It is hard to argue that the nature of College Athletics has been showing signs of taking after professional sports and becoming more commercialized. Unfortunately, the recent scandals throughout the NCAA have only been enhancing this stance. The September 26th announcement of the arrests of 10 people involved in College Basketball bribery scandals has only heightened the scrutiny of college athletic programs.
The scandal
According to Business Insider, assistant basketball coaches from Arizona, Auburn, Oklahoma State, and USC were some of the accused and were taking thousands of dollars in bribes to help pressure athletes to hire particular business managers and financial advisors.
Outside of coaches, an executive at Adidas was also arrested for paying and persuading athletes to attend the certain colleges which Adidas sponsored. Unknown to most, the FBI investigation was going on since 2015 and investigated three separate complaints that were received.
FBI bearing good news
A report by The Des Moines Register claims the FBI has "changed the college sports' landscape" and I could not agree more. The only bad news this scandal could bring is that some of these nationally recognized and successful men's basketball programs have betrayed us sports fans right before our eyes...but are we surprised? Though it has taken a federal investigative agency to stir up the pot in the college basketball world, this is only for the better.
The fact of the matter is NCAA programs across the country have been violating policy when it comes to recruiting, and some of these infractions have simply been going unnoticed. What's even more alarming is that with the increasingly competitive nature of college athletics, programs are becoming more willing to do whatever it takes to have that 'successful' and winning program.
Who is to blame
Things would be much easier if we could point our fingers at a specific person, program, or even the NCAA and say that this is all their doing. However, that is nearly impossible to do in this case. Should the NCAA take a step back and review their athlete recruitment bylaws and enforcement policies? Maybe. Should compliance departments evaluate their staff and monitor things more closely?
Depends. Should every head coach be to blame when their programs are found guilty of fraudulent behaviors? Probably not. Should the sports nation as a whole start re-evaluate the nature of college athletics and the values that are being instilled and promoted? Absolutely.
The road to recovery
Don't get me wrong, there are many NCAA men's basketball programs that uphold moral values and steer clear of NCAA violations, and they should be applauded. It is about time that these programs that cheat their way through to obtain the best athletes possible be penalized. So what next? This storyline is nowhere near complete, and it will be interesting to see the NCAA's reactions to further investigations surrounding these coaches and programs involved.
For now, the best thing the world of sports can do is to take this issue seriously and realize that things have been going way too far. College basketball used to be capable of inspiring and uniting fans and communities, and it still can be. Without scandals like this breaking, the sport would only become more corrupt and commercialized. At this moment, the ball is in the court of those who are willing to pick it up and do something.
