Unlike Bob Knight, who thinks that Jim Tressel is unfairly ensnared by an obscure rule about lying to the NCAA, Phillip Daniels has a reasonable suggestion for the NCAA about the secondary violations Georgia reported in the wake of Ray Drew’s commitment announcement:
… The NCAA comes up with all these rules and expect guys to know of violations. Randall was invited to Ray’s announcement and knew nothing about who he was gonna sign with. I know because I spoke with him while on the way down there. It’s a shame that former players can’t have friendships with young men who look up to us and want us to be a part of their big decision. Just hate Randall and David’s name are on display for rules they knew nothing about. They are good men who got invited by another good man. If not busy, I would have been there also. The #NCAA should want role models like these guys.
Even better is the advice Drew’s high school coach has (h/t Chip Towers).
“I know there’s 9,000 different NCAA rules and all this kind of stuff, but those two guys that came and spoke are not employed by Georgia. David Pollack is a media person. How’s that any different than (a Times-Enterprise reporter) covering Ray’s event, other than (he) didn’t talk? — (Pollack) did.
“It just seems like to me that if the NCAA is worried about those things, they’ve got bigger fish they need to fry like money being offered to players and coaches lying about what players did and all that kind of stuff — instead of a small school trying to make a nice announcement where a kid’s going to school.”
This whole thing with Drew’s announcement and the violations strikes me as being cut from the same cloth as excessive celebration penalties. I get the underlying point in both situations, but there’s something wrong with penalizing for kids innocently enjoying the moment. Especially when there are bigger fish going unfried.
Get The Picture 
While some OSU fans have quickly jumped to defend Tressel, I’ve read a good bit that makes it sound like the local press and OSU alumni are very critical of Tressel right now. SportsByBrooks (a UGA grad) noted this as well.
I would hope that in a similar situation UGA alumni would support the school… by being very critical and skeptical of badly-behaving employees.
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An example from an OSU grad here:
“Jim Tressel is a slick, little con man.“
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if there are any fish to be fried, Paul Johnson will speak very slowly so maybe you all can understand what he’s telling you. And dont you forget it.
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Mentally challenged people often speak slowly.
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It seems to me like this Ray Drew situation has gotten blown out of proportion by an understandably hypersensitive fanbase. Georgia self-reported the violations, as they should have, but they didn’t self-impose any penalties. That, to me, indicates that Georgia’s administration expects the SEC/NCAA to make note of the infractions but not to assess any penalties.
I don’t see anything worth getting upset about yet. This is the NCAA we’re talking about, though, so it very well could blow up down the road. For now, I reserve judgment.
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How is Pollack at the event different than Urban Meyer covering live on ESPN?
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Corch Meyers was still getting paid by UF, that doesn’t pass the smell test in my book.
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To be fair to the NCAA here, this was UGA self-reporting violations. It’s not like the NCAA went snooping around and busted us. I doubt anybody would have made much of a fuss if we had just let it go and not reported it. I mean it was pretty big news that Pollack was there. If the NCAA actually cared they would have done something then. I’m glad we reported it, because (as in the Tressell case) things get worse when you don’t report them, but I seriously doubt anything would have happened even if we hadn’t
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374 seconary violations in his osu years. in a year kiffin caught hell for 6 , this d-bag had 41.what is to defend ?
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You’re not trying to rationalize the NCAA’s actions are you?
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If the NCAA wants compliance with their rules then said rules should be simplified. It is like the legislature writing a law, if they make the law complicated enough it can be enforced at the local DA’s disgression. By having a code so complicated that no one understands it the NCAA can enforce their rules as they see fit.
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Welcome to the NCAA’s total disregard of the Constitution. Mr Drew is a citizen of a supposedly free country who invites two former pro football players one of which is now a broadcaster to his announcement. Both agree to attend but the University of Georgia which had absolutely no knowledge of this is so paranoid that they felt they must self-flagellate themselves before the sacred NCAA and beg for mercy. Gawd I hate those SOB’s.
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I think its important to remember how so many of us that bitch about signing day being overblown and made into these events that at times are downright silly. I’m with the Senator that kids should celebrate the moment, and I loved seeing Crowell break out the bulldog pup in his announcement, despite the fact that I also thought it was a little much. This thing can get out of hand if left unchecked. Point being that the rules are there for good reason, but as happens all too often, they fail to police as intended. But I also have to agree that is seems silly and petty. The NCAA needs self policing right now regarding legitimate, primary violations, so this seems ridiculous and I have to agree that it is.
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The rules might be unfair, but that is what happens when overzealous fans and alumni sticks their noses into the recruiting process.
I will say this. They should have known better. When I read that story in January, I knew it was a problem. The athletic department has sent all kinds of literature about it over the the years, and has a compliance webpage at georgiadogs.com. Pollack and Godfrey should have at least contacted the compliance department before attending that ceremony.
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Huh?
A guy gave him a heads up, about something his players were doing that was illegal. Tressel’s response should have been to report the illegal behavior, but he instead attempted to cover it up. Questions of confidential information aside, there’s nothing wrong with alumni alerting school officials to illegal behavior from students.
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Oops. My bad. Got my posts mixed up and only read the first sentence of your post. Was thinking you were talking about the Tressel incident.
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There are “reports” that PETA will ask for sanctions against UGA in regard to a poor puppy being victimized at Crowell’s signing…I’m sure the NCAA will follow with an investigation!
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Let’s not forget (as others have pointed out above) that these were self-reported by UGA admin. McGarity did the right thing, even if the rules are silly. I did think it was strange to have two grads present for the announcement, but this isn’t the tempest in a teacup that the media coverage suggests. Everyone take a deep breath and count slowly to ten.
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The NCAA has zero interest in what happened at Drew’s ceremony. McGarity and Co. made the correct move by self-reporting since two people with obvious UGA interests spoke at his commitment ceremony — remember, this was four days before Drew signed. That’s against rules that exist for a very good reason.
But Georgia isn’t going to be punished, and it wouldn’t have been even if it didn’t report. Rather than get mad at the NCAA, which didn’t do anything at all in this case, fans should appreciate that the school discovered a rule had been broken and responded in exactly the right manner so as to resolve any possible concern the NCAA could have had about the situation.
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