Alabama is 9-2. For almost any other college football team that would mean a trip to a bowl game, and a high-profile one at that.

Not for the Crimson Tide, though.

Because of NCAA rules violations that occurred under former coach Mike DuBose, current ‘Bama players and coaches must now suffer the consequences.

This situation is one that hundreds of college athletes deal with each year. It’s also one of the numerous forms of discrimination that former Kansas track-and-field coach Bob Timmons believes exist against college athletes. Timmons is attempting to fix such discrimination with an NCAA Student-Athletes Bill of Rights, which he first proposed in June.

Now, Timmons is trying to get the bill passed by the NCAA. And if it refuses, he’ll take it to the U.S. Congress.

‘I’m doing this with the goal of changing policies and rules that affect the participation of athletes,’ Timmons said.

The proposed document includes 10 rights that Timmons and his committee, the National Student-Athletes’ Rights Movement, feel should be established.

Included are such items as the opportunity for participation, a fair penalty system, adequate protection for health and safety and the right to work and practice freely.

Timmons said he has sent the document to all college presidents and chancellors, NCAA advisory committee members and the NCAA coaches’ association. Although Timmons has not encountered anyone highly opposed to the document, he believes such opposition exists.

Jake Crouthamel, SU’s director of athletics, disagrees with the proposed bill. He said this is the latest in a series of attempts to unionize student-athletes.

‘Is there a chance it could succeed? Sure,” Crouthamel said. ‘Is it likely to succeed? I’d say it’s very unlikely.’

Crouthamel said many of Timmons’ concerns are already being addressed by the NCAA.

Unlike Crouthamel, Syracuse Chancellor Kenneth A. Shaw said Timmons’ proposal has some valid points. But he believes Timmons needs to find people within the NCAA committees that endorse the principles he’s presented.

‘It could be valid and blown away or valid and accepted,’ Shaw said. ‘Some of the ideas make sense and some do not, but some important ideas have come out.’

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Punishing players

One of the most important proposals within the bill of rights deals with the current NCAA penalty system, which has been scrutinized lately. Currently, if the NCAA investigates a school’s athletic program and finds violations, a whole team is usually punished, rather than only the individuals who were involved in the offense. Simmons feels this violates student-athletes’ full-participation rights.

‘If a coach makes a mistake, he should pay,’ Timmons said. ‘It might be the only time a kid gets to play for a national championship.’

Said Shaw: ‘(The system) is not fair because it punishes the players rather than the coach. The coach (that commits the violations) moves on to a different school, and the new coach gets punished.’

Think scenarios like this don’t occur?

Ask the Kentucky football team. Several NCAA violations occurred from 1997 to 2000 under former coach Hal Mumme. The Wildcats were given a one-season bowl ban and reduced scholarships during the next three years. Kentucky unsuccessfully appealed the penalties.

When Guy Morriss took over as coach last year, he knew the potential for NCAA sanctions existed. After consecutive 2-9 seasons, Morriss has led the Wildcats to a 7-4 record this year. Normally, that would mean a bowl game. But not this year.

‘It was my job to kind of clean up the mess,’ Morriss said. ‘It’s not fair because the kids get hurt the worst. There’s probably got to be a better way.

‘The kids that got hurt worst are the seniors. They all had a chance to go elsewhere, but they all voted to stay. This could have caused us to quit a long time ago, but that’s not the type of kids we have.’

So what’s a better solution to the problem? Both Morriss and Shaw believe coaches must be held more responsible.

‘There has to be some kind of legislation passed for the coach and university to have accountability,’ Morriss said. ‘You can’t punish these kids.’

But Crouthamel said a program should be penalized somehow.

‘How do you penalize a program if you don’t (impose sanctions)?’ he wondered.

At Syracuse, NCAA sanctions against freshman point guard Billy Edelin have been criticized. Edelin was suspended 12 games by the NCAA for illegal participation in a recreational league, where he played four-on-four against middle-aged men.

Some officials at SU have suggested Edelin’s punishment did not fit the offense. There has also been outrage over the penalty’s consistency, considering the day after Edelin’s appeal was denied, the NCAA overturned a suspension of two North Carolina players accused of a similar violation.

Under Timmons’ bill, the NCAA wouldn’t be able to punish excessively and must be consistent with all its decisions.

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Safer standards

Timmons has also expressed concerns about student-athletes’ safety.

He cited numerous instances in which injuries occurred because of unsafe equipment, especially in track and field, and gymnastics. In February, Penn State pole vaulter Kevin Dare died when he fell at the Big Ten indoor track championships.

Though Dare’s death was ruled accidental, Big Ten officials later met with equipment manufacturers to discuss how to make pole vaulting safer.

Currently, the responsibility for providing safe equipment is left to individual schools.

‘Each piece of equipment needs to be certified,’ Timmons said. ‘If not, the host school should have to forfeit the points for that event.’

Crouthamel said Syracuse makes every effort to create a safe environment for athletes but sometimes accidents cannot be avoided. Last year, when SU hosted the Big East indoor track championships, a pole vaulter broke his hip.

‘We buy the best equipment out there,’ Crouthamel said. ‘I don’t think nationally most accidents have occurred because of inferior equipment.’

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Overworked athletes?

Student-athletes should be allowed to practice as often as they want, Timmons said.

Currently, athletes may practice 20 hours a week, but Crouthamel said individual sports can request additional practice time.

Shaw said if individual schools decide how much each team can practice, problems would arise. If one school set a practice limit, he said, then each school would follow to be able to compete. This would lead to such a demanding practice schedule that athletes would no longer be able to concentrate on class work.

‘You can’t be a student and practice all the time,’ Shaw said. ‘We want our athletes to be students and do great on the field. I don’t think this (part of the bill of rights) would be received well.’

Said Timmons: ‘If you’re making high enough grades, you should have the same opportunities as any other student.’

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Passing the bill

So where does Timmons go with the proposed bill of rights? He hopes that university presidents, the NCAA advisory committee and NCAA coaches’ association help bring it to the NCAA board of directors’ attention.

He said the proposal will have minimal effect if enacted only on a school-to-school basis.

‘Schools that compete all have different rules,’ Timmons said. ‘There needs to be consistency throughout (the NCAA).’

Timmons said he has begun to catch a few breaks with the proposal and won’t give up. Should he find no success with the NCAA, Timmons said he’ll propose it to the the U.S. government.

Shaw said you can’t make a perfect system, and there has to be some kind of rules.

‘(Timmons) has to expose his ideas to a place where decisions are going to be made,’ Shaw said. ‘It should be done through the NCAA. It’s not practical for Congress.’

Published on November 21, 2002 at 12:00 pm