After a two-year investigation, the NCAA concluded Tuesday that the University of Utah athletic department suffers from 'a lack of institutional control.'
It took an in-depth, two-year investigation for the NCAA to determine that?
For all the vaunted investigational prowess of the NCAA, I'm disappointed. All they had to do to reach that conclusion was go to a Utah football game or take a tour of fraternity row to establish that.
Sure, the violations that the NCAA found were minor in nature, but I would be morally remiss as a blue-bleedin' BYU sports fan if I didn't take this chance to fire some shots at the red guys on the other side of the mountain.
Given that the violations were small, I began to wonder how the NCAA's bloodhounds ever found them. The NCAA's investigators rival Scotland Yard once they get a sniff of blood, but violations like this usually go unnoticed. How did they find them? The NCAA usually doesn't divulge sources, so I'm going out on a limb here and making some guesses...
First, let's look at the case of the two football players who turned in papers that their tutor had written. Maybe the first indication of foul play was when the professor saw that the players' names had been spelled correctly. Strike one.
Then there's the incident of basketball coach Rick Majerus buying dinner for his players at his hotel. Considering Majerus' girth, room service is probably used to delivering plus-sized meals to his room. However, even he has to have his limits, and once entire buffets were being delivered, a few eyebrows must have gone up. Strike two.
Then there's the problem with the track athlete who dropped one class too many and then competed without the required number of credit hours. When questioned about it, I can imagine the athletic department's response: 'We have a track team?' Strike three, and the 'lack of institutional control' was discovered.
A new school year starts in a few weeks here, and with it another year in the ongoing rivalry between our schools. This year is looking good already, because we already got to take the first shot, and we didn't even have to do anything for it.
'Lack of institutional control'? Maybe the NCAA is slow, but I have to give them credit for their manner of expression. Priceless.