Wednesday's Skull Session will offer some commentary on things happening around the world of college sports.
Something substantively major in size and scope would have to happen this week if attention were to be diverted from the upcoming Super Bowl. The NFL is already priority no. 1 among sports fans, having 30 years ago displaced Major League Baseball as America's real pastime. That the biggest sporting event of the year is just four days away makes it all anyone will be discussing for the remainder of the work week.
Really, it's getting to the point where we care that Marshawn Lynch entered "silent mode" during his Super Bowl Media Day appearance. Should we also be surprised that Peyton Manning doesn't want to discuss his "legacy" when there's the opportunity at a second Super Bowl win this Sunday?
This Skull Session will eschew most conversations about the upcoming Super Bowl in favor of a focus on the college game. We begin with a summary of Gene Smith's contract.
FEELIN' SO FLY, LIKE A GENE SMITH. The biggest item of the day for fans of Ohio State athletics concerns Gene Smith. Unpopular among the fan base's die-hards, the athletic director had his contract renewed through 2020. He also got a promotion and will now serve the university as a "vice president" in addition to his duties as athletic director.
Smith offered a comment on the renewal of his contract with The Ohio State University, which was set to expire in 2016.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to lead the athletics program at a university with a national reputation for excellence that encompasses a broad-range of areas,” Smith said in a statement. “Working with the coaches, athletics staff, faculty and staff across the university enables us to provide positive experiences for the young people we serve, while finding ways to help them become global citizens impacting the world.”
Smith will also receive a raise of approximately $100,000. His new duties will entail an additional focus on the business aspects of the university and athletic department, also working in a fundraising and integrative role for Nationwide Arena in downtown Columbus. Interim president Joseph A. Alutto cited increasing student-athlete graduation rates among Smith's many accomplishments in announcing the raise.
I don't want to pick this wound again, but I'm a bit surprised that Gene Smith is basically the last man standing from the Tatgate scandal from a few years prior. There were clearly worse sins committed across college football proximate to that time, and how no one(!) is discussing North Carolina more is beyond me, but I expected Smith to eventually exit stage left as quietly as he could.
This is not to diminish that fiasco is but one item on his resume. Smith's credentials in fundraising speak well of his administrative duties. Even part of his handling of Tatgate underscores Smith's NCAA bona fides. He quite well understood that it's an issue of bargaining with NCAA's enforcement wing, and not "crime and punishment", per se.
That said, Smith actively made bad things worse as that unfolded, belying his NCAA enforcement credentials with a poor understanding of disaster management. Announcing Jim Tressel's resignation via a comment-disabled YouTube video while making a scene of the relatively minor Bobby DiGeronimo corollary scandal threw gasoline onto each fire. Both could've been better handled.
They don't wash out what else Smith has done in his position, but they are hard to forget.
GO! U(NIONIZE) NORTHWESTERN. If Gene Smith's contract renewal at Ohio State was the most relevant news of the day for Ohio State fans, Northwestern football players' attempt to unionize was the most interesting item of the day for football fans in general.
The cause was led by Kain Colter, the graduating Northwestern quarterback who contacted Ramogi Huma, president of the National College Players Association, about this possibility. Huma, a former linebacker at UCLA, submitted unionization forms on behalf of Northwestern's football players with the National Labor Relations Board's regional offices in Chicago.
An unnamed Northwestern football player using a "burner" Reddit account elaborated why Northwestern's football players are working toward this.
This isn't about getting paid. What it is about is protection. Many of us will have numerous injuries throughout our playing careers. A group of those players will continue to feel the effects of those injuries long after their playing days are over. The goal is to have some sort of medical protection if we need surgeries stemming from injuries sustained while playing for our university. Another goal is graduate school for those who were fortunate enough to play as a true Freshman. Most student-athletes get redshirted in their first year, and receive one year of grad school payed for in their fifth year of eligibility. We feel as though it is fair to ask for the same investment from the university all around. It isn't about getting an extra $200 a month for spending. We have our stipend, and if we budget correctly we are able to make it stretch for the month. Would it be nice to have some part of jersey sales or memorabilia sales? Absolutely. But that is not the goal as of right now.
Sports Illustrated discussed the implications with Michael McCann, importantly whether the move by Northwestern would affect all Division I programs. The short answer is it won't. Northwestern, as a private university, is subject to the National Labor Relations Act. Public universities are subject to state labor laws. As you may have gathered, there is significant variation on collective bargaining rights across states in this country.
