The Score: Time to Chip away at NCAA's failed system

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Chip Kelly leaves the Oregon Ducks - and NCAA sanctions - behind as he jumps to the NFL's Eagles.

If this is the NCAA's idea of teeth, then it's time to visit the dentist.

Here we go again. For the umpteenth time, college sports' governing (and I use that term loosely) body has tried to punish (I use that one loosely, too) a coach for shady recruiting practices. This time, it tried to send a message to coaches, a reminder that the NCAA knows that they - not the team - must be held responsible.

Except when the long arm of the college law reached out for Chip Kelly and Oregon, it only managed to deliver a phantom punch, reminding us why coaches cheat in the first place. It's never hard to hide from the NCAA in plain sight. Coaches can jump ship to ESPN or the NFL. There is a whole alphabet soup of options ready to embrace a winning college coach. And until such organizations (whenever you're ready, Roger Goodell) give the college ranks a hand, the recruiting Wild West will always be out of hand.

The most recent reminder is Kelly, who bolted Eugene for the greener - and safer - pastures of the Philadelphia Eagles back in January. Long before the NCAA wrapped up a 27-month investigation and passed judgment on Oregon for the team's questionable relationship with Willie Lyles and a Texas recruiting service last Wednesday, Kelly was untouchable.

The irony is that this time, the NCAA, in an effort to do the right thing, seemed intent on punishing Kelly, not the program he claims he didn't ditch. The Ducks barely get docked, drawing three years probation and a slight scholarship reduction, but no bowl ban. Kelly's supposed to shoulder the blame with an 18-month show-cause penalty, meaning that if he gets hired for a college job within the next 18 months, the program that hires him could be subject to NCAA sanctions.

But the only place where this punishment matters is Chip Kelly's Wikipedia page. The Ducks easily move forward, and Kelly, with a five-year, $32.5 million Eagles gig, goes about his visor-wearing business in Philly. On Wednesday, he apologized to Oregon in a three-paragraph statement released by the Eagles, a statement that easily could have been prepped while Kelly was working through a level of Angry Birds.

If the NCAA wants to add some bite to its bark, it should put no limitations on a coach's sanctions, and say that whenever one of these fugitives from the law returns to the college ranks, his new school gets penalized. That ought to hurt their chances of getting a prime program, and could curtail the rampant disregard for the rules.

Without such a policy, it's no wonder the brightest in the college ranks focus on winning at all costs; by the time the costs catch up, the wins coat them in Teflon. Pete Carroll built a USC legacy on a series of NCAA infractions, then took the Seattle Seahawks job in 2010, before he could be held accountable. John Calipari made the Memphis basketball team a powerhouse, then headed for Kentucky in 2009, as the NCAA was digging into Derrick Rose's falsified SAT score.

Think ex-Tennessee hoops coach Bruce Pearl's fretting about his three-year show-cause penalty from 2011 for a bevy of infractions? Not when ESPN's happy to have him as an analyst.

What's a punishment if you can completely circumvent it? All these escape routes leave the NCAA with a broken system, even if Kelly will never say that Philly was an exit plan. He insisted that "the NCAA investigation and subsequent ruling had no impact on my decision to leave Oregon for Philadelphia."

Goodell has stepped into these situations before - two years ago, he suspended Raiders quarterback Terrelle Pryor for four games because he essentially circumvented an NCAA suspension to enter the NFL - but it's hard to know if he'll do so here, with the biggest offseason hire on one of the league's most high-profile teams. According to a league spokesperson, the NFL is "not yet familiar with the details and prefers not to comment."

So for now, Chip Kelly can focus on his bright NFL future and forget about his past college indiscretions.

Score one more for the rule-breakers, because the rule-makers still can't make their rules matter.

Enough of that - it's time for the NCAA to show some fangs.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nydnrss/sports/college/~3/ZB5caHY0DNA/story01.htm

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