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

Can someone explain the rule the article mentions about his clock starting because he "competed" after being out of high school for more than a year? I thought that your 5 year clock started when and only when you enrolled in college. What does being out of high school for more than a year have to do with it?

For the poster who asked, this is the rule.

Mormon beliefs and their mission crap is neither here nor there.

What matters is that disqualifying someone for a season of college competition because he ran in a fun run is stupid. If the NCAA rule really applies, then the rule is stupid and the NCAA is stupid - as if anyone didn't know that already.

The NCAA is really only about generating billions of dollars for universities from college football and basketball. The people raking in those billions of dollars do not care about other sports and do not care what collateral damage they do to students in the process. This is just one tiny example of that.

Mr. Obvious wrote:

Well, one conforms to the rules and one doesn't.

I agree that the rules on Shamatuerism in the NCAA are long due for an overhaul. That doesn't exactly scream that Ward should get an exception currently.

Agreed on the first point. And I can understand your second point. And, yes, the rules are the problem.

The simplest solution to one part of the problem is probably an age solution. Turn 24 and you're done.

With respect to the amateurism part of the problem, the NCAA needs to decide where it stands and stop creating categories of exceptions for athletes they really want to use to enhance their own revenue streams. I can see arguments for both amateurism and professionalism. The NCAA's own actions would suggest they need to let these athletes be professionals. The Olympics came to that decision a long time ago.

College swimming would pretty much fall apart if they stopped allowing Olympic medalists to compete.

My personal opinion though is that the whole "amateur" thing is really stupid and harmful to collegiate sports.

14.2.3.2

Delayed Enrollment—Seasons of Competition.

14.2.3.2.1

Sports Other Than Men’s Ice Hockey, Skiing and Tennis.

In sports other than men’s ice hockey, skiing and tennis, a student-athlete who does not enroll in a collegiate institution as a full-time student in a regular academic term during a one-year time period after his or her high school graduation date or the graduation date of his or her class (as determined by the first year of high school enrollment or the international equivalent as specified in the NCAA Guide to International Academic Standards for Athletics Eligibility and based on the prescribed educational path in the student-athlete’s country), whichever occurs earlier, shall be subject to the following:

(a)

The student-athlete shall be charged with a season of intercollegiate eligibility for each calendar year

after the one-year time period (the next opportunity to enroll after one calendar year has elapsed)

and prior to full-time collegiate enrollment during which the student-athlete has participated in

organized competition per Bylaw 14.02.11.

(Revised: 4/29/04 effective 8/1/04)"

14 ELIGIBILITY

14.02.11 organized Competition.

Athletics competition shall be considered organized if any of the following conditions exists:(Revised: 4/29/10)

(a)Competition is scheduled and publicized in advance;

(b)Official score is kept;

(c)Individual or team standings are maintained;

(d)Official timer or game officials are used;

(e)Admission is charged;

(f )Teams are regularly formed or team rosters are predetermined;

(g)Team uniforms are used;

(h)A team is privately or commercially sponsored; or

(i)The competition is either directly or indirectly sponsored, promoted or administered by an individual, an

organization or any other agency

Now, is someone going to make the argument that the judgment on Ward's eligibility were inconsistent with the NCAA bylaws?

*was. Don't want to get shredded by the LRC grammar police.

storyupdate wrote:

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865590567/NCAA-reverses-sanctions-against-BYU-runner.html

Wow. Didn't think it would actually happen, but that's fantastic. It'll be interesting to see what he can do after his marathon.

What does this say about the NCAA that Ward and BYU petitioned for 2 years to reverse the ruling, then a few days after it hits the media they let him through?

"After tons of public pressure and negative media attention, the NCAA has reversed its stance and will allow BYU runner Jared Ward to compete for his senior season. Good job, everyone!

Ward, one of the country's top runners, was declared ineligible because he took part in a costume-optional fun run in 2009, a few months before enrolling at BYU. The NCAA considered that a competitive advantage for Ward, even though he had spent two years not competing because he was doing LDS mission work. Two BYU appeals were unsuccessful, but when the Deseret News featured Ward's story last week, it was only a matter of time before the NCAA caved to public opinion.

This morning the NCAA overturned its ruling and declared Ward eligible to run starting immediately. He'll compete in the NCAA regionals on Friday, and the championships next week—sadly, that's all that's left of his season."

byu grad wrote:What does this say about the NCAA that Ward and BYU petitioned for 2 years to reverse the ruling, then a few days after it hits the media they let him through?

It tells you that the NCAA will screw people as long as they can keep things quiet.

Cool. I feel dumb for saying they would never get it done fast enough, but I'm glad I was wrong. Hope he kills it.

I agree that Jared Ward most likely did not "gain" an advantage by competing in this race, but it is completely subjective. Advantages come in many forms and one of them is psychological. Maybe he wasn't feeling great about his training and was going to stop training as much, and then he drops a sub 16 at a difficult course and wins in the process after only a couple months of being back from mission. So whether something is an advantage or not must be subjective, therefore is it reasonable to assume that the reason the NCAA chose "competition" is so that they could have a gauge at whether someone is doing something to gain an advantage? If the NCAA had cameras on us at all time would it be reasonable to assume that they wouldn't allow anything that could cause an advantage such as training rigorously for multiple years before starting the NCAA, but since they don't they choose racing as a way to determine whether athletes are trying to gain an advantage? Another thing to keep in mind is the five year window once you enroll in college. If this window existed merely to keep age limited to a certain extent, they why not have a window starting after high school? The reason must be that they don't want people to have an unfair advantage. Maybe there can still be exceptions, but all in all he did break the rule, the issue is whether the rule should have applied in this unique situation or not.

tuition dollars at work wrote:

He didn't accept money. Just entered a fun run during a year out of school.

http://www.cbssports.com/general/eye-on-sports/24219697/byu-runner-denied-eligibility-by-ncaa-after-running-in-recreational-race

"The decision also hurts BYU's cross-country team, which is ranked fifth in the country and has a chance to win a title at the NCAA championships in two weeks. That's likely out the window without Ward."

LetsRun.com's story on this case appears below: NCAA Has Docked 13:37 American Jared Ward For Entire Year of Eligibility For Running in a Foot Locker Coaches Race During Year Off From School

Who’s Jarod Word