Kirk Wessler rants

[molar50]

RE: KW Rants

While I do not know all the details in the summer job scandel, I believe mid-majors like Bradley get severely punished for violations compared to the major programs. When the Illinois players got caught for breaking into a student apartment a few years ago, Illinois was fortunate that those players were not prosecuted by the state's atty and the NCAA let program off with no punishment that I recall. The players Jim Les has recruited have been polite to others when I have observed them out in the public. I would feel comfortable having any of them in my home. The players Les has recruited appear to be very nice young men, not thugs and should be fine representatives of Bradley.

[BradleyBrave]

Re: RE: KW Rants

While I do not know all the details in the summer job scandel, I believe mid-majors like Bradley get severely punished for violations compared to the major programs. When the Illinois players got caught for breaking into a student apartment a few years ago, Illinois was fortunate that those players were not prosecuted by the state's atty and the NCAA let program off with no punishment that I recall. The players Jim Les has recruited have been polite to others when I have observed them out in the public. I would feel comfortable having any of them in my home. The players Les has recruited appear to be very nice young men, not thugs and should be fine representatives of Bradley.

I think there is some creedence to the NCAA sticking it more to the little guys than the big boys. But I won't let that take away from the fact that BU broke rules and needs to get their house in order.

[chitownBUB]

What rules did BU break?

I find only two that qualify as "Bradley breaking rules".
Are these the ones you mean?
The only acts cited yet that can be called a breaking of rules by anyone acting officially from BU were
(#1) the statement by one assistant coach to a bunch of kids in the weight room over the summer, "play harder", which was interpreted (almost ludicrously) by the NCAA as an improper contact, coaching the kids during a non-contact period.
And (#2) the players participating in a preseason exhibition during a time when the player suspensions were under review/appeal and the players were technically ineligible.
No other issue cited to date can be interpreted at "Bradley breaking the rules".
These are two very, very minor transgressions that almost everyone would agree were minor.
Even the NCAA stated in their report,
"There was no involvement by institutional staff or student-athletes in the violations"
"The violations ... were discovered in a timely fashion and were immediately rectified"
These quotes are direct from KW's article"

But these quotes come direct from the NCAA release:
'There was no
involvement by institutional staff or student-athletes in the violations and the vice president believed he was paying the young men the proper amount of wages. The violations occurred over a relatively short period of time, were discovered in a timely fashion and were immediately rectified."

By the way...
"The members of the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions who reviewed the case are Alfred J. Lechner, Jr., attorney, Westfield, New Jersey (Notre Dame guy); Edward Leland, vice president of advancement, University of the Pacific (actually a Stanford guy); Gene A. Marsh, chair, professor of law, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa; James Park Jr., attorney, Lexington, Kentucky and Josephine R. Potuto, professor of law and faculty athletics representative, University of Nebraska, Lincoln."

Hmmmm, one maybe-midmajor guy, and four guys from BCS schools (Alabama, Kentucky, Nebraska, UND) that have had a lot of their own violation-filled history.
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/portal/!ut/p/kcxml/04_Sj9SPykssy0xPLMnMz0vM0Y_QjzKLN4j3CQXJgFjGpvqRqC KOcAFfj_zcVH1v_QD9gtzQiHJHRUUAc0tpTA!!/delta/base64xml/L3dJdyEvUUd3QndNQSEvNElVRS82XzBfTFU!?CONTENT_URL=h ttp://www1.ncaa.org/membership/governance/division_I/infractions/DIBios.html

[BradleyBrave]

What rules did BU break?

I find only two that qualify as "Bradley breaking rules".
Are these the ones you mean?
The only acts cited yet that can be called a breaking of rules by anyone acting officially from BU were
(#1) the statement by one assistant coach to a bunch of kids in the weight room over the summer, "play harder", which was interpreted (almost ludicrously) by the NCAA as an improper contact, coaching the kids during a non-contact period.
And (#2) the players participating in a preseason exhibition during a time when the player suspensions were under review/appeal and the players were technically ineligible.
No other issue cited to date can be interpreted at "Bradley breaking the rules".
These are two very, very minor transgressions that almost everyone would agree were minor.
Even the NCAA stated in their report,
"There was no involvement by institutional staff or student-athletes in the violations"
"The violations ... were discovered in a timely fashion and were immediately rectified"
These quotes are direct from KW's article"

But these quotes come direct from the NCAA release:
'There was no
involvement by institutional staff or student-athletes in the violations and the vice president believed he was paying the young men the proper amount of wages. The violations occurred over a relatively short period of time, were discovered in a timely fashion and were immediately rectified."

By the way...
"The members of the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions who reviewed the case are Alfred J. Lechner, Jr., attorney, Westfield, New Jersey (Notre Dame guy); Edward Leland, vice president of advancement, University of the Pacific (actually a Stanford guy); Gene A. Marsh, chair, professor of law, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa; James Park Jr., attorney, Lexington, Kentucky and Josephine R. Potuto, professor of law and faculty athletics representative, University of Nebraska, Lincoln."

