NCAA Declares BYU's Jared Ward Ineligible becaus of Fun Run

compliance wrote:

It's not about money, it's about the number of years you can compete after high school, or upon enrolling full time. they have exceptions for military, for missions (BYU), for pregnancy for women, for extenuating multiple season ending injuries.

You can be a professional in another sport and still participate, you can be an olympian in your own sport and still participate as long as it fits withtin the rules of time frame upon enrollment.

Rules are there, not for the minor infractions, such as this case, they are there to protect the overall integrity, because if they weren't there, someone would be intentionally trying to game the system.

this is a case of an equal application of a rule. it seems unfair to some, but only those who don't see the big picture.

I agree with you and unfortunately no one on letsrun can see the bigger picture. Also 95% of the posters on this thread don't have a full grasp of the facts or the NCAA rules.

Here are the facts:

He graduated high school in May of 2007.

He spends two years on a religious mission, slating him to start competing again in September 2009.

Unfortunately, he just misses the enrollment cut-off and can not start school until 2010.

HERE IS THE KEY: Because he can't enroll, he has an ENTIRE YEAR to train on his own before starting his freshman year in 2010 a full 3.25 years after he graduated high school.

That would have been fine, except that he competes in an a road race during that year off, therefore his clock starts ticking. Frankly, that extra year to just to train is quite the advantage, but is okay by the NCAA rules and would have just been a red shirt year. His big mistake was racing during that red shirt, thereby using up a year of that eligibility.

Who cares if it's "fun run" or a regular road race. The NCAA can't get into the business of classifying which races count as legitimate race and which classify as fun runs. A race is a race is a race.

Dear Mr Emmert,

I am writing to you to reconsider the eligibility of Jared Ward of BYU cross country team. I have no affiliation with BYU or Mr Ward.

I think the nature of the event which Mr Ward is reported to be ineligible from should be akin to someone participating in their community Thanksgiving weekend 'Turkey Trot'. I'm reasonably certain that you wouldn't consider a college football player ineligible for such participation.

Participation in community runs help enhance the spirit of the running world. Please do not take punitive actions. These events cannot be seriously equated to enhancing the competitive level of a collegiate athlete.

Thank you for your consideration,

Sincerely,

(name redacted)

Dear Mr. Emmert,

I'm a former NCAA student-athlete. I'm writing regarding the NCAA's recent decision to retract eligibility from Jared Ward, of BYU, who is being penalized for participating in a community fun run.

I'm extremely disappointed that you've decided to rob a year of eligibility from Mr. Ward because of his participation in a road race while on a mission trip. He is a runner. Runners run. Whether they do so in an organized event should have no bearing on their amateur status, as long as they do not accept prize money, which Mr. Ward did not. He did nothing wrong. Meanwhile, at the University of North Carolina (a respected academic institution), basketball players take fake classes and have university staff alter their grades to retain eligibility, and your organization looks the other way.

It's no surprise that when the big money of NCAA basketball is at stake, the NCAA looks the other way, and that when you have the chance to show how tough the NCAA is in protecting amateurism, you punish a runner for ... running ... running in a costume-themed community event. Were this not such a disaster for a real person, it would be almost laughable that you, the NCAA, demonstrate your integrity by taking eligibility from a runner for running, while you allow basketball players to take classes that don't meet, have their grades altered in suspect fashion, and then pressure faculty members to revise their stories after the fact. That's a wonderful way to protect amateurism and ensure that athletes are also students.

I'm utterly disavowed of college athletics now. Please, take a step back from the corporate interests of television and shoe contracts, and look at the big picture of what college sports are supposed to be about.

Sincerely,

name redacted

Former NCAA student-athlete

Former fan of college athletics

ii wrote:

from on high wrote:

Stanford's running-back played pro baseball for the Pirates before playing football at Stanford. How does that work? Just because it's a different sport? Money is money, no?

And everyone that has a summer or after school job should be ineligible too!

Minor league ball isn't a "summer job". And I believe even summer jobs are restricted in the NCAA. Can't have some baller getting huge money to wash cars at some boosters used-car lot.

Well, then I guess no foreigners. Most of you'd be in shock if you knew the number of runners 25 or older competing in college

Maybe because putting your life on hold for 2 years to win some low level meet isn't worth it?

Huhu wrote:

how about american born 18-23 wrote:

not sure what I hate worse, the recruit a bunch of African schools like OK State, Oregon, etc. etc. or the Age Cheat schools like BYU.

If it's such an advantage to take two years off from running to be able to compete in the NCAA's when you are older, why don't more runners do it? There is nothing stopping any NCAA athlete from serving a religious mission so they can compete when they are older.

There are many returned missionary runners who were never able to return to the form they were in before their missions. It's not an easy thing to do.

