I assure you this is no laughing matter sir.......According to ESPN.com West Virgina football program is in trouble with the NCAA with 5 major and one secondary rules violation. At first glance this seemed like just another NCAA investigation, however after looking into the details these violations seem eerily similar to the violations at UM a few years ago. The ESPN story outlines the violations in detail however they all revolve one common theme. This theme being that"non-coaching" staff members are spending unauthorized time with players thus exceeding the NCAA mandated time limit for players to spend on football related activities. WVU is claiming similar "self-policing" strategies similar to UM's (who else?). The connecting figure in all this mess is (surprise surprise) Michigan Head Coach Rich Rodriguez.
Time limits...they have rules for that stuff?
The bottom line is this, programs can "self-police" all they want however, the rules are the rules. It's funny that everyone seems to go into "self-policing" mode after they get caught. From the surface this may look like a few innocent mistakes my overzealous assistants trying to make a name for themselves. But I feel that all these assistants are doing is following instructions. Coaches always look for a way to get the upper hand and sometimes they get caught, hopefully this will be a lesson to all the other programs around the country. But as we all know it probably won't be.
