The Ball State University men's basketball coaches are in hot water with the NCAA - again. For the second time in a year, the program committed the same infraction by allowing coaches to be present during voluntary off-season workouts.
Coach Ronny Thompson and the athletic department should work together to put measures in place to ensure the same violations don't occur in the future.
The first violations involved members of Thompson's staff attending open gym workouts multiple times from May to July of 2006. Ball State was Thompson's first head coaching job and he hadn't been here very long, so it could be argued that he simply wasn't aware of the rules. The second time around, however, pleading ignorance isn't going to work.
After the first violations, the men's basketball program should have been proactive and made sure everyone knew all the rules and why not to break them. At the very least, the coaches should have reviewed the particular rules that were broken to ensure the same thing wouldn't occur in the future. Instead, the coaches managed to break the exact same rules for a second time and, predictably, now have to deal with the same problems.
All of the blame can't be placed on the men's basketball program, however. The Ball State University Athletics Compliance Program's mission is to "uphold the rules and regulations of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, Mid-American Conference and Ball State University," according to Ball State's athletics Web site. Part of the mission to uphold rules and regulations is education - an area the program seems to be lacking in after the men's basketball program's current violation.
After the second violation, the men's basketball program and the athletic department need to work together to make sure violations don't occur in the future. It's impossible to prevent all violations in every sport at Ball State, but with a little teamwork the men's basketball program should be able to avoid making the same mistakes a third time. At the very least, working together will help ensure a strong working relationship between the team and the athletic department for the future.
The men's basketball team will be on the verge of fouling out with the NCAA if the same violation occurs for a third time.
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