For much of yesterday, it was feared that legendary North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith’s last act of kindness–a cash gift to his former lettermen–may have fallen afoul of a backwards NCAA rule. Fortunately, a potential travesty was averted when the NCAA conceded that this was not a violation.
Smith died on February 7 at the age of 83. On Thursday, it was revealed that Smith willed all 180 of his living lettermen $200 each from his trust fund. For anyone who has followed Carolina basketball for any length of time, this came as no surprise. Smith was known for forming deep relationships with his players during his 36 years on the sidelines in Chapel Hill–the last 11 and a half of which were played in an arena named for him. Those relationships continued long after the players left Carolina. I can vouch, not only as a lifelong Carolina fan and alumnus (class of 2000), but also as a relative of two of his players. Walter Davis, who went on to star for many years with the Phoenix Suns, is my mother’s baby brother. Current Tar Heel assistant Hubert Davis is my cousin.
Early yesterday, Forbes columnist and sports law expert Marc Edelman suggested that this gesture, as honorable as it may have been, could potentially break NCAA rules. He wrote that based on the NCAA’s current interpretation of its bylaws, college athletes aren’t allowed to receive compensation in any form based on their status as athletes. Apparently this rule forbids athletes from accepting any money offered after they graduate–a rule which has been used to kibosh efforts to crowdfund athletes after they graduate. Edelman suggested that as absurd as it may be, this rule could also ban a trust fund from awarding money to former college athletes–even if the money is awarded long after those athletes have used up their eligibility and are, at least on paper, no longer under NCAA jurisdiction.
When I first saw this story flash across my Facebook feed yesterday (hat tip to Fansided), I initially thought this was a bad joke. Smith abruptly retired just before the 1997-98 season. What would prove to be his last recruiting class arrived in 1996, my freshman year at Carolina. So if this was accurate, even though no one who played for Smith has been subject to NCAA jurisdiction since 2000 at the earliest, they could still be banned from receiving money from him on the basis of playing for him? Like I said, at first I thought this was a bad joke. Then again, we are talking about an organization that apparently considers helping a player get an apartment in order to keep him off the streets to be a rules violation–even when there was no evidence it was done for anything other than humanitarian reasons.
Well, apparently someone at the NCAA must have realized that this was a PR nightmare waiting to happen. On Saturday night, the NCAA tweeted:
Contrary to inaccurate media reports, Dean Smith’s generous gift to former student-athletes is NOT an NCAA violation.
? Inside the NCAA (@InsidetheNCAA) March 29, 2015
Still, if it is even remotely possible that giving a gift to players who haven’t played a minute in college in a decade or more is a violation, it’s way past time for the NCAA to rethink its rules. It shouldn’t have taken a potential travesty for anyone at NCAA headquarters to realize this. Even if I wasn’t a lifelong Tar Heel, I’d have considered this an outrage had the NCAA considered this a violation. This is yet more evidence that the NCAA as presently constituted is broken.
