In May, it was 25. By Tuesday, the grand total jumped to 43.
Now, we know the names of 48 Ball State University athletes who are in violation of the NCAA’s “extra benefits” textbook use policy.
It should not have taken the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics four months to reach this point in the inquiry.
Somewhere along the line, this investigation faltered. There are holes and oversights at every stage of the process — starting with when the violations began.
And after the bumbling manner in which the investigation has been handled, there’s no guarantee we have all the names or all the information even now. In fact, it wasn’t until the NCAA paid a visit to Ball State — holding the athletics department’s hand — that the university began looking into previous years’ textbook use records. Now that it has, we can only wait to see what the grand total of violations will be — or what other abuses will be uncovered.
The athletics department has been dishonest with the university by not releasing all of the information it had as the information was discovered, and the department continues to hide its athletes and Director of Compliance and Eligibility Dave Land behind a no-talk policy. Ball State deserves to hear the whole story, and the athletes should get to speak for themselves.
There will be no replay of down for this penalty, no chance to regain any lost ground, so the athletics department can do only one thing to earn back the trust of the rest of the Cardinals on this campus: Finish this investigation. Don’t leave any dark corners or unsearched avenues. Check all the records. Find all the violations and release the entirety of that information in a timely fashion.
Be honest with your student body.
Ensure that all the athletes are given their just punishments, and figure out how these violations were overlooked in the first place.
Then make sure it doesn’t happen again.
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