The National Labor Relations Act, which the Northwestern players are using, does not govern employees at public universities. Student-athletes at public universities who want to join Northwestern in the union effort would have to instead use state labor laws to unionize. This will be a problem for some. States’ laws vary considerably on whether, and how easily, public employees can unionize. Twenty-four of the 50 states are considered “right-to-work” states in that their laws limit opportunities for employees of public institutions, including those employed by state universities, to unionize. Right-to-work states are typically in the south and include Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. Nebraska, Utah and Iowa are also right-to-work states.
This legal twist means that if college athletes want to be in a union, they need to attend schools where unions not only exist but are possible under the law. In theory, this dynamic could disadvantage public universities in right-to-work states while recruiting high school athletes: If those athletes want to be in a college sports union, they may not be able to do so at public universities in right-to-work states.
There are also clear implications for Title IX enforcement in college athletics. However, this is just the very beginning of this issue, which is no doubt a long time from resolution.
With that in mind, I would like to commend Northwestern University for keeping an open and forward-thinking mind on this issue. The NCAA? Not so much.
Brendan Gibbons
"PERMANENTLY SEPARATED" FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN. Michigan football had a bright light shined on it when Brendan Gibbons, former kicker for Michigan who just concluded his playing career, was "permanently separated" from the University of Michigan.
“You will be permanently separated from the University of Michigan effective December 20, 2013,” reads a Dec. 19, 2013 letter addressed to Gibbons at his Florida residence from the University’s Office of Student Conflict Resolution, which facilitates disciplinary proceedings against students.
What led to this "permanent separation" was the worst kept secret surrounding Michigan football since surfacing last year. It involves an incident from 2009, when Gibbons was a freshman.
An additional OSCR document signed by Vander Velde and dated Nov. 20, 2013, stated that it was determined by the University that a preponderance of evidence supports “a finding that the Respondent engaged in unwanted or unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature, committed without valid consent, and that conduct was so severe as to create a hostile, offensive, or abusive environment.” The Daily has been told that the respondent referred to in this letter is Gibbons. Complainants in this case are not identified in the documents reviewed by the Daily.
There are a lot of uncomfortable questions that fans of Michigan football will have to ask of its program in light of this development. Namely, the incident itself dates to 2009 and fans of the program whispered about it as if the fact it occurred was a given. Why did it take over four years to reach this point? What of Taylor Lewan, Michigan's star left tackle, who allegedly participated in the cover-up through threatening to sexually assault the victim if she reported Gibbons to authorities?
In fairness to some Michigan fans, they are already asking these questions out loud. They should and they are.
Why it took almost five years to reach this conclusion is unknown. The Daily suggests that revised policies from 2011 may have forced the University to re-evaluate, but policies from 2011 do not result in December 2013 expulsions. Given the timing here it's clear that the guy who dumped various court documents on the internet was the proximate cause. That is of course terribly embarrassing for the university, which was apparently fine with having a student they eventually concluded they were at least 50.1% sure raped a girl as long as no one was complaining about it.
A commenter on MGoBlog with first-hand familiarity of the process of "permanent separation" at the University of Michigan added to Brian's original post. While clarifying that Michigan's Office of Student Conflict Resolution is not an investigative body, that it took over four years to reach this resolution is unusual, to say the least.
With that said, it is emphatically NOT a three- or four-year process. Given that all of the investigatory work is already completed before a complaint is filed, the formal arbitration process does not take very long at all. In my time at OSCR, I can't remember a single arbitration - including those involving sexual assault allegations - lasting more than a single semester, from initial complaint to final sanction.
That Brady Hoke seemed to participate in this charade doesn't speak well of him either. At the least, Brady Hoke saying Gibbons was missing games due to "family issues", being "iffy", and "tweaks", seems suspicious.
MISCELLANY. The State of 11W... Being an NFL cheerleader is a "scam"... Bryant-Denny Stadium covered in snow... 6-1 guy posterizes a seven footer twice in D-League action... I love "Football as Football". I can't tell you how many teams logos are improved through this project. The New England Patriots logos here look way better than what the Patriots actually use as a logo... Richard Sherman makes how much? Dang, Seattle is shrewd... Speaking of Richard Sherman, he crushed what was otherwise an inflammatory question at Super Bowl Media Day... Marshawn Lynch gets an endorsement deal with Skittles... Lebron James has "some ideas" for the new NBA commissioner... Russell Wilson on a baseball card... But for Ohio State.
