Mark Emmert

President

National Collegiate Athletic Association

700 W. Washington Street

P.O. Box 6222

Indianapolis, IN 46206

Dear Mr. Emmert,

In my role as a newspaper sports columnist I’ve taken a few shots at the NCAA over the years. But I do so with great hesitance because I understand governing major college sports is an incredibly daunting task, often with no easy answers.

But this one wasn’t hard.

This time your organization dropped the ball so blatantly in a situation that affects a college sports program our state cares about deeply. So I felt compelled to write to you and share the letter with our readers. I hope some of them write and call you as well to share their thoughts.

I read some comments you made on the NCAA website regarding what you claim to believe in as core values for your organization.

Here’s one example:

“We have to remind ourselves that this is about the young men and women we asked to come to our schools for a great educational experience. We have to collectively deliver on those promises. That’s what you care about. That’s why we’re in this business.”

Here are some more:

“The goals and values of student-athlete learning and well-being are the same, whether we’re talking about a football game at the Big House at Michigan or a soccer game at Hobart.

“We are not the NCAA for part of America but for all of America. We have to walk that talk.”

Does a basketball tournament in Anaheim, Calif. (a conference championship tournament involving schools that are members of your organization, by the way), merit the kind of consideration you’re talking about?

Apparently not.

Due to the NCAA’s incredible ineptitude or gross negligence — or more likely a combination of the two — the Big West Conference in general and the University of Hawaii in particular have been stuck in a land of limbo nearly the entire basketball season, and time is nearly up for the NCAA to make things right.

On Oct. 28, 2016 — four months ago — your organization issued the following statement:

“Division I Committee on Infractions must reconsider the penalties it prescribed to the University of Hawaii, Manoa, including the men’s basketball postseason ban, scholarship reductions and fine, according to a decision issued by the Division I Infractions Appeals Committee.”

As of Tuesday, Feb. 28, no further announcement had been made if Hawaii is now eligible or ineligible for postseason play — nor, for that matter, anything other than more indecisive blather having to do with reconsideration of any of the other penalties.

This is beyond ridiculous, since the tournament starts March 9.

Honolulu Star-Advertiser reporter/columnist Ferd Lewis did receive this email on Tuesday from an NCAA representative:

“Generally speaking, there is not a specific timeline for cases that are sent back to the Committee on Infractions hearing panel by the appeals committee. However, the panel has met several times to appropriately consider the case on remand and the decision will come in the near future.”

I’m being kind when I describe that as a bunch of gobbledygook.

“The near future?” What, sir, does “the near future” mean when the school and the conference have already been waiting four months and the tournament starts next week? And what does “met several times” mean in this context? Why does it take “several” meetings to figure out whether a team can play in the postseason or not?

This is not just about Hawaii, and this is not just about fun and games … it reflects on what you supposedly believe in as an organization, as stated by you, the NCAA president.

This serious lapse has not just affected logistics for tournament organizers, program financial budgets and the plans of families and other fans.

It has affected the student aspect of student-athlete.

Our college basketball beat writer, Brian McInnis, spoke with players and coaches as they boarded the bus headed to the airport and their final two conference regular-season games. Although Hawaii is third in the Big West, and would qualify by conference standings for the ensuing tournament even with two losses, it left for California without knowing if the postseason ban is still in place.

As forward Gibson Johnson told McInnis, this goes beyond basketball.

“It’s affected the lives of everybody in the basketball program, you know? People will ask me, or I have to plan with teachers about grades and essays and tests, and I don’t even know how to respond to them on whether I’ll be here,” Johnson said.

That doesn’t mesh very well with more of what you are quoted as saying on the NCAA website, Mr. Emmert.

“Our purpose is to govern competition in a fair, safe, equitable and sportsmanlike manner, and to integrate intercollegiate athletics into higher education so that the educational experience of the student-athlete is paramount. … We have to convert into language and actions that are meaningful to a public that doesn’t quite understand it — or if they do, they don’t always believe us. We have to fix that.”

The Big West Conference and the University of Hawaii, their officials, teams and fans have every reason not to understand or believe you.

It’s obvious you have some fixing to do. And quickly.

Sincerely,

Dave Reardon

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quickreads.