Column:
Memphis infraction hurts more than just athletics
Published Aug. 28, 2009
In February 1987, the Southern Methodist University football team was given the ultimate punishment in collegiate sports. Aptly referred to as the "death penalty," SMU was ordered to suspend its 1987 season, and inadvertently the 1988 season as well, for illegal recruiting and misallocation of athletic funds.
The 1981 and 1982 NCAA football national champions haven't been the same since. Some 20 years later, the once-proud program has still not fully recovered, having had but one winning season since 1987.
Enter our mascot-sharing counterparts from the East. It was announced Aug. 20 the Memphis Tigers basketball team was to nullify its record-setting 2007-2008 season and be placed on three years probation due to fraudulent testing and misallocation of funds.
On one hand, I understand the NCAA's justification on this harsh ruling. Cheating is awful and should not be catered to on any level.
All the while, the other side of my brain screams this is unfair. For many possible student-athlete recruits, even the slightest slap on the wrist to an athletic program could send the wrong message toward parents and could even spur those recruits toward "greener pastures."
The fact of the matter is sports can be, and often are, an incredible unifying aspect for a university's student body. The thousands of people from varied backgrounds, no matter how divergent or foreign to your own, can all agree on which side to root for come game day.
That is why a ruling like this can be so devastating to not only the athletic program, but the entire university as well. Cutting the legs out from underneath an athletic program could not only cause fans to lose interest, but could ultimately disenfranchise prospective students who don't compete in sports collegiately.
People like to be on the winning team. As obvious and hackneyed as that statement is — it's the truth. People tend to gravitate toward successful programs. Regardless of whether it's a private or public establishment, freshman enrollment always seems to increase the year after a championship is won in a major sport.
Now, should how a certain university does in athletics have a bearing on whether a prospective student goes there? Of course not. Academics and how well the university can get you to where you want to be in 10 years should carry a much higher precedence than if it saw athletic success. But if you can find a world-class university with a great athletic program to boot, why not kill two birds with one stone?
For SMU and Memphis, there is no easy way out of this. What their athletic departments did was dishonest and despicable. There is no way around that.
They deserve to be justly punished for their actions so as to send a message — not only to every other program in the NCAA, but also to every league from Little League baseball to the NBA — that cheating in any way, shape or form will not be tolerated.
It is without question, the people of the university who make any university what it is. With this being said, I can't help but feel denying the institution of people who would attend the university had it not received the punishment, is a little harsh.