Jane Jankowski, of the NCAA, has had a busy year. She is the person the press always calls when they want a comment. We keep seeing her comments and feel almost like we know her - actually when we called for clarification, we got her, too, and she was really nice to us. Doing PR is thankless, because your job is to say nothing, creatively, and she's very good at it. That's not a knock - she is very competent at what she does. So here are our favorite comments from this past season. Jane Rules!
- "We don't make rules regarding criminal activities. We leave the investigation up to local law enforcement agencies and the
discipline, if any, up to the institutions themselves. Unless it's a violation of one of our rules, we do not get involved. And this sounds like a case where we would not get involved."
(on Edinboro
University drug problems)Â - "[the] basic rule of thumb [ is that provisions such as meals are not violations]
if it can be demonstrated that the same benefit is available to other students."
(on
free meals at Fresno)Â - "We do have a policy that our athletes, coaches and athletic personnel cannot participate in
pools, whether it costs a dollar to get in or a thousand dollars. The same thing is true at the national office here. There is no pool."Â
(on
tourney pools) - Â "One of our requirements is that a student-athlete's repayment schedule is
completed by the time eligibility is exhausted.
If that doesn't occur, then what most likely would happen is we wouldn't enter into other repayment agreements with that university in the future."
(on Jamal Crawford) -
"If we have sufficient information, there are certainly times where we can turn a request around in one
day." (on
Jamal Crawford) -
"The revenue distribution plan has been around for a long
timea nd it is what is used to determine what the schools get back from the NCAA each year.
(on
revenue distribution) - "Travel is a part of every NCAA sport, during regular season and
championship competition."Â
(responding to a theory about circadian rhythms and tournament performance)Â
(bonus link
for Julio's brother the big-shot scientist who researches circadian rhythms)Â - "The (Committee on Infractions) looks at all the penalties suggested
and imposed by the University, then it determines if any additional
penalties are necessary." (On
Minnesota's problems) -
"Ultimately, it is the school's responsibility to determine the eligibility of its
players. If you're asking about some sort of comment about any investigation about a particular university, our policy is not to confirm or deny any of the work of our enforcement staff."Â
(on the St. John's investigation) -
"If the university knew, and that's a big if, it would have an obligation to report that
violation. In most cases that involve student-athletes and agents, the student-athlete is out there on their own, without the
institution's knowledge."
(on St. John's) - "It was twelve-dot-one-dot-one-dot-one-dot-six."Â Â Â (UConn/St.
John's)Â - Bonus comment: "Have you asked the male swimmers what they think of that?"Â
(UConn/St.
John's)Â - "There's a process for an appeal of a student-athlete reinstatement caseI do not have any time frame, but generally speaking, that committee tries to work very quickly. Generally, the way the NCAA looks at reinstatement is that the conditions are based on the level of severity of the violations."Â
- "We just reaffirmed what was done two years ago . . . that the primary responsibility for determining a core course lies with the high school principal."
(on NCAA requirements
for incoming athletes) -
"We certainly hope the high schools are operating on the utmost
integrity." (This
link should shock you!) -
"The membership did not believe at the time that the satisfactory-progress rule was a high enough bar to
set."
(on giving a player an extra year of eligibility) - "There are some guiding principles regarding ethical conduct and sportsmanship (but) the universities have the responsibility for establishing specific (sexual harassment) policies."
(on sexual harassment)
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