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Sidelines Kalani Simpson |
UH appeal a long shot,
but worth a tryON second thought, it's not quite so crazy for Hawaii to be appealing to the NCAA over UH's lost men's volleyball championship.
It's looking saner all the time.
Sure, it seems like a lost cause. Athletic director Herman Frazier explained it to us over and over on Friday at the announcement: the loss of the title didn't mean Hawaii had done anything so terrible; it was no editorial comment by an overly vengeful NCAA. These weren't discretionary punitive damages being added on. Unknowingly fielding an ineligible player was only a secondary violation.
No, the loss of the big trophy, Frazier emphasized, was a second, separate issue, and one in which there was little question. UH had used an ineligible player in an NCAA championship. That made it a whole new ball game. That's the rule.
"The bylaw is pretty strict," Frazier said last week.
"It pretty much says, 'ineligible athletes that participate in a championship could mean a forfeiture of a championship,' " Frazier said.
Not much to appeal there. Forfeit one game -- the big game, and the banner that goes with it.
"It's pretty explicit in what it says," Frazier said.
Ah, but not as explicit as it used to be, and Frazier knows it. He's right. Bylaw 31.2.2.4 does say, "The record of the team's performance may be (emphasis added) deleted, the team's place in the final standings may be vacated ..."
But just a couple years ago "may be" said "shall be" instead. No choice. No chance. Go home cook rice, and leave that trophy behind on your way out.
Now there is at least some hope. There is an ocean of wiggle room between "may be" and "shall." The not-so-subtle change in wording shows the NCAA may be headed in another direction in cases like these.
Could it happen? No. Probably not. The very reason the NCAA can't buckle here is the same one that keeps UH fans from being too upset with the young man in question. Without an ineligible Costas Theorcharidis in the match, there is no NCAA title to be taken away.
But this appeal process could be an opportunity for someone to finally take a stand against these eligibility rules that, as I wrote Saturday, are simply incompatible with foreign athletes.
And if by some miracle the NCAA (via its infractions committee made up mostly of administrators and athletic directors) lets UH get away with this one, you will have a new precedent when it comes to the amateur status of European players. And that would be huge.
For Hawaii, this is bigger than just one case, as big as that banner may be. This is an institution heavily invested in the overseas market -- Frazier estimated that 15 percent of UH's student-athletes come from foreign lands. And those students have been, overall, an overwhelmingly positive aspect of UH athletics. This is a fight to keep them coming. To keep that success story going.
Yes, UH needs to keep better track of the rules, regardless. No, this probably won't work. It's a 400-1 shot.
But I like the reasons behind throwing the dice.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com
