In an article, published today, by CBSSports.com, Emmert is quoted to have said the following regarding the whole Cam Newton debacle:
"...Getting it right is often in the eye of the beholder. The cases we saw this fall were highly controversial and highly debatable. I understand that, and some of them were even enormously frustrating to me.Is this guy serious, or what? Correct me, anyone, if I'm wrong, but didn't Southern Methodist University receive the NCAA's "death penalty" for paying players—both on their roster and prospectively as recruits?
"I said very loud and clear that I think it's absolutely a fundamentally wrong for a father to try to sell the services of his son or daughter to the highest bidder, to a university. We ought never to allow that to happen, but yet, having not anticipated that, we didn't have any rule or structure that said it was a violation of any of our rules. I found that grossly inappropriate that didn't have a structure in which we could say, 'No, you can't do that.' [emphasis added].
"There was no evidence that money had changed hands and there was no evidence that Auburn University had anything to do with it. We would up making a decision that felt to many people morally objectionable, but that fit the facts and the circumstances.
"We find ourselves making those kinds of judgment calls often."
Does that not count as a precedent? Surely if a university is not allowed to give money to it's players, then said players handlers should not be allowed to seek payment from the university in order to secure that player's services—it's not a tough jump for a logical person to make.
Granted, there is nothing in the rules that says "parents can't pimp players" but, come on, some of this stuff is common sense and, if nothing else, the act of allowing a "pay-for-play" scheme to go unpunished simply because you want to protect the NCAA's tarnished image under your watch—yes, this means you Mr. Emmert—is an act of irresponsibility.
Emmert certainly has his hands full now, what with all the loopholes people will start to find in the vague, prejudicial rules of the NCAA, but he can thank himself for making his life a lot more difficult at the top.
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