Wiedmer: Syracuse ruling another blown chance for NCAA to show some teeth

Tennessee's head basketball coach Donnie Tyndall talks to Willie Carmichael during their game against LSU on March 4, 2015, in Baton Rouge, La. (AP Photo/The Advocate, Heather McClelland)
Tennessee's head basketball coach Donnie Tyndall talks to Willie Carmichael during their game against LSU on March 4, 2015, in Baton Rouge, La. (AP Photo/The Advocate, Heather McClelland)

When the NCAA sort of, kind of put the hammer down on the Syracuse basketball program Friday for academic chicanery and other issues, a parallel thought instantly seized college hoops fanatics everywhere:

Namely, should the North Carolina program and new Tennessee coach Donnie Tyndall be afraid, very afraid or hopeful?

The NCAA gumshoes are reportedly investigating both entities at this time. The Tar Heels' issues have been well-documented. UNC's own investigation uncovered numerous wrongs, including grades from fabricated classes that seemingly kept athletes eligible to compete. Beyond that, at least some athletic department officials knew of the scam.

Then there's Tyndall. Tennessee isn't on the hook for any of his alleged transgressions at his previous employer, Southern Miss, but while the school won't be handed sanctions, it could find a show-cause order regarding Tyndall, which would certainly force it to at least consider jettisoning him.

Then again, for more than a decade's worth of wrongs at Syracuse, Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim was handed a nine-game suspension from Atlantic Coast Conference action next season and forced to vacate 108 of the 966 victories he'd accumulated over a 37-year career.

Given that Tyndall coached at Southern Miss two years, it's hard to see him being hit with anything worse than that, though the last two years have seen the NCAA toughen its stance on head coaches' responsibility for all infractions committed on their watch. Most of Syracuse's transgressions took place before those new rules, so Boeheim got something of a free pass.

Yet despite the embarrassment heaped on him, one can't help but wonder if the NCAA was still rather toothless in its actions.

For starters, it accepted this year's self-imposed postseason ban (including this week's ACC tournament), even though the Orange probably weren't going to be invited to the Big Dance anyway.

If the NCAA really wanted to send a message to its 351 Division I programs, it would have at least extended the ban through next season, which would have hurt the program far more moving forward. And if its charges are iron-clad, it certainly had reason.

According to its 94-page report, the NCAA found that members of Syracuse's athletic staff forged classwork. Drug policies were ignored when star players might be involved. Boosters paid athletes cash for appearances that were supposed to be volunteer in nature.

In other words, pretty much every violation we fear in our Big State U athletic departments.

To the NCAA's credit, there are other penalties besides stripped coaching victories and suspensions. A total of 12 scholarships have been taken away over the next four years. Revenue earned from NCAA tourney participation in 2011, 2012 and 2013 (when Syracuse went to the Final Four) must be returned. Furthermore, the school was placed on probation for five years, which means any wrongs committed over that time could threaten to shut the program down.

Still, no one seems to be encouraging the 70-year-old Boeheim to call it quits, or urging the school to fire him if he doesn't.

Because of that, one can't help but wonder how serious anyone really is about cleaning up the dirty business of big-time college athletics.

For instance, it's fine to strip the school of those three scholarships, but as ESPN analyst Jay Bilas noted, what happens is the guys on the end of the bench lose their scholarships so the school can keep restocking top talent.

If the NCAA was really serious, it would not allow the school to have more than 10 scholarship players, unless they already have those players on scholarship. No new players can be signed until the current players transfer or run out of eligibility. And all transfers would be interviewed by the NCAA to make sure they didn't feel they were encouraged to leave. If they said they were, then that's another lost scholarship.

Yet barring a successful appeal, this story seems finished. North Carolina and Tyndall could be another matter. The investigation into UNC's academic mess seems certain to include the 2005 and 2009 men's NCAA titles, especially the 2005 crown. Would the NCAA dare to strip the Tar Heels of either of those championships if a player who should have been ineligible played a key role?

And if UNC head coach Roy Willliams knew none of this, shouldn't he?

Tyndall is a completely different problem for Tennessee. Despite the Vols' late swoon, the man can clearly coach. But assuming Southern Miss is found guilty of violations -- and it already pretty much has admitted to some charges by banning the Golden Eagles from this postseason -- Tyndall now previously has run two programs, including Morehead State, that have violated NCAA rules.

Given that, it's hard to see how Tyndall can't be handed at least a one-year show cause, which would seem to force UT to dismiss him or have to explain why it thinks he deserves to keep coaching when the NCAA is certain to at least ban him from any recruiting for 12 months, as well as suspending him for a number of games.

But none of that is known. All that is known is that however harshly some people may think the NCAA dealt with Boeheim and Syracuse, it could have been far worse. And the fact that it wasn't is a very big reason why big-time college athletics remains the sausage factory of higher education.

Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.

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