio State's compliance issues, which include NCAA violations that led to the suspensions of five players for selling memorabilia and also led to Jim Tressel's resignation as OSU's football coach on May 30.

Can you say invasion of privacy?

I can...and I did almost four years ago. (emphasis added)

Do the parents of a potential NFL star have the right to enter a business agreement with a party or parties based on the future potential/performance of their child? The easy and obvious answer is no, at least in the eyes of the NCAA. But if the parents do it without the knowledge of the player what is the player to do? More interesting, and this plays on the heart strings of decent people, if the parents enter into this type of arrangement do those of us not a part of it actually believe that Reggie would turn his parents in. We all love our parents and would anything to protect them even if we know what they are doing is wrong.  This is not murder, drunk driving or any other hideous crime that we hear about in the news. This is a couple of parents trying to cash in on their sons stardom after years of struggling financially. I don't think its right and I have said in the past that they could have waited but none of us have ever walked a day in those shoes.

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The one thing that I have trouble with is the potential privacy issue that is attached to this mess. How far should an institution go at monitoring the parents or relatives of their players? I'm not concerned about the privacy of Bush's parents; they lost that right privacy when they broke the rules; which has now jeopardized the welfare of a solid football program.

But the bigger question is should USC have known? That is the issue that will be central to their investigation. Like I said earlier it is a big leap between knowing and should have known but I'm not sure if I would be happy if the school started checking up on the financial behaviors of the parents for the sake of compliance. I am NOT suggesting that the NCAA, should Bush's actions expose wrong doing without SC knowing about it, should force USC to monitor parents behavior but it is also not too far of a stretch. I personally think that that would be impossible and I can think of no school that would endorse it nor have the resources let alone the will to do it.

I chuckled as went back to read this...the first paragraph could have been said in response to Cam Newton.

The second part that I highlighted is the relevant passage.

I would want not ANY NCAA sanctioned goons sniffing around my private life. We have already seen how the NCAA will twist a story or manufacture evidence to push their agenda.

Smith is nuts to even consider this let alone trying to implement this crazy idea.

If the NCAA wants to put language in their scholarship agreement about recouping monies, scholarship or otherwise, if a player breaks the rules that result in sanctions, I would be willing to look at it. The NCAA, as an organization, has the right to protect its member schools from outside corruption.

Modern businesses do it everyday.

But to snoop around peoples private lives to ensure compliance is a non-starter. If the NCAA doesn't have subpoena power then they should not have this type of investigative power.

The NCAA can't have it both ways.

They can't say the kids and their parents are one on one hand and then say that because the kid didn't know, like in the Newton case, that it isn't the kids fault and that he shouldn't be punished because of the sins of the parent(s)...(I'm looking at you Mike Slive).

Regardless of whether or not I think tOSU should have an LOIC or FTM charge levied at them...I am completely against the use of NCAA sanctioned goons monitoring the private lives of parents.

The reasons are obvious.

Gene Smith DOES NOT have Ohio State's best interest in mind with this proposal. He is a dead man walking and will be out before you know it. This is his way of genuflecting to the NCAA...his real master. He wants to keep as much tarnish off his name as possible so that he can continue to feed at the NCAA's trough.

You watch, Smith will get kicked upstairs to either Indianapolis or the Big 10 Conference once he leaves Ohio State...I highly doubt any other school would take him, as he is damaged goods.

This guy is bad news and Ohio State needs to cut ties with him fast.

This a BAD idea!