I love The Who, so I always like it when I can give them a bit of tribute in my posts...
The OCR sat down recently with the NCAA's new chief enforcer.
Roe Lach became the NCAA's vice president of enforcement in November. The enforcement staff conducts the infractions investigations that eventually lead to penalties against institutions and individuals.
USC is one such sanctioned school. The Trojans received their punishment stemming from the Reggie Bush case last June. Saturday will mark four weeks since USC's appeal hearing. The results should be released within the next month.
The NCAA won't comment on ongoing cases. But those who now run college sports' governing body want to be more open. They want to address what Roe Lach described as "some misunderstandings of who we are, how we do our job and how the process works."
That's why Roe Lach is meeting with a reporter in the lobby of a downtown L.A. hotel on a sunny February afternoon. Since she became the NCAA's "top cop" last year, succeeding David Price, Roe Lach has been reaching out to schools, law firms that represent them and media organizations.
I am not breaking any new ground when I say that NCAA has an image problem....
A BIG ONE!
The NCAA has gone on a, albeit small, PR offensive of late.
I think its has failed miserably.
Their attempt to show themselves as a kinder gentler organization has only magnified the questions of their lack of following their own rules.
Moving the goal posts is my favorite term..when the situation gets sticky...
cough-Cam Newton-cough
I have been pretty honest in saying that USC deserved some form of punishment over the Bush/Mayo messes. USC's lack of getting out in front of the Bush mess (they should have been proactive in ruling Bush ineligible for 2005) and the incredible amount of hubris shown (or burying their heads in the sand) over all this only gave the NCAA more of target for them to take down.
I have little hope in the sanctions being reduced and I have said that all along but until the NCAA consistently enforces, or completely revamps, their rules...this traveling road show that they're on is pointless.
This woman's massaging of the NCAA's image is a joke...and I would bet that the NCAA made their decision about the appeal before it was ever heard.
I would agree that the NCAA is a complex organization...most monopolies are.
And regardless of the this new leaf they are trying to turn, they have no reason to change...