Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany: "It's a corruption issue"

Amateurism issues have been at the forefront of college athletics this summer.

Whether it is the NCAA investigating the agents involved with a number of big-time college football programs, the punishment handed down to USC over the Reggie Bush/OJ Mayo era, or the Chicago Sun-Times throwing out accusations that star recruit Anthony Davis has offered up his commitment for purchase, no one would blame you if you thought that big time college sports was completely corrupt.

While it is unfair to assume that everyone is cheating, it is naive to believe that the only people skirting the rules and regulations of the NCAA are the ones getting caught.

Cheating happens. Fans know it. Writers know it. Coaches know it. And now, it seems, someone with the authority to make a difference is acknowledging it:

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany, a former NCAA enforcement director who has expressed particular concern about a culture of rules-breaking in major-college basketball, applauds the efforts but cautions, "You're seeing activity, but you don't know what the results are (going to be).. .. It's just noise until something happens one way or the other."

In basketball, he maintains the NCAA still has a long way to go. "There is a loss of confidence among many coaches that the rules are being complied with. The best way I can describe it is a sense of cynicism," he says.

"I'm talking about the corruption of the youth basketball program, the money that's used to influence recruiting. And ultimately the buying of players, either through third parties or through coaches or coaches and third parties — agents. I can't tell you if it's three institutions or whether it's 15. But make no mistake about it; it's happening.. .. It's a corruption issue." (Our emphasis added)

It isn't just talk, either. The NCAA seems to be making a concerted effort to clean up college basketball. Two years ago, three investigators were assigned to focus solely on men's basketball, with three more to be added next month. That will bring the overall number of investigators to 23, almost double the number (12) just seven years ago.

Will this effort rid college basketball of the "dark side"?

Well, no. It won't.

As long as there is an incentive for people to cheat -- be it a coach paying for a recruit, a high schooler teaming up with an agent or a runner, illegal phone calls, boosters, whatever -- cheating is going to occur. Its a fact of life. People are always going to be looking for a way to get rich quick. If its possible to make a few bucks by associating yourself with a talented 15 year old, or by pimping out your child/player, there are people out there that are going to do it.


The NCAA isn't going to be able to change that. They aren't going to eliminate the need for agents to land big-time clients, or for coaches to bring in talented recruits.

As David Price, the NCAA's vice president for enforcement services since 1998, says "[we]'re dependent on the information that's brought to [us]." Relying on snitches means the only way that leads are generated is when something goes wrong or when someone gets pissed off.

That said, this -- all of this, from Delany's statements to the addition of the investigators -- is a good thing. The NCAA cannot stand idly by while grown men and women manipulate and take advantage of our most talented youngsters before they are legally allowed to look at internet porn.

A statement needs to be made. By hammering the USC football program, coming after players that associate with agents, making statements to the national media that this will no longer be tolerated, and following through on those statements, the NCAA is making it clear that they want change.

I doubt that this, or any, initiative by the NCAA will every truly clean up big time college sports.

But this sure is a good way to start tidying up the edges.