What's Going On
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Last Sunday, the Detroit Free Press ran a front-page story on the Michigan football team that created a national stir. The newspaper said Michigan football players exceed the NCAA rules on the amount of time student-athletes can work at their sport. It prompted Michigan to launch an internal investigation, but it leaves some important questions unanswered.
But before I try to answer those questions, I want to tell you in the interest of full disclosure that I teach at the University of Michigan, and I write books about their teams. I’m not involved in this story, but I’m close the people who are.
The story quotes ten players, most of them former, and most of them anonymous. They all agree that Michigan football players put in a lot of time and effort. Some boast about it, others complain. But the important thing to understand is what constitutes an NCAA violation, and what doesn’t.
The NCAA needs two pages and 35 bullet-points just to cover a small section of this convoluted rule. Boiled down, student-athletes can spend only eight hours a week on their sports during the off-season, and 20 hours a week during the season.
Sounds simple, right?
It is – until you get into what the NCAA calls “countable” hours, and “uncountable” hours. Under “countable” hours the NCAA lists eleven core activities like practice, games and team meetings.
Under “uncountable” hours, they list just about everything else, 16 items total, from stretching and taping to team meals and travel. In other words, the 20 hours a week the NCAA counts is probably about half the actual time student-athletes put in every week. It’s not an adventure, it’s a job.
It gets even messier when you count mandatory activities, which count, and voluntary ones, which don’t. Weight lifting, for example, is considered mandatory – except when it isn’t.
How can you tell the difference? Good question. If you write for the Michigan Daily or play in the Michigan Marching Band, you probably have to put in extra hours if you want to become the editor-in-chief or the drum major. Does that make it mandatory? Who knows? The NCAA isn’t watching them, of course.
Even voluntary weight lifting can be tricky. If several strength coaches are in the weight room conducting the session, it’s considered mandatory, and it counts. But if only one strength coach is in the weight room, monitoring the players for safety, that’s considered voluntary, and does not count.
The main motive behind these rules is to make sure the student comes before the athlete. In this case, at least, it does not appear to be a problem. The Michigan football team just notched its highest grade point in 20 years. But that will have no bearing on the investigation whatsoever.
Still confused? Well, now you know how the investigators must feel.
Copyright © 2009, Michigan Radio
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/johnubacon
John,
Bien dicho! Your explanation is very clear. The NCAA rules are completely confusing, with interpretations winding up in the "grey" area.
I would venture to say that the vast majority of Div 1 teams work their players the same way as Michigan.
Like the BCS, this is BS!
Dr. Ed Kornblue
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Its my belief that the NCAA will not, pick your cliché, open that Pandora's box, go down that slippery slope, because the gray zone between required and voluntary is "violated" by every major program in America. Probably in most sports.
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You previously have written previously about the problem of "athlete" being ahead of "student". Remove the Michigan story from the issue and it is apparent the root cause of the problem(s) is "cash". The revenue generating sports at all universities are counted on to raise enough revenue to offset the expense of operating non-revenue sports. Therefore, it is imperative that the revenue sports are not only successful, but are seen often on national TV and Sports Center.
How do schools achieve this? They hire high profile coaches and pay huge sums of money to attract them, they recruit the best athletes (in many cases regardless of their academic or social standing) and then they seek cash from the wallets of donors in exchange for "privileges". This equation is doomed for bad things to happen.
Whatever Michigan did or did not do in regards to the hours student-athletes participated unfortunately is happening throughout the majority of Division I schools, therefore the spotlight needs to be shining on the system.
As you pointed out the NCAA is too much like government, they continue to add regulations of which they cannot even interpret and they refuse to remove antiquated regulations...Like government. In their efforts to over regulate athletics in essence they have created a platform for corruption.
I feel they need to place a salary cap AND contract limits of 4 years on head coaches, as well as not allow them to leave early to accept higher paying positions elsewhere. Furthermore, pay all the athletes a modest stipend BASED upon meeting certain academic standards set well above those required to remain eligible.
The entire system needs both a financial and ethics overhaul to reduce the incentive to operate in the gray area that leads to violations. If you analyze the major infractions over the past 10 years I assure you that at least 80% of them are the result of a coach either trying to maintain their job or attract interest from higher profile (and paying) positions. (This would be a good research project for your class!)
Memo to the NCAA...KISS...Keep it Simple Stupid!
Jim
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Perhaps I am naive but I'm amazed at how quickly this story spread. Especially compared with non-story of a MSU football player getting out of jail and practically going straight to the practice field. Or the Feagin incident... does society really want to send the message that attempting to deal drugs is minor in comparison to working more than 20 hours a week?
Of course, if the football program broke the rules, they need to be held completely accountable.
However, the way Rosenberg sourced the article is fishy at best. In my professional life, I cannot imagine being able to lead effectively based upon anonymity, conjecture, or stretches of deductive reasoning. Many writers who cover U-M seem to be able to make a living at such things though.
Rosenberg's article reeks of the Ann Arbor News' 2008 attempt to expose academic irregularities at U-M. Regarding both of these stories, perhaps there is something going on but the authors' message gets completely diluted in the bias. The cheap, tabloid, ratings ploy didn't save the A2 News and between Drew Sharp and now Rosenberg, I wouldn't mind seeing the Freep go the way of the A2 News.
The writers need to learn they are there to cover the stories, not become it! The editors need to learn the readers are smarter than they believe.
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As usual, John has eloquently stated what we all know. There are no violations here and Those Who Stay Will Be Champions. It is great to see so many former players, former coaches and fans rally around this team in the face of these negative accusations. It's been Great, it is Great and it will always be Great to be a Michigan Wolverine.
Go Blue!
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Jim Says... "The revenue generating sports at all universities are counted on to raise enough revenue to offset the expense of operating non-revenue sports."
Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think that many schools have any revenue generating sports. Just look down the road at EMU. Do any of their teams bring in a surplus?
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It amazes me that it is assumed that 20 hours per week of mandatory practice and unlimited hours of "voluntary" practice is acceptable for a full time college student. I recall being on a swim team for a top program and averaged about ten hours a week of practice. I often could not stay awake for my studies at night. No wonder the football players need academic help. Michigan needs another Doc Losh.
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Dear Loyal Readers,
You can see the range of responses this issue generates, even to a fairly sanitized treatment of the rules in question.
To answer a few questions:
-Dozens of D-I (or BCS Division -- take your pick) football programs make money, but because that money is used to pay for other sports, only about a half dozen athletic departments typically make an annual profit.
-No question, the commitment now required of college athletes is pretty incredible. As I said, it's not an adventure, it's a job. And that's true whether the team is under the 20 countable hours a week or not. Only about half the hours the average athlete spends are counted in the NCAA formula.
-As for the general question: yes, this part of NCAA rules has enough loop holes to drive a bus through. I suspect it's true that the workloads of other top teams are similar to Michigan's -- and in fact, several Big Ten coaches have come out and said exactly that. It's also true that this puts the NCAA in a great bind. If anything is not by the letter, they'll probably feel compelled to do something, no matter how small the issue, yet to come down too hard would be to invite countless investigations on campuses nationwide.
-As for Michigan's situation, as Jim Carty wrote in response to my piece in the Ann Arbor Chronicle, it will probably boil down to the voluntary/mandatory question, and how exactly they determine that. (Good luck.)
One thing this whole saga has made clear: the many athletes who manage these competing demands have really accomplished something.
My plan of studying history and playing IM hockey was much easier!
Thanks again for reading -- and writing.
-JUB
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