Spring Break
The Daily OrangeSchools debate merit of establishing specific code of conducts to deal with serious offenses for athletes
By Matt Gelb
Posted: 9/25/06, 11:31 PM EST Section: Sports
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"If a kid makes a mistake, we don't have to kick him off the team," Bowden said to reporters seven years ago, before the 1999 national championship game. "There's a lot of ways to punish him. I ain't cutting my nose off to spite my face."
Earlier that season, star wideout Peter Warrick was suspended by the Florida State administration for his involvement in a shoplifting scheme. Warrick was charged with grand theft.
The penalty handed down by the school: two games.
Warrick was in contention for the Heisman Trophy and a valuable part of Bowden's run to the national championship. Warrick's partner in crime, Laveranues Coles, was kicked out of school.
The uproar was swift and animated. Why was Coles-who had 12 receptions for 179 yards and one touchdown-kicked off the team while Warrick, the star of the team with four touchdowns and more than 500 yards receiving, slapped on the wrist?
"It's not like I killed the president," Warrick infamously said to reporters after Bowden and FSU came under fire.
The truth is the NCAA has no say over the policies of its member institutions when it comes to dealing with infringements of the law. The NCAA does have strict bylaws regarding recruiting, amateurism and academic standards, but when an athlete breaks the law, there is no uniformity among member schools because the institutions cannot agree on a consensus.
And that's the way it will stay-perhaps forever.
"All of our current rules are bylaws decided by member institutions," said Stacey Osburn, spokesperson for the NCAA. "It will stay that way as long as possible. We do not have a bylaw for legal matters."
So instead, schools are developing their own code of conducts for student-athletes, a process that has demonstrated the wide range of philosophies among NCAA schools.
"The ones that are running wild have so much to learn from the ones who are doing it well," said George Gardener, director of strategic communications at the Center for the Study of Sport in Society at Northeastern University. "The key is to be a school that is willing to stand behind its policies and implement the penalties."
At Syracuse, the athletic department works closely with judicial affairs, but has its own discipline policy in addition to any punishment handed down by the university.
"If there is a university sanction, the athletic department will get involved with the coach," said Rob Edson, senior associate director of athletics. "We have an umbrella policy for athletes, but the guidelines revolve around internal student affairs."
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