"It Doesn't Make Any Damn Sense": Confessions Of NCAA Compliance Officers

From the outside, it's easy to see big-time college sports as something akin to a religious cult, an empire of groupthink in which true believers rule and the National Collegiate Athletic Association's party line is the first and last word. Only that's not the case. Move past the ill-advised athletic director Tweets and NCAA-issued talking points, and you can find plenty of disagreement, second-guessing and even genuine dissent.

You just have to know where to look.

Case in point? The NCAA's annual "compliance camp" in Indianapolis, where the school administrators charged with enforcing the association's long-contested amateurism rules meet to discuss what is and isn't allowed.

Traditionally, compliance officials have a reputation for ruling with iron fists. But when I met with three of them—a Southeastern Conference school compliance director, an SEC school associate athletic director and an Atlantic Coast Conference school compliance director—in the bowels of the Indianapolis JW Marriott at this year's camp, I found a group of rebels. Well, almost rebels.

None supported an open market for college athletes. But all thought the current system of campus amateurism needed to evolve, and fast. Moreover, they were funny, easy-going, open to new ideas and desperate to reform a system they simultaneously love and want to change.

"We think differently," said the SEC compliance director who set up the meeting.

In order to give an unfiltered view of some of the challenges facing college sports as seen by people inside the system, the three officials asked for anonymity. Here's what they had to say:

Boosters

The ACC compliance director told two stories that orchestrate just how difficult their jobs are, since they have essentially no investigative tools at their disposal. While at his current school, he dealt with an issue of a high-profile player who he knew came from a poor background at dinner with a rich booster.

The booster simply claimed that it was his birthday and his friend cancelled on him, so he decided to call this player to have dinner on the player's dime.

"So let me get this straight, it's your birthday, your buddy cancels on you and the first person you call is our student-athlete on his dime," the director said. "Uh, yeah."

But with no proof otherwise, the compliance officer had to accept the booster's version of the story.

In another instance, a booster who was angry that the school wasn't paying for a portion of an athlete's fees just walked into the registrar's office and paid them herself.

"Like, what?" the director exclaimed. "I didn't even know that was possible."

Boosters already run rampant in college athletics, and there's virtually no way to stop them.

"Boosters, unless they truly 'f' up, (compliance is) never going to know," the director said.

College presidents are messing everything up

Most striking about our conversation was how little any of the compliance officials thought of their school presidents, the decision makers in college sports. They believe decisions need to come from the athletics level, not from the university administration level.

ACC compliance director: "It's presidents of universities who don't know anything other than what people are telling them. A president of a university has no idea that a starting quarterback, his mom's dead, his dad has diabetes, he has no idea."

SEC associate AD: "My president knows exactly what we tell him. No more, no less."

SEC compliance director: "A president and institution of higher learning (says) we don't want (professionalized players). Okay, then don't do that."

Time demands on athletes

The NCAA has come under criticism for its time demand rules, which allows only 20 "countable" hours of athletic participation per week. However, athletes spend far more time than that on sports every week, and schools simply ignore it. The SEC associate AD perfectly summed up the absurdity of the current time demands.

"(A coach once asked), why the fuck do we lift weights at six in the morning?" the SEC associate AD said. "We don't play at six in the morning. It doesn't make any damn sense."

Transfer rules

The SEC compliance director, in particular, was troubled by how much power and money coaches get compared to athletes. Specifically, he would reallocate all academic bonuses for coaches to athletes, and he would also make the transfer process easier.

"The graduate transfer rule? It's the best rule ever," the director said. "You're not having to re-recruit. You should have made a kid happy enough that he wants to stay.

"(Coaches) shouldn't have that much control."

"Let's call a spade a spade"

Competitive balance

Part of the reason college sports are so reactionary is because there are so many Division I members with competing interests. That will improve under the NCAA's new "autonomy" model for the 65 biggest programs. But more drastic measures could be taken, including separating the Power Five conferences from the rest.

"Let's call a spade a spade and say we can compete for this championship and you can compete for that championship," the ACC director said.

There's also the issue of trying to create a level playing field across all sports. Why do we have to pretend Iowa State and Alabama are on the same level in football when they clearly aren't, particularly when their roles are reversed in other sports?

"Iowa State could probably come into the ACC or SEC and compete in basketball," the SEC compliance director said. "Don't try to put all the sports on a level playing field."

Paying players

Opinions differed on paying players among the three participants. The SEC associate AD was not at all for paying players—"college is not for everyone," he said—while the ACC compliance director was against the principle of if, but recognized that athletes currently are exploited.

"Do big-time college athletics (exploit) these kids? Yes," he said. "But I look at Jamarcus Russell, he's a first overall draft pick and makes $50 million, does he get that if he's down at Alcorn State?"

The SEC compliance director was the most vocal in advocating for athletes to get a cut from college athletics's multi-billion dollar industry. He took particular offense to the idea that athletes can't handle their money.

"You're giving a college graduate money, they're gonna be smart with it," he said. "You're giving a college educated individual money. Stop generalizing that they're a kid and they're going to blow it.

"Blah blah blah is going to go pro in something else—exactly. Let's give them some money to help them go pro in something else."

The money is there, too. The evidence? "(A coach gets) a half a million dollar bonus for his kids going to class." That money needs to be redistributed.

The ACC compliance director said that he has seen both sides of the money management issue. Some kids are irresponsible with their money, while others aren't.

"I've had kids come and tell them their dad just takes their pell grant from them," the director said. "But some of it is self-decision."

All three of the compliance directors I met with were adamant that they are providing college athletes with something valuable—a college degree. And while some degrees mean more than others in college athletics, it is clear that the people at this level do want what is best for the athletes. However, it doesn't need to stop at a piece of paper.

"They're getting a degree," the SEC compliance director said. "Well they are, but look at all this fucking money."