DIII Runner Not Going to Nationals Because of Clerical Mistake by His Coach

Nick,

Screw the NCAA. Keep training, run a marathon and qualify for the Olympic Trials Marathon. That way you can deal with a whole new level of Bureaucracy.

Article( Life of Reilly column) is in the "print SI" that just arrived in today's mail.

it's available to SI subscribers so if this doesn't work i'm sorry.

Fundamentally, especially in D-III, these are student-athletes. 99% of the guys in DIII run, play basketball, swim or whatever because they love sport. They don't do it for the money-there isn't any--and they don't anticipate making a living off their athletic talent--typically the level of competition just isn't there. For most DIII athletes it's about enjoying your sport the way you did as a kid, in high school, in rec leagues and on clubs teams. A genuine passion for sport and competition. The passion that allows a swimmer to understand a runner when he talks about training even though he may not know the first thing about running. A passion that grants understanding to the wrestler who pokes his head in the gym to see the guy practing jump shots all alone hours after the rest of the team is done practice. It's an abstract beauty that transcends sports. It's a distraction from a rigorous course load or one last opportunity to do something you love just a little bit longer before moving on to become a functional, contributing member of society. That's what DIII athletics should be about. It's a shame the NCAA doesn't design their rules with that in mind. It's a shame their mission isn't centered around affording that opportunity. It'd be nice if they did because it'd be nice if Nick had the chance to run. If he had the chance to enjoy an experience he earned the right to enjoy one last time. As someone having experienced DIII collegiate competition it'd be nice to think that's what was most important.

great post, fish.

The reply below has to be the stupidest reply ever. Just becuase its happened to other people does not justify that it should happen to Nick. The NCAA is suppose to consist of a number of intelligent people. If they can't change a little error and make accomodations so this athlete can compete, then what is it worth to have the NCAA? They are suppose to act on the behalf of student-atheletes. Even if that means accomodating so that each athelete gets a fair if they've made the specific standard. The NCAA is just trying to prove somthing and its not about following rules and regulations. Its about their ego.

Here you go, guys.

At the NCAA Division III 10,000-meter final last Thursday the University of Chicago team was chanting, "Where's Nick? Where's Nick?"

And the team from Washington University wore white T-shirts, reading, where's nick?

And people in the stands were whispering to each other, "Hey, where's Nick?"

Well, where was Nick?

Nick End, a 22-year-old Carnegie Mellon senior, was sitting in his apartment, wishing he were dead. After all, he had one of the nation's best 10,000-meter times this year in Division III. He was last year's University Athletic Association champion. He'd been running five miles every morning and 10 to 15 every night, through three throat infections, a dozen injuries, snow, sleet and wind. One day a dog bit him, and he ran nine more miles before he went to the emergency room.

So what the hell was Nick doing sitting at home?

Thinking about a tiny, slippery mouse and a dumb, stubborn elephant, that's what.

See, his track coach accidentally clicked the wrong button with his mouse on the online entry form and entered Nick in the 5,000-meter race for the NCAA nationals instead of the 10,000. Only Nick didn't qualify in the 5,000.

The coach, Dario Donatelli, didn't realize his mistake until the next morning. But the field was still marked "unofficial" on the website. No problem. He got hold of the selection committee chairman, Josh Payne, and told him about the goof. "Will you change it for me?"

This is where you're going to want to start chewing on a table leg.

Payne said no, he couldn't change it. He said the coach had 12 hours to correct his mistake but didn't, and that, even though the committee hadn't finalized the field of 17, there was nothing he could do.

Donatelli started dialing like crazy. The NCAA said that even though it knew there could be no harm in putting Nick in the field, and even though it was an honest mistake, and even though as many as 18 runners are often entered for the event, and even though the race wasn't for four days, there was nothing ... it ... could ... do.

"Payne told me, 'We are under no obligation to fix this,'" Donatelli says.

So the coach had to call his runner and tell him that his right index finger had DQ'd Nick from probably the last important race of his life.

Nick was just leaving his commencement, on his way to a celebratory brunch. He was so upset that he couldn't eat.

"This is unconscionable," says Nick's mom, Gloria, a high school teacher in Milwaukee. "It was an honest mistake. You make mistakes. I make mistakes. The NCAA makes mistakes. You just revise the list! Simple!"

Apparently not so simple for the cold, gray, immovable elephant the NCAA has become. It can't seem to keep track of nationally celebrated players such as USC's Reggie Bush, whose parents allegedly got a sweetheart deal on their rent, or Chris Webber, who got thousands of dollars illegally at Michigan. Kelvin Sampson cheats at Oklahoma, and the NCAA lets him skate happily to Indiana with a slap on the wrist. But a nonscholarship engineering student in a nonrevenue sport gets more screwed than plywood.

Nick and his parents and his coach and his AD tried to contact everybody up to and including NCAA president Myles Brand and got bupkes. The only person who would return my calls was Payne, who kept repeating, "I can only refer you to our press statement on the matter."

It reads, "The NCAA is much too big and important to care about one tiny, sniveling athlete. Hell, this schmo isn't even on TV!"

Actually, I made that up. The real statement reads, "The committee must follow the procedures and protocol and remain consistent in how it handles these situations so NCAA championships can remain as fair and equitable as possible."

Fair and equitable?

There was room for Nick to run (especially after one runner scratched). But a dumb click (Donatello's) and a dumb cluck (Payne) kept him home. How fair is that?

Nick, to his credit, forgave his coach. "It's an easy mistake to make," he says.

And even easier to fix.

Arrrrgggh. The NCAA makes Nurse Ratched look open-minded. Nothing ever changes about these small-hearted, rule-worshipping pencil pushers. They can't control the John Dillingers of the world so they take it out on the jaywalkers.

"I just wish I could buy the NCAA and fire all these bastards," Nick says.

Well, he starts as a mechanical engineer at Johnson & Johnson this summer. Maybe if he starts saving now.

Yes, Great post Fish.

And great article, Rav.

Shit deal, Nick. Googled you and saw that you deserve better.

Ludacris wrote:

as a former coach and a former athlete I must say that sucks. but I'm not really surprised by the ncaa's reaction. pretty typical. I bet if you went to a school with more pull it would have probably been brushed aside as what it is...a clerical error.

and by the way engineers don't have to write complete sentences to find someone to pay them 80k out of college

they dont get paid 80 grand out of college (at leats not undergrad). and the salary typically does not increase much from there

In another lifetime of mine, I had a runner get into the DIII nationals a day after registration had closed because I pointed out the committee was incorrect in converting 1500 to mile times by adding :22 across the board. They initially said they would consider changing to a conversion factor, but retroactively admitted more than one runner to the meet by converting times correctly. I point this out to show the NCAA has in the past changed their own policy.

I recieved a post card from the afore mentioned NAIA marathoners whose coach neglected to declare him for the race. I clearly remember the card, even though it was any years ago. "I am at the finish line of the National championship marathon watching the second place runner finish....... but I have not run yet today! He did not blame the coach, and went on to say that the same personality that would miss the declaration was the same laid back attitude that encouraged him to continue running on the team for all 4 years.

Nick- there will be other races. Maybe bigger ones?

Run them well.

and yet we wonder why the sport is dead?i bet the X Games don't have idiotic rules (that seem to have come from some ancient scrolls from up on hight) like this.its about the athlete!! not the old fogies! we are still trying to sell people on Monopoly Boards while everyone is playing with a nintendo DS for crying out loud.

this gets my vote.

ya there was a similar thread about a kid in D2 also i believe

Bush is still President. This runner's dreams are ruined. My work here is done.