So this is what Syracuse was found guilty of:
* Transportation of prospective student-athletes by a representative of the university's athletics
interests to the university's campus and to other off-campus sites.
* Provision of meals, lodging and game tickets to prospective student- athletes at no cost to them
by a representative of the university's athletics interests.
* Contacting prospective student-athletes off campus during noncontact periods and prior to the
beginning of the prospective student- athletes' senior years in high school.
* Providing improper transportation for the relatives of a student-athlete or prospective studentathlete
from the young men's homes to the university campus.
* Providing articles of athletics clothing to prospective student- athletes.
* Permitting a representative of the institution's athletics interests to be present during a
recruiting visit by the head men's basketball coach and an assistant men's basketball coach at the
home of a prospective student-athlete. [Page 5]
* Providing improper transportation, meals and lodging for and permitting the use of an
automobile by prospective student-athletes during their summer employment or during unofficial
visits to the university's campus.
* Participation by basketball prospective student-athletes in recreational basketball games on the
university's campus with current and former student-athletes.
* Provision of extra benefits, which included gifts, meals, lodging, automobile transportation and
other services, to several student-athletes by representatives of the university's athletics interests.
* Provision of substantial cash gifts to several student-athletes over a period of four years by
representatives of the university's athletics interests.
* Providing extra benefits to a student-athlete through repair work on the student-athlete's
automobile on a credit basis when credit was not available to the dealership's regular customers.
* Provision of free legal services by a representative of the university's athletics interests to
student-athletes, a benefit not available to other students.
* Allowing a student-athlete to charge telephone calls at a hotel and not requiring the cost of
those calls to be repaid at the time of checkout.
* Permitting a student-athlete to repeat an academic course without registering for the course and
by improperly changing the official grade, in violation of university regulations.
* Employing a basketball student-athlete for a short period of time at a basketball camp operated
by the men's head basketball coach.
* A student-athlete using his athletics skills for pay.
* Exceeding the number of basketball coaches permitted during one year.
* Arranging for a prospective student-athlete to receive complimentary admissions to an athletics
event.
In the football program, the violations included:
* Provision of free or reduced-cost meals to student-athletes by a representative of the
university's athletics interests.
* Exceeding the team financial aid limitations during the 1987-88 academic year.
In the wrestling program, the violations included:
* Substantially exceeding the team financial aid limitations during the 1987-88, 1988-89, 1989-
90 and 1990-91 academic years. [Page 6]
In the men's lacrosse program, the violations included:
* Substantially exceeding the team financial aid limitations during the 1988-89, 1989-90 and
1990-91 academic years.
* Allowing student-athletes to charge personal telephone calls at a hotel and not requiring the
costs of those calls to be repaid prior to checkout.
In the women's basketball program, the violations included:
* Provision of gifts of clothing and free services to two student-athletes by representatives of the
university's athletics interests.
Let's be honest here, 99% of other schools would be found guilty of the same things.
Well, there are no Baylor-like infractions.
No murder was covered up.
But that's a pretty good laundry list.
Let's be honest...all these violations occur because the university is so involved in the lives of its athletes...unlike it's relationship with other students.
No one ever gave my parents transportation to campus (fortunately).
No one ever cared if I went to class. (Well, except for my roommate who needed my notes because he sure wasn't going to class).
In other words, the university is behaving more like, say, a sports franchise than a university.
I have no doubt similar things go on at all or most big time sports schools.
But that's not an excuse.
It's part of the problem.
College sports are huge revenue generators.
That's not going to change.
The TV $$$ driving the push for success (and therefore these "improper" behaviors) isn't going to disappear.
If colleges want to be big time sports franchises, fine.
Then they should stop pretending to be "schools" focused primarily on an educational mission.
Perhaps it's time to consider spinning off major athletic programs into affiliated businesses.
Of course, that also means paying the key employees...the players.