Did he wear his spring outfit (aka school uniform or anything that resembled a school uniform i.e. BYU t-shirt) during the race?

Huhu wrote:

If it's such an advantage to take two years off from running to be able to compete in the NCAA's when you are older, why don't more runners do it?

Who's going to support these runners for two years while they wait to go to college? Will a scholarship still be there for them two years later? They don't have the church to support them.

^^^This is 100% correct. African kids can graduate high school and train for 3 years before they come to the US for school as well. However, if they compete in one race after that first gap year, then they lose eligibility for whatever season they competed (track race = 1 track season, xc/road race = 1 xc season). If you are writing to exempt Mr. Ward from this rule then you should be willing to exempt these African kids as well. Whether it's a "fun run" or a time trial on a dirt track at altitude, it's the same thing and be prepared for that.

You're dumb, and NCAA is in fact stupid and corrupt. It wasn't even a road race but a community run after a cross country race.

By the way, anyone know his time/place in this event?

Chris Weinke won the Heisman Trophy for Florida State at age 28

Thanks for the edit :)

Because it was wrote:

You're dumb, and NCAA is in fact stupid and corrupt. It wasn't even a road race but a community run after a cross country race.

By the way, anyone know his time/place in this event?

Did he wear anything resembling a BYU uniform during the "community run"?

There is no indication that he wore a BYU uniform and it would seem extremely unlikely since he did not even enroll until the following year.

This is the column from the SLC Deseret News that CBS picked up on. Has some more detail but comes down to the same thing. Casual "race" that cost him a year of eligibility.

http://m.deseretnews.com/article/865590194/Doug-Robinson-Another-wrong-to-right.html?pg=all

csdew wrote:

Did he wear anything resembling a BYU uniform during the "community run"?

Nope. He wore a costume for f**ks sakes.

So what you're saying is that TRAINING causes improvement once you hit your 20's. Right?It's not like high school athletes whose skeletal and muscular structures are still growing.So if a guy doesn't TRAIN for 2 years, but simply grows older, then he has gained no advantage, and therefore at 25 he is on the same playing field as a 23 year old who took no time off.

asdfaafdafasd wrote:

I don't know his exact birthday but this is close enough

2011 22 14:10

2013 24 13:37

I.e at an age when most people graduate he was good conference runner. 2 years later he is a national class guy. 2+ years of extra training matters a lot.

byu grad wrote:

I've asked this before and I'll ask it now:

What are the physiological changes that occur between the ages 23 to 25 that bestow an advantage to BYU athletes?

Starting college, getting a plan from the coach, and then getting an extra 2 years to train certainly doesn't hurt.

byu grad wrote:

I've asked this before and I'll ask it now:

What are the physiological changes that occur between the ages 23 to 25 that bestow an advantage to BYU athletes?

byu grad wrote:

So what you're saying is that TRAINING causes improvement once you hit your 20's. Right?

It's not like high school athletes whose skeletal and muscular structures are still growing.

So if a guy doesn't TRAIN for 2 years, but simply grows older, then he has gained no advantage, and therefore at 25 he is on the same playing field as a 23 year old who took no time off.

Are you being serious??? Many if not all athletes bodies still mature while in college. Why do you think you came back BALD from your religious mission? Pretty sure your body matured.

Also, BYU runners need to stop whining about how "hard" it is to come back after 2 years off. I've done this 3 times now. Once after 4 years and another time after 2. This last time I took 2 and quarter years away from running, gained 25 pounds, and was able to PR within 6 months. It's not that hard, especially for a BYU caliber runner with gobs and gobs of talent.

It's an undeniable fact that on average a 25 year old with 4 years of training > 22 year old with 4 years of training. Fortunately, and rightfully so, the NCAA ignores this because it deems religious missions a worthy cause. That's not the point here.

Jared Ward broke the rules, is asking for an exception, and that exception is being denied because granting him that would set a bad precedent. He's being made an example of for the greater good. Get over it.

Because it was wrote:

You're dumb, and NCAA is in fact stupid and corrupt. It wasn't even a road race but a community run after a cross country race.

By the way, anyone know his time/place in this event?

Wow you sound like a baby. Please explain the corruption. Are you suggesting that someone paid off the NCAA so that they would take away Jared Ward's eligibility. That would be an actual example of corruption. YOU KNOW NOTHING OF CORRUPTION in your little tiny Utah Valley BUBBLE.

The NCAA is just following its own rules that it put forth. For being from such a rule based religion and society, it's amazing all the outrage coming from BYU runners, just because the rules aren't working in their favor. Is that how you chose to follow the rules of your religion too? You just follow them when the work in your favor and ignore them otherwise?