The reality is that a green-light from the NCAA Eligibility Center is little more than a pat on the back for the schools. It establishes no indemnity in the event of new information arising down the road. Given the shear number of programs, it isn’t like to be any more thorough of a screening process than the school compliance departments administer themselves. At best, it’s just a way to say, “We’ve seen the same records you’ve seen, and we think you’ve done an adequate job of reviewing them.” Is that really the value that the voters envisioned back in 1993? Following the debacle with Rose at Memphis or the incident with Bledsoe at UK, do you think that a new vote would have the same result? Now that schools are fully aware that a thumbs up from the Eligibility Center will not protect them if it turns out that the Eligibility Center missed something, do you think they’d be so quick to support it further?

I guess my big question is, “What’s the point of the Eligibility Center?” The assistance and assurance they can offer don’t seem to be significant. The NCAA can still open up an investigation on a previously cleared student-athlete regarding a matter that arose prior to his initial clearance, and the school–not the the Eligibility Center–will be punished if the investigation uncovers something that BOTH the school AND the Eligibility Center missed the first time around. It just seems like an administrative placebo that gives the impression of security.

It just seems that a better use of money would be to nix the clearinghouse, allow the schools to do what they’re essentially doing already (clearing students on their own and at their own risk) , and devote the cash you’ve saved to speeding up and otherwise enhancing the investigatory process.