WBN Roundtable: The Tressel-Pearl Rule

WBN followers, due to our fearless leader’s situation of being more inside boxes than out this weekend (he is moving), yours truly has the opportunity to present to you this week’s WBN Roundtable. So without further ado, and in the immortal words of Kelsay Grammar, “Let’s kick this pig”!

Our question for this week is a simple one, but is producing some not, so simple answers:

Considering the Jim Tressell and Bruce Pearl cases;

“Does the NCAA need to develop a zero tolerance policy towards anyone who intentionally misleads or lies directly to them?”

WBN Founder (and Absentee Landlord this weekend) Paul Jordan:

Of course they should be punished and punished severely. There have been cases of players getting punished for lying to the NCAA but for some reason, the NCAA seems to be lax on coaches. Immediate firing and a two year ban should be the penalty, but I am sure the threat of lawyers keep the NCAA from being able to enforce a law with any real teeth. As is stands now, Pearl could coach next year, I assume, and Tressel could be coaching next year, even if he were fired. The NCAA needs to hold their coaches to the letter of the law and have the law be the same for every coach. And then we run into the question of whether a “white lie” should be punished the same as a more serious lie. In And this is where the argument of “the NCAA staff is way to small to enforce all the rules”. As much money the NCAA makes off the member schools, being “understaffed” should not be a problem with the amount of people looking for work. Answering your question, yes, coaches and students should be punished severely for lying to the NCAA. Swift and immediate punishment.

Brian Eldridge, Fox Media Kentucky Recruiting Analyst:

I think the zero tolerance policy would be fine if you weren’t dealing with a schizophrenic organization like the NCAA. For instance, if a coach is found guilty of lying to the NCAA, there needs to be tangible proof, like Pearl’s situation or like Tressell’s situation. What cannot be allowed in the NCAA is just deciding that they don’t believe a coach and punishing him without proof. The NCAA fancies itself as judge and jury, but rarely do they give a fair trial.

Greg Alan Edwards, Asst. Editor Wildcat Blue Nation:

Since this was my question to begin with, my answer is going to seem the most harsh, but here goes. To me it is simple. Ban any coach who falsifies any record, interview, or inquiry for a minimum of five years. And not only do you ban them from coaching, ban them from ANY NCAA related activity including broadcasting NCAA games. Take them completely out of the picture for five years, in any capacity, and you will get their attention. They must be held to a higher standard than the players even are.

Those were the only responses we got back this week, a few of our normal contributors are out of pocket, so please forgive the limited responses. See you again next week with another topic.

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