Soapbox | Compliance Corner

932 pages, but lighter than air

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 09:19:49 -0700

The first-ever ePUB version of the NCAA Manual arrived this week, under cover of darkness.

I say that because it's not easy to find. I looked all over the NCAA Publications site and finally gave up and asked for a direct link. Thankfully, Leeland Zeller was only too happy to oblige. I'll save you some time searching:

http://www.ncaapublications.com/p-4270-division-i-manual-published-january-2012-pdf-and-epub-versions.aspx

Note that this link probably won't be good for the next edition of the ePUB Manual. One can only hope the NCAA will come up with a link that will always point to the latest ePUB version of the Manual (and links for past versions could be created, as appropriate) and then publicize it directly.

About ePUB

Before we get into the details of the ePUB Manual, here are a couple of details about ePUB itself.

ePUB (short for electronic publication), is a free and open e-book standard. You can read more about it, but in brief, ePUB allows for reflowable word wrap and resizeable text and you can add images and other doo-dads to it. You can also increase the point-size and change fonts (in contrast to PDF files) to make the content a bit easier to read.

This train is rolling

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 12:12:24 -0700

If you've been following along, you've seen some of the activity and quotes surrounding the recent Presidential Retreat.

The attendees focused on three key areas--financial sustainability, academic success of student-athletes, and accountability and integrity--and offered up a slew of reforms from higher academic standards and stiffer penalties for violations to simplified rules.

And you've probably seen some of the quotes:

“The presidents all came together with a very clear, strong consensus that status quo and continued order of the day is insufficient and that we need to have change in a number of key areas and we need to have it quickly,” said NCAA President Mark Emmert.

Penn State’s Graham Spanier stated rules violators “should be afraid now, if they are going to go out and break any rules – because people have had enough of that."

Fire up your favorite search engine and you'll have no problem finding many similar ideas and quotes from both the recent and distant past.

But at this point, it doesn't matter much who said what way back when. Or whose idea something was so that credit, like a patent, can be properly bestowed.

Sometimes you need a chart

Fri, 28 Jan 2011 11:30:13 -0800

There are some interesting numbers about self-reported NCAA infractions cases in the meeting materials for the upcoming Recruiting Cabinet meeting.

This is far from a complete data set. Bylaw 15 is conspicuously missing and not all categories of Bylaw 13 violations are reported, just the leading ones. And these are just the self-reported violations.

Sometimes you need a chart to get a clearer view of the data being presented, so:

There's really nothing new here. Recruiting violations have led the way--with no other bylaw even in the rear-view mirror--for years.

And the sections of Bylaw 13 that are the either the most complex or the easiest to accidentally trip over see the most action.

Now all we (still) need are some solutions.

I (still) believe any solution is a combination of raising the speed limit and beefing up the fines. Get rid of the detail and minutiae, but make it more painful when the rules that remain are broken.

For instance, instead of trying to keep up with all the technological changes in communication and micromanaging what can be sent to prospects, set a starting point and leave it at that. The best, and usually most economical, ideas will float to the surface.

Batting averages and book awards

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 09:59:04 -0700

Babe Ruth goes 2-for-4 in his first game of the year. Which batting performance in his second game will increase his batting average the most?

a. 2-for-2.

b. 3-for-3.

c. 4-for-4.

d. Doesn't matter because his hits and at bats are the same in each case.

The right answer, of course, is c: 4-for-4.

Game 1

Fear Not

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:15:33 -0800

Okay, so if you've been, um, following along you know that we signed on to Twitter as Pac-10 Compliance the other day. And, as I write this, a total of 18 followers (some of whom I do not know) have signed on in a little under 48 hours.

We joined the World of Twitter partly to gain a little self-education and, frankly, to see what all the fuss was about.

You can learn more about Twitter yourself. And what you'll probably find is that this is probably not something worth losing a lot of sleep over, at least from a compliance point of view. If you personally become addicted to Twitter and spend all night, every night tweeting, well, that's another story.

In its purest sense, Twitter is a way to post messages ("tweets") for people who are interested in what you might have to say. Those "followers" have to opt-in. These tweets are not necessarily directed to someone, but rather to all your followers or (via the Public Timeline) the Twitter community at large.

So in that sense, the AMA's current position--that we should treat tweets as we do messages posted on a web page or via an RSS feed or on a Facebook page--seems spot on to me.

A Rose By Any Other Name

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 15:55:55 -0800

"Sherman, fire up the WABAC machine!"

Back in the 1990s, a time of cost containment, the NCAA Division I membership adopted a series of proposals over a multi-year period designed to limit coaches salaries (uh-oh) and stop the "proliferation of personnel". More...

Homeless?

Mon, 08 Jan 2007 12:28:21 -0800

Roommate Wanted. Flexible 43-year old N/S seeks new home after 12 years in Birmingham. Being evicted August 1, but won't make trouble because I don't like lawyers. Will relocate. More...

Epilogue

Thu, 07 Dec 2006 17:58:59 -0800

If the Almighty Ran the NCAA

(Read the first two acts)

Epilogue

It is several years later.

God is seated at a large wooden desk. He looks at a huge celestial map affixed magically to a billowy, white cloud. He scratches his head, then opens an enormous cabinet and takes out a huge multi-color object with 34 sides. With two hands, he rolls it slowly across the floor until it stops, teal-side up. More...

Feel Good

Sun, 20 May 2001 09:27:56 -0700

Welcome to our first multi-media soapbox.

In early April 2001, the Pac-10 compliance gurus got together and talked about a lot of topics, including deregulation.

(Be patient; it's a 27.1 MB movie, but it's worth every second to download.)

You'll need QuickTime.

It Can Be Done

Thu, 23 Sep 1999 15:21:38 -0700

Along with a few of my cohorts in the Division I CCA Compliance Administrators group, I attended a meeting-of-the-minds at the NCAA the other day in Indianapolis to discuss one of my favorite controversies: deregulation.