NCAA Masoli Ruling Sets Interesting Precedent

 Send This Story To A Friend

If you’re an SEC football fan — and not someone who wears red and blue and loves Ole Miss — I’m guessing you applauded the NCAA’s stance on Jeremiah Masoli yesterday.

The governing body ruled that even though Masoli’s actions fit within the boundaries of its graduate-school-get-a-waiver rule, his off-field behavior was too naughty to ignore.

“The waiver exists to provide relief to student-athletes who transfer for academic reasons to pursue graduate studies, not to avoid disciplinary measures at the previous university.”

Makes sense, of course.  I see the NCAA’s point.  Only they’ve decided to be activist judges on this one.  They decided Masoli’s fate based on the spirit of the law rather than the letter of the law.

The NCAA’s comments raise three questions in my mind:

1.  Will the NCAA now get involved and prevent coaches all over the country from taking on players who have been dismissed by other schools?  If they do not want players who have happened to graduate to get second chances, it would only make sense that non-graduates should be held to the same rule.  In other words, will the NCAA now prevent someone like former Georgia quarterback Zach Mettenberger from playing at another school?  Whether he goes juco first or not, Mettenberger was dismissed by UGA and he intends to play elsewhere.

2.  If the waiver is designed for academic purposes first — not athletic purposes — will the NCAA rule in that manner in future cases?  Greg Paulus transferred from Duke’s basketball team to Syracuse in order to play football in his final post-graduate year.  Are we really to believe that he would have gone to Syracuse had a football offer NOT been on the table?

3.  And what if a coach is simply a jerk?  We never think of those things, but what if a player receives an unfair dismissal from a coach?  Is that coach’s ban going to be upheld by the NCAA, too.

These would be the questions that I would ask were I representing Ole Miss in their appeal of Masoli’s case.

While I understand the move, it sets an odd precedent.  Masoli might have gotten into trouble at Oregon and might be viewed as a criminal (though his crimes are less serious than some SEC football players), but behavior isn’t spelled out in the NCAA’s rulebook.  Nowhere does it say a player can’t transfer from school to school after being disciplined.

Other thoughts:

* If the non-UM fans out there who are happy with this ruling had the same situation playing out at their school they would be screaming (as UM fans are) that the NCAA is an unfair organization.  Whether it is or not.

* Masoli isn’t barred from going to school at Ole Miss, just from playing football in 2010.  He can play in 2011 if he’s still enrolled in Oxford.  It’s doubtful that will happen, of course, because Masoli transferred to play football — just like Paulus.

* Think Houston Nutt wishes he had given Nathan Stanley and Randall Mackey all of the snaps in fall camp now?