Hmmmm, one maybe-midmajor guy, and four guys from BCS schools (Alabama, Kentucky, Nebraska, UND) that have had a lot of their own violation-filled history.
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/portal/!ut/p/kcxml/04_Sj9SPykssy0xPLMnMz0vM0Y_QjzKLN4j3CQXJgFjGpvqRqC KOcAFfj_zcVH1v_QD9gtzQiHJHRUUAc0tpTA!!/delta/base64xml/L3dJdyEvUUd3QndNQSEvNElVRS82XzBfTFU!?CONTENT_URL=h ttp://www1.ncaa.org/membership/governance/division_I/infractions/DIBios.html

Players got paid by a booster. Plain and simple. If BU didn't break any rules, they wouldn't be on probation. I don't know what is so hard to understand about that.

Again, the evidence is clear regarding mid-majors being treated differently than the majors. Regardless, BU should know that and be taking extra steps to ensure that it isn't even an issue. The way BU dealt with the NCAA in this tells me they learned a thing or two from the fiasco in the mid-80's regarding full disclosure and working with the NCAA instead of against it. Hopefully they learned from this fiasco as well, and this doesn't happen again.

[collegehoopjunkie]

I was just curious to see how much the rest of the nation cared about this issue.
If it is a big deal, the story should get picked up on the newswires, and be in every major daily.
There should also be lots of commentaries about how crooked Bradley is.
But, an extensive search shows the only a FEW articles written anyway. Just the two in the PJS and a small handful of other obscure sites.

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&ie=UTF-8&q=%22bradley%22+and+%22probation%22+and+%22ncaa%22&scoring=d

[patrick_o'brian]

Re: RE: KW Rants

While I do not know all the details in the summer job scandel, I believe mid-majors like Bradley get severely punished for violations compared to the major programs. When the Illinois players got caught for breaking into a student apartment a few years ago, Illinois was fortunate that those players were not prosecuted by the state's atty and the NCAA let program off with no punishment that I recall. The players Jim Les has recruited have been polite to others when I have observed them out in the public. I would feel comfortable having any of them in my home. The players Les has recruited appear to be very nice young men, not thugs and should be fine representatives of Bradley.

That "thug" was Luther Head, First Round draft choice and All-Rookie second team. People make mistakes. I do not condone this behavior, but Luther Head was punished (suspension) and almost kicked off the team. I really don't know where I am going with this, but Bradley committed a violation and got a slap on the hand. This punishment could have been alot worse. Summer jobs should be monitored very closely, due to the severity of the violation. This is just a "lack of institutional control" and we should be very grateful for the level of punishment we received.

[bu fan 9]

Mcbride was involved with Head to. James Augistine was in jail to for driving on a suspended license and other things.

[MacabreMob]

I don't really like reading KW. I only read his Bradley "rants" (articles) because I want to (punish myself and) find out what Non-Bradley fans are thinking/saying. If his articles are not related to BU, I never read them.

So I am wondering....

Has KW ever written about the Illini?

[GoBraves]

Re: RE: KW Rants

While I do not know all the details in the summer job scandel, I believe mid-majors like Bradley get severely punished for violations compared to the major programs. When the Illinois players got caught for breaking into a student apartment a few years ago, Illinois was fortunate that those players were not prosecuted by the state's atty and the NCAA let program off with no punishment that I recall. The players Jim Les has recruited have been polite to others when I have observed them out in the public. I would feel comfortable having any of them in my home. The players Les has recruited appear to be very nice young men, not thugs and should be fine representatives of Bradley.

That "thug" was Luther Head, First Round draft choice and All-Rookie second team. People make mistakes. I do not condone this behavior, but Luther Head was punished (suspension) and almost kicked off the team. I really don't know where I am going with this, but Bradley committed a violation and got a slap on the hand. This punishment could have been alot worse. Summer jobs should be monitored very closely, due to the severity of the violation. This is just a "lack of institutional control" and we should be very grateful for the level of punishment we received.

"lack of institutional control"

Where does that conclusion come from? Is that what the NCAA determined?

[chitownBUB]

The term "Lack of institutional control" really means that the people associated with the university were intentionally cheating and expecting to get away with it because the parties responsible at the institution lacked the supervision or control to stop it.
In other words, intentionally cheating and nobody even looking in on the cheaters and holding them accountable.
That's what happened at Minnesota and Georgia, with the head coach actively involved in planning and running the cheating scams, and absolutely nobody at the university checking in on them so they got away with it for a while.

But what they heck would constitute even cheating in the Bradley case? (let alone any hint of lack of institutional control)?
You can't be serious if you say walking through a practice and saying "play harder" is cheating.
Nor is using the players in a game that doesn't even count (an exhibition game).
This is all so minor it didn't even deserve an investigation, so there has to be a desire at NCAA to nail Bradley.

[lefty]

The term "Lack of institutional control" really means that the people associated with the university were intentionally cheating and expecting to get away with it because the parties responsible at the institution lacked the supervision or control to stop it.
In other words, intentionally cheating and nobody even looking in on the cheaters and holding them accountable.
That's what happened at Minnesota and Georgia, with the head coach actively involved in planning and running the cheating scams, and absolutely nobody at the university checking in on them so they got away with it for a while.

But what they heck would constitute even cheating in the Bradley case? (let alone any hint of lack of institutional control)?
You can't be serious if you say walking through a practice and saying "play harder" is cheating.
Nor is using the players in a game that doesn't even count (an exhibition game).
This is all so minor it didn't even deserve an investigation, so there has to be a desire at NCAA to nail Bradley.

I disagree. If BU was found guily of intentionally cheating NCAA would have said so and penalty much stiffer.
Lack of institutional control is exactly what it means. BU did not pay close enough attention to details of its players and supporters.
In any event it was wrong and BU was penalized and life goes on .
Let's not play victim comparing to BCS schools, let's go forward, learn from past mistakes and take as many precautionary measures as possible this type of thing doesn't happen again.

[collegehoopjunkie]

But BU is the victim of an aggressive investigation based on
anonymous tips, and all that was found was pretty minor stuff
like inadvertent overpay, one $40 meal, and a coach who said "play harder".
Do you know something that I don't, because if that's all the NCAA
came up with, even a child can see those are terribly small
violations compared to the $10,000 payments revealed at Kansas,
the $6,000 paid out along with a live-in babe at Ohio State,
the organized cheating seen at Minnesota/Georgia, and even all
those illegal recuiring visits and calls at Oklahoma and DePaul that
we have yet to see any hint of punishment for.
Seriously, Lefty, do you really think those violations at BU are
serious. And would you not agree many if not most other D-I
programs are doing same and worse all the time, it's just that the
NCAA isn't running a witch hunt to nail them.
Please don't turn this discussion into an argument that I don't see the violations.
I agree BU has a few (four to be exact) and they are terribly minor.
They are even labelled in the NCAA's report to be "inadvertent" and not
connected to efforts to cheat or illegally recruit, But those other examples WERE.

[lefty]

But BU is the victim of an aggressive investigation based on
anonymous tips, and all that was found was pretty minor stuff
like inadvertent overpay, one $40 meal, and a coach who said "play harder".
Do you know something that I don't, because if that's all the NCAA
came up with, even a child can see those are terribly small
violations compared to the $10,000 payments revealed at Kansas,
the $6,000 paid out along with a live-in babe at Ohio State,
the organized cheating seen at Minnesota/Georgia, and even all
those illegal recuiring visits and calls at Oklahoma and DePaul that
we have yet to see any hint of punishment for.
Seriously, Lefty, do you really think those violations at BU are
serious. And would you not agree many if not most other D-I
programs are doing same and worse all the time, it's just that the
NCAA isn't running a witch hunt to nail them.
Please don't turn this discussion into an argument that I don't see the violations.
I agree BU has a few (four to be exact) and they are terribly minor.
They are even labelled in the NCAA's report to be "inadvertent" and not
connected to efforts to cheat or illegally recruit, But those other examples WERE.

No I don't think they are THAT serious but they are still violations.
I don't know if other programs are doing this all the time or not..it doesn't make any difference to me. Is it wrong according to NCAA? yes. that's really all that matters.

I was really responding more to the fact that another poster defined what "lack of institutional control" meant.
Like I said it's over..learn from it, move on and try to make sure it doesn't happen again.

[AV23]

My family has been having the PJS deliverd for 3 generations, we didn't get our paper Saturday, I want a full investigation.......

Talk to AV23 - he purports to know where all the dirt is being sweeped. In fact, maybe AV23 can become a source for Kurt "I Know Noooothhhhing" Wessler - that would be quite a tag team.

Your so funny Dallas Brave

[user1]

But BU is the victim of an aggressive investigation based on
anonymous tips, and all that was found was pretty minor stuff
like inadvertent overpay, one $40 meal, and a coach who said "play harder".
Do you know something that I don't, because if that's all the NCAA
came up with, even a child can see those are terribly small
violations compared to the $10,000 payments revealed at Kansas,
the $6,000 paid out along with a live-in babe at Ohio State,
the organized cheating seen at Minnesota/Georgia, and even all
those illegal recuiring visits and calls at Oklahoma and DePaul that
we have yet to see any hint of punishment for.
Seriously, Lefty, do you really think those violations at BU are
serious. And would you not agree many if not most other D-I
programs are doing same and worse all the time, it's just that the
NCAA isn't running a witch hunt to nail them.
Please don't turn this discussion into an argument that I don't see the violations.
I agree BU has a few (four to be exact) and they are terribly minor.
They are even labelled in the NCAA's report to be "inadvertent" and not
connected to efforts to cheat or illegally recruit, But those other examples WERE.

No I don't think they are THAT serious but they are still violations.
I don't know if other programs are doing this all the time or not..it doesn't make any difference to me. Is it wrong according to NCAA? yes. that's really all that matters.

I was really responding more to the fact that another poster defined what "lack of institutional control" meant.
Like I said it's over..learn from it, move on and try to make sure it doesn't happen again.

But it's like grounding your kid for a year because he forgot to flush the toilet,
or firing an employee because he failed to report he was inadvertently over paid.
The hype and penalty is ridiculously excessive.