While again in Albany this weekend, I wandered into a Barnes & Noble
bookstore and picked up a copy of "Undue Process: The NC$$'s Injustice For
All", by Don Yaeger (1991 Sagamore Publishing; ISBN 0-915611-34-1).  Only
$2.98 for the hardcover.  I seem to remember someone here having plugged
this a while ago, and after having read a few chapters, I have to second
that.  I'm already rather incensed at some of the things I've read - and
there's still a lot more to go.
 
The book is written by a guy who spent two years interviewing a number of
coaches, ADs, administrators, etc. (many well-known), and the evidence
they provide is compelling.  There's nothing in it about hockey, though
there are samples of ludicrous decisions handed down by the NC$$ involving
athletes in other sports like track and field.
 
For example, a Marquette runner attended a Loyola hoop game and won a
shooting contest at halftime.  Prize: a $20,000 car and other incidentals.
But the NC$$ applied the rule prohibiting "the receipt of a prize in
a promotional contest held in conjunction with a member institution's
intercollegiate competition by a prospective or enrolled student-athlete."
Wait, he wasn't even a student at Loyola.  But the NC$$ ruled that IF he
transferred to Loyola (which he had no intention of doing), he'd then be a
"prospective Loyola student-athlete".  Just for having participated in the
contest, he was ruled ineligible...even though he immediately gave it all
back.
 
The book also gives an insight into how the NC$$ is (or at least was) run
and the mentality of the people who investigate violations and hand down
decisions, as well as examples of how the NC$$ has acted vindictively
towards those who have criticized it.  A major philosophy reiterated over
and over by various people is that when investigated by the NC$$, you are
guilty until proven innocent, and even then it is difficult if not
impossible to prove that given the manner in which the investigations are
conducted - schools are often denied access to the evidence built up
against them, and the NC$$ tends to rely on evidence produced in interviews
that are rarely tape-recorded.  And when Marist College tried to prepare
for its appeal following a penalty, they were not given a copy of the tape
of the hearing held by the Infractions Committee; they were told that they
could only hear it by sending someone to Kansas to listen to it - no note-
taking allowed - and an NC$$ official stood in the room to make sure that
this and other conditions were not violated.  Then they were allowed only
20 minutes before the appeals committee to present their case.
 
It's also interesting to read about the way the NC$$ treats the ones they
are supposed to be working for, the students.  Just a few years ago, a
student-athlete advisory committee was created, which sounds like a nice
idea.  But when they selected a representative to speak for them at the
annual meeting on the proposal to limit the playing and practice seasons,
that representative was not allowed to take the floor.
 
Anyway, I have to suggest that if you can, find a copy of this book (maybe
at a Barnes & Noble near you, it was on special discount).  We talk a lot
about the NC$$ here and sometimes some of the newer people to hockey-l
wonder why some of us refer to it as the "NC$$" - this book has more than
enough reasons.  I'd like to think that things have improved since the
writing of the book, but I'm not sure they have.  I also realize that this
is the most information about the NC$$ I've read in one place and there are
certainly other views that exist out there, so take that into consideration
as well.  But at the least, you'll find it interesting.
---
Mike Machnik    [log in to unmask]   Color Voice of the Merrimack Warriors
alternate address days: [log in to unmask]             *HMN*  11/13/93
(Any opinions expressed above are strictly those of the poster.)