So BYU has its first recruiting penalty thanks to volleyball
 

After reading the Peterson explanation, it sure seems hyper-technical, but the NCAA is a bunch of ninnies.

It kinda reminds me of Majerus cookiegate.

http://blogs.sltrib.com/byu/

Did I read correctly in the article that the coach resigned as a result?

Yes, Peterson resigned a year or two ago.

Giving a ride from the airport is a violation? Geeze. Letting a guy room with you is a violation?

Some of those things seem other worldly.

It more seems like UCLA coach Don Scates campaigned against BYU because he couldn't beat them recently on the court.

Reverend Lovejoy holding a Bible: "...oh just about everything is a sin, have you ever sat down and read this thing? Technically we're not allowed to go to the bathroom."

Same pretty much goes with the 1,100 page NCAA rules and regulations.

What, a $17,000 payment from a booster to aid a player is an NCAA violation??? I had no idea!!!

I didn't quite understand how that came about.

It wasn't to a player. The aid came with the understanding that the person would not be eligible for collegiate athletics afterwards.

This doesn't sound like an obvious violation?

Well at least BYU can't claim holier-than-thou status anymore. We're in the same boat as OK and SMU now. Of course, we are on the deck, while they are at the bottom of the boat in the muck. But same boat.

The NCAA is using the broadest possible definition of a "prospective men's volleyball student-athlete".

So I make inducements to someone that I hope will play for BYU, but ends up not playing at BYU, then I have committed no wrong?

You know that's not true.

I've already provided the quote that showed the assistance came WITH THE UNDERSTANDING that the person would no longer be eligible to participate in athletics. Thus, it's no inducement, and the NCAA has mischaracterized the assistance.

So they say. Yeah, I gave the star Cuban volleyball player all this assistance with our private understanding this would mean he would not play for us.

Yeah, right.

I can see why the NCAA would be skeptical, and why you would not.

Maybe they should have put him in Guantanamo. The assistance was clearly humanitarian in nature and clearly not an effort to win a recruiting war. The person signed no LOI and did not appeal his eligibility. There is no evidence that he received assistance while BYU viewed him as a recruitable athlete.

I do love it was called "humanitarian aid." lol!

Who cares if he signed an LOI? All that does is bind you to go somewhere to play. Instead, he just enrolled and played for 2 years.

It looks bad, Indy. Even you should be able to admit that.

The player in question did not play for anyone. It's not Cala.

http://cougarguard.com/forum/showpos...6&postcount=10

The guy that received the assistance did not play at BYU or anywhere else. I guess one could argue that assisting the teamate had a favorable impression on Cala to play for BYU. What a round about way to get a recruit.

Mormons game the system in such strange ways (think back to the Olympics).

Thank goodness no cookies were offered.

I'm having a hard time putting any blame here on the booster or coach, based on the available information. Seems like a NCAA over-reaction to me.

Where did your quote come from in the link? According to the Trib, it was believed to be Cala.

http://www.sltrib.com/byucougars/ci_8535554

The SL Trib "believed" it to be Cala, but clearly from Peterson and his attorney's response, it was somebody else.

Honestly I could care less.

The only 2 sports I care about are football and basketball.

I don't envy the Yewt "fan" relegated to cheering for sports that no one gives a shit about.

Imagine that. Indy not thinking it's a big deal.

Remember how you railed against majerus about cookiegate and extra practice hours?

Majerus cheated. So did the BYU volleyball coach.

Why is that hard for you to accept?

The issue is whether or not a person received benefits in an effort to get them to play at BYU. Not only did they not play at BYU, but they didn't get assistance until they understood it would mean they couldn't play at BYU.

Not a difficult concept to understand.

There is a difference between technical cheating and malicious knowing cheating.

Signed,
Indy Coug

It wasn't even technical cheating.

If it wasn't cheating, why did the coach resign?

Cheating is cheating.

Not a difficult concept to understand.

If you believe the coach's version, then both BYU's firing of the coach and the NCAA penalties are very severe, and the wrongdoing was of a technical nature and not done purposefully to gain advantage (i.e. a bishop letting poor international students use a bike for free and someone taking pity on a Cuban refugee and putting up lawyer fees, etc.--nice things that would have done no matter if the recipients were athletes). Also, he accused his assistants of lying about him with motive to steal his job and BYU using him as a scapegoat (wouldn't be the first time).

His story is plausible but certainly one-sided.

The DNews article said that it was one of Cala's friends or teammates in Cuba or something like that - not Cala.

Why did the coach resign? It is almost as if Indy might believe that at the LDS Church owned University perception means *almost* as much as the truth.

There's "resign" and "resign with a gun to your head".

Michaelis, Hale, Crowton, Peterson. That's resigning "BYU style".

Which is only marginally better than the "firing - Reid style".