At the risk of being labeled one of those hyper-sensitive, overly critical, and
ignorant Gopher-bashers who has nothing better to do than tear into the Uni-
versity of Minnesota whenever the opportunity arises, I humbly submit the
following:
 
>An internal investigation by Chris Schoemann, compliance coordinator for
>the Gophers athletic department, revealed that players had been allowed
>to drink beer on a few occasions, with Woog paying for the beverages.
                                   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Regardless of how one feels about the appropriateness of providing beer to
college athletes, the fact remains that, in buying the beverages, Coach Woog was
committing an NCAA violation -- and a pretty well-documented one at that.  It
falls under the heading of "providing benefits to student-athletes that are not
available to the student population as a whole" or some such NCAA-speak.  How
often do we hear about coaches or programs getting in trouble because a player
got a hot meal at somebody's house, or a new coat to replace a threadbare one,
or payment for a trip home to attend a funeral or something?  You can argue that
the rule is a stupid one, and I'm not sure I would disagree with you, but it is
a rule, and Coach Woog did break it.  To be sure, it's a minor violation, but
coming more or less on the heels of the infamous McAlpine payment, it's a
situation that needs to be looked into.  One thing Minnesota does NOT want is
for the NCAA's little red light marked "pattern of abuses" to go on.  Putting
Coach Woog on "notice" was, IMHO, a good move by AD Dienhart.  Hopefully, the
"ongoing investigation" will fizzle out without any more headlines.
 
I suspect the NCAA isn't going to care that much about this violation, though
they might have the players involved cough up the dough to cover the cost of the
beer.  Laugh if you will, but that's what happened at Cornell a few years ago,
when in the wake of the defunct housing program, players were asked to pay up
for various "benefits" including occasional meals, rides to the campus, and of
all things, television-watching (at Booster homes).  The money (and there
frankly wasn't very much) was donated to charity.
 
--
Disclaimer -- Unless otherwise noted, all opinions expressed above are
              strictly those of:
 
Bill Fenwick
Cornell '86 and '95
LET'S GO RED!!                                                  DJF  5/27/94
"What if there were no hypothetical situations?"
-- John Mendoza
 
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