Someone needs to learn the rules, and it’s not Rich Rodriguez

By Bart Doan  |   Monday, August 31, 2009  |  Comments( 2 )

College Football
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Someone needs to learn the rules, and it's not Rich Rodriguez

Around the end of August, it'd be nice to be talking Xs and Os, but at Michigan these days it seems nothing is prone to going nicely. Still, in the wake of the much overhyped player allegations regarding practice violations, it might be nice if the actual NCAA rulebook was consulted before some of the reprocussions hit the airwaves.

Sure, the NCAA's rules and regulations is 431 pages of book and thicker than North Dakota, but for what Michigan is being alleged of doing, some of the accusations don't hold water. For instance, in the Detroit Free Press report, anonymous players point out that they were dealing with football on Sundays from "10 am to 10 pm." NCAA rules state that in season, players are allowed 20 hours of what they call "countable" activities and 8 out of season. Though there are more issues at hand, these are the ones at the crux of the Michigan issue.

In the Free Press article, an anonymous Michigan player admitted that the team in-season would be subjected to not only the 12 hour Sundays and that they were forced to attend "voluntary" workouts as well as face punishment if they did not. Too much of this situation reeks of sour grapes as well as major rules oversight.

For instance, Tony Clemons is one recent Michigan player and transfer willing to comment on these allegations. In his interview with ESPN, he mentioned not wanting to be tied to the program anymore but feeling the need to step up for teammates. Clemons admitted that there were times he'd go in at 10 or 11 and not get out sometimes until after 10 at night, depending on whether or not certain players needed medical treatment. This is where the areas get gray. Furthermore, would Clemons be saying this after a 1500 yard season instead of one spent mostly on the sidelines? On top of that, is he not accountable considering he signed the same compliance rules sheet as everyone else, verifying that Michigan was not doing anything wrong while he was there? Pointing the finger from afar seems easier.

Regarding how this relates to the NCAA rule book, these are considered the first four non-countable activities:

a. Training-table or competition-related meals;
b. Physical rehabilitation;
c. Dressing, showering or taping; …
h. Medical examinations or treatments;

Essentially, anything related to rehab is completely absolved from being considered part of the allotted hours granted by the NCAA. How that is interpreted is up to the person investigating, but it would be seem hard to believe that Rich Rodriguez has been part of college football for 20 years now and has been over-taxing his athletes on a yearly basis without knowing the rules. After all, players are required to sign off on the allotted hours not being exceeded. If that seems to be very open ended, the rest of the NCAA's rules on such matters are even worse.

m. Voluntary individual workouts, provided these workouts are not required or supervised by coaching staff members, except that such activities may be monitored for safety purposes or conducted by the institution's strength and conditioning personnel who have department wide duties.

This appears to be another place Michigan's investigation might go. So coaches are not allowed to be around unless it's for saftey purposes? Who determines why a coach chooses to take part in these workouts?

o. The provision of videotapes to a student-athlete by an institution's coach that include a personalized message and athletically related information (e.g., discussion of plays, general workout programs, lectures on strategy related to the sport), provided the viewing of the videotape by the student-athlete is voluntary;

Clemons specifically mentioned "lifting, film, dinner, and practice" regarding the 12 hour Sunday Michigan marathons. It would appear that film is considered voluntary and dinner a complete non-issue. When looking at the rules, more holes start to be poked in the theory that Michigan really has been in the wrong.

Lastly, the NCAA does have rules regarding university compliance officers that Michigan might be much better served to go over with their staffs. Compliance officers essentially are to be seen and not heard, making sure that the program is adhering to the very unspecific NCAA guidelines. Multiple Michigan players remarked that these officers often would be showing up at practice and interacting with them, going so far as keeping attendance to who shows up at voluntary workouts. Regarding voluntary workouts, the NCAA points out that under Rule C that athletes are not to be recorded for attending or not attending. If it comes up that players are correct in saying that officers took attendance, that would constitute a minor violation. Also, it's noted in Rule D that players are not to be admonished or punished for participation or lack thereof in voluntary workouts. Whatever "punishment" was supposed to be incurred for not participating again will be horribly difficult to prove. Across the land, the guys that put the most effort in get the playing time, the ones that don't do not.

Though there's something anxious about seeing "Michigan" and "possible violations" scrolling across the bottom of your televisions, the truth is that Rodriguez appears to have rubbed a few people the wrong way, especially after the stoic, laid back demeanor the program had under Lloyd Carr. Some have come out in defense of Rodriguez, but those are never the stories anyone is interested in. The NCAA rules are subject to endless interpretation at the level most people reserve for bickering about politics or religion. Regardless of what comes from this situation, Michigan's program appears somehow more frayed now than it was last year from the inside out. It also appears that some people are having too much fun reveling in it without fully understanding the facts.
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About Bart Doan

Bart has been with Realfootball365.com for about six months and thoroughly enjoys writing for the site. He has been featured for his writings on college football in The Sporting News, The Indianapolis Star, Sports Illustrated, and on CBS Sportsline.com. When he's not drowning himself in the...
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