SHAW ATHLETICS

Shaw men's basketball was hit with four years on probation by the NCAA after self-reporting irregularities in the program during the 2018-19 season.

Honesty is not always the best policy when it comes to the NCAA.

Shaw self-reported violations in the men’s basketball program hoping for leniency from the hypocritical association. Institutions do it all the time: self-report before the NCAA finds out, admit they were wrong and mistakes were made, and promise to do better from here on out. Usually, the confession works. Not this time.

“…The University discovered the issue, reported the issue to the NCAA, investigated the issue, and corrected the situation. We cooperated with the NCAA’s efforts throughout the process…Since the date the issue was initially self-reported, all involved parties are no longer affiliated with the university; the university has instituted updated compliance policies; and the athletic department will undergo regular internal and external review to maintain the integrity of our athletics program…,” Shaw officials wrote in a statement  posted on its athletics website.

First, the violations did not happen under current athletic director George Knox’s watch. They happened during the 2018-19 season.

In a nutshell, the NCAA report states that a men’s basketball manager “arranged for the completion of coursework for six men’s basketball student-athletes, resulting in those student-athletes competing while ineligible.”

The report places most of the blame on the head coach for violating his responsibility to control his staff, and Shaw for failing to monitor the men’s program. To make matters worse, the five individuals involved (head coach, two assistants, manager and a volunteer coach) refused to cooperate with the investigation in the beginning.

The head coach and two assistants finally spoke out after the NCAA presented all the evidence stacked against them. The manager and volunteer coach never cooperated. You know white folks don’t like it when you ignore them.

Shaw was spanked:

• Four years of probation. (Wonder if Bobby Collins is looking for another job?)

• $3,500 fine. (Where’s Willie Gary?)

• Records vacated of all games the ineligible athletes participated in

• Two audits of the compliance department during the four-year probationary period

• A three-year show-cause order for all five. Show-cause was created to prevent coaches who do bad things from jumping ship to another school without ramifications. A show-cause attaches a coach’s penalties to his butt so whatever he couldn’t do at the previous school, he can’t do at the new one.

• The five cannot have anything to do with Shaw athletics for the next five years.

So, here’s the thing: The violations were the worst-kept secret among media.

I remember being at the CIAA tournament in 2019 and that’s all folks were talking about. A couple of us even received emails saying half the team shouldn’t be playing because they were ineligible. But when we asked for proof, we got no response. Obviously, somebody finally told it.

Of course, the whiners are saying “Power 5 schools do it, too…” – blah, blah, blah! I’m so sick of those excuses.

HBCUs were created to provide a quality education that Black people couldn’t get anywhere else. Now, too many of y’all drank the Kool-Aid.

Black athletes are being exploited at HBCUs just to win a game. Who cares if they get an education. Just like the Power 5 schools do it, eh?

But, despite another embarrassing chapter in Shaw’s athletic history, the right man is in the AD’s chair. Knox is the best hire the department has had in a long time.

Bonitta Best is sports editor at The Triangle Tribune in Durham.

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