04/18/24
November 08, 2012
NCAA Calls Bumper-Sticker Buyer a Booster: Two Indiana freshmen will be suspended for nine games this season because the wife of Mark Adams, their former AAU coach and legal guardian, bought $185 in bumper stickers from the school from 1986 to 1992. That makes Adams a booster in the NCAA's eyes and his money spent supporting Peter Jurkin and Hanner Mosquera-Parea an improper expense. The NCAA wrote in a letter to the school, "Despite the minimal nature of Mr. Adams' donations, and the fact that the last donation he made was more than 15 years before he provided expenses to a prospective student-athlete who enrolled at the institution, Mr. Adams must be considered a representative of the institution's athletics interests."
posted by rcade to basketball at 11:36 AM - 15 comments
Umm ... which would render hundreds, if not thousands, of fans at every institution a booster? Granted, few of them would adopt a player, but still ... the shame here is the guys get screwed and he appears to get off scot-free.
posted by jjzucal at 01:03 PM on November 08, 2012
Bumper stickers ... Lucky she hadn't been caught wearing a Hoosiers t-shirt, the players would be permanently prohibited from competition.
Yet schools in the ACC are permitted to have players accepting $60K plus interest free loans. And the guy in the blue grass state runs an NBA d-league program sponsored by Nike where attending class is optional.
posted by cixelsyd at 01:11 PM on November 08, 2012
This is typical of the bullshit the NCAA is always pulling with Indiana basketball. They come down harder on Indiana than any other school in the country, meanwhile coaches like Calipari have their hands dirty with shady recruiters and nothing is done. Maybe IU should just sue the NCAA over this nonsense. This is one of the few times I would be in favor of a lawsuit.
posted by insomnyuk at 01:17 PM on November 08, 2012
So, to stretch that to its logical limit, if I, a Miami University alumnus with a Miami University sticker on my car (I paid $3.50 for it), was to see a Miami hockey player in a bar in the offseason, can I not buy him a beer? I think it would be an improper benefit from a booster, right?
posted by tahoemoj at 01:24 PM on November 08, 2012
tahoemoj: I think there is a bit of a difference between buying a kid a beer at a bar, and providing room/board/food/spending money as a legal guardian.
I don't agree with the overall ruling, but once you (somehow) answer "yes" to "Are they the definition of a booster?", then it become pretty easy to finish with "They broke the rules."
posted by grum@work at 03:22 PM on November 08, 2012
So then what's the difference? I, through buying a Miami Hockey sticker, now fit the definition of a "booster", no? And through purchasing a beverage (let's say non-alcoholoc) for that student athlete, I am providing "food" for that student athlete, no? Why is it not then pretty easy to finish with "They broke the rules"?
This isn't to get into an argument over the magnitude of wrong, it's just to reinforce the absurdity of the NCAA's ruling. If you're not going to consider the magnitude of the infraction, then it is black and white, as the NCAA states in its ruling. It uses words and phrases like "despite" the insignificance of the infraction, and "nonetheless" to justify the militant adherence to the black letter law, rather than rationally considering the ridiculousness of its ruling.
posted by tahoemoj at 03:45 PM on November 08, 2012
Adams, a 1980 graduate of Indiana University, is a nonscholastic basketball coach and the founder of A-HOPE. The A-HOPE foundation,a non-profit organization founded in 2004, lists on its web site that its mission is "to provide deserving student athletes a seamless process of obtaining a student visa, transportation to the United States, making sure they are acclimated to their new environment and providing them with an opportunity to receive an outstanding education."
Both Mosquera-Perea and Jurkin were brought to the United States from Colombia and Sudan by the A-HOPE foundation. Adams coached both players in the Indiana Elite AAU basketball program and is Mosquera-Perea's apparent guardian. link
Sounds like there may be more to this than just the $185 in donations to IU. Not that it's right or fair but perhaps the NCAA wanted felt there was more going on but couldn't prove it. Let the conspiracy theories begin...
posted by Folkways at 04:08 PM on November 08, 2012
I, through buying a Miami Hockey sticker, now fit the definition of a "booster", no?
No.
posted by grum@work at 09:13 PM on November 08, 2012
As such, that small amount of money, given more than two decades ago, is the reason Adams is considered by the NCAA to be a "booster,"
Clever answer, but would you like to show me where the NCAA distinguished $3.50 worth of stickers from $185? I might have missed that point in the above quoted text, but someone as clever as you could surely point me to the information rather than just throwing out witticisms.
posted by tahoemoj at 09:55 PM on November 08, 2012
I might have missed that point in the above quoted text, but someone as clever as you could surely point me to the information rather than just throwing out witticisms.
Glad to help.
From the article:
Calling Indiana University's corrective actions "substantial and meaningful," the NCAA on October 31, 2012, accepted as secondary a case IU filed with it on June 22, 2012. In short, that case involves the provision of what would generally have been permissible expenses but for the provider's donation of $185 to the IU Varsity Club between 1986 and 1992, rendering him forever a "booster" under NCAA rules, notwithstanding that the donations were minimal in nature and occurred over 20 years ago.
You'll notice it's the defendants that claim it's bumper stickers, right?
The NCAA says they were donations.
I'm thinking it's more likely that with every $x donation to the school's varsity club, you also get a free bumper sticker (that probably says something like "I support IU!").
If they were really just purchasing bumper stickers, who the hell needs over 50 bumper stickers in 7 years?
(assuming your $3.50/sticker model)
And once it becomes "donations", then you are a "booster".
And when you become a "booster", you are not allowed to provide support to players who attend that school.
Yes, it sucks.
posted by grum@work at 08:06 AM on November 09, 2012
Sorry but I can't help but chuckle at the name Peter Jurkin.
posted by BornIcon at 11:24 AM on November 09, 2012
Sorry but I can't help but chuckle at the name Peter Jurkin
Yea but he's no Dick Trickle
posted by Folkways at 12:28 PM on November 09, 2012
grum--thanks for the explanation, I see your point. I guess it all comes down to the question of fact, "Were these purchases or donations supported by gifts?" I was looking at it as a simple large-scale purchase of stickers, but I believe that you're right that the NCAA's interpretation was different.
posted by tahoemoj at 01:26 PM on November 09, 2012
That is.... uh, what's that word I'm trying to think of, oh yeah, Fucked!