Judging by what has happened today, National Signing Day, with those either on NCAA sanctions or, after well-publicized scandals, relatively certain to eventually be likewise penalized, it sure doesn't appear to be much of an impediment to putting together top-rated classes, as it turns out: tOSU, USC(west), Oregon, Auburn, Miami, every one of these has hauled in a "Top 10"-class, according to all the experts, recruiting services and media prognosticators. How good these classes actually turn out to be is another matter, another discussion for another day.
What matters here and now is that every one of these programs, found guilty of having seriously breached recruiting rules in various ways, have been or presumably WILL be assessed sanctions aimed at redressing the advantage gained in those violations--plus a period of "somewhat painful set-back", intended as punishment for going that route in the first place--at least that's the stated intention.
However, that is not what has happened: they're all doing fine in their recruiting, as good or better than ever. In other words, despite the supposed best efforts for a meaningful deterrent-through-punishment for cheating, the results are ineffective, and therefore no deterrent at all.
The question becomes then: "What does this mean?" Is it an oversight on the NCAA's part, a mistake in the estimated severity of such penalties on the part of the Sanctions Committee? Or is it something more cynical and pragmatic--a successful effort NOT to put too onerous a weight on the ability of important, major members to carry on "business as usual", for fear that they are already too close to being cast aside completely?
In other words, these "Executive Officials" at the NCAA are now merely walking a fine line, where they get to continue in their positions of power and influence as long as they "don't go too far", and these are the results. For all intents and purposes, then, the NCAA has indeed already become "irrelevant", rendered so by their own hand--and all that's left is the final step: the major colleges moving on without them to set up their own deal and accompanying Playoff System. Everything the NCAA is doing and will do from now on is just a part of the effort to delay, and (they hope) continue to head off that happening.
What matters here and now is that every one of these programs, found guilty of having seriously breached recruiting rules in various ways, have been or presumably WILL be assessed sanctions aimed at redressing the advantage gained in those violations--plus a period of "somewhat painful set-back", intended as punishment for going that route in the first place--at least that's the stated intention.
However, that is not what has happened: they're all doing fine in their recruiting, as good or better than ever. In other words, despite the supposed best efforts for a meaningful deterrent-through-punishment for cheating, the results are ineffective, and therefore no deterrent at all.
The question becomes then: "What does this mean?" Is it an oversight on the NCAA's part, a mistake in the estimated severity of such penalties on the part of the Sanctions Committee? Or is it something more cynical and pragmatic--a successful effort NOT to put too onerous a weight on the ability of important, major members to carry on "business as usual", for fear that they are already too close to being cast aside completely?
In other words, these "Executive Officials" at the NCAA are now merely walking a fine line, where they get to continue in their positions of power and influence as long as they "don't go too far", and these are the results. For all intents and purposes, then, the NCAA has indeed already become "irrelevant", rendered so by their own hand--and all that's left is the final step: the major colleges moving on without them to set up their own deal and accompanying Playoff System. Everything the NCAA is doing and will do from now on is just a part of the effort to delay, and (they hope) continue to head off that happening.
