As Robert Charette notes here, once again the NCAA has punished a program for a violation that occurred long enough ago that the person who was most likely the most at fault is long gone.
Much of what that organization does is based on the laughable assumption that it is safeguarding the amateur and student status of the student athlete. It actually exists to safeguard its members' revenue streams and to provide a fig leaf of coverage against the idea that collegiate sports is not a non-profit venture.
But in cases like the ones Charette notes, the NCAA can't really punish the violator when he has accepted a job, especially when that job is not at another college but with a professional franchise. So they wag a finger, call lots of people very bad boys and slap the nearest wrist they can get a hand on.
If, as some economists theorize, higher education is in a financial bubble situation much like the housing market was six or seven years ago and if it's close to bursting, that will cause a lot of misery among students, faculty and staff. That will be sad. But watching the resulting collapse of the NCAA's pretense will not be sad, not one little bit.
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