The 2015 unsealing of nearly 500 pages of documents in Todd McNair’s defamation lawsuit against the NCAA once again put a spotlight on the dysfunctional NCAA enforcement system. The Drake Group, a national organization of college faculty and others has been studying the NCAA enforcement system for many years. In April of 2015, The Drake Group released a position statement that proposes significant changes to the NCAA enforcement system.
Drake Group President Gerald Gurney, Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Oklahoma, stated, “NCAA penalties can have numerous serious consequences. They can damage the reputations of institutions of higher education and cause coaches and athletic administrators to lose their jobs. They can also cause college athletes to lose participation and scholarship benefits. Accordingly, The Drake Group believes the NCAA must put in place strong processes designed to protect the rights of individuals and institutions and restore public confidence in the governance of college sport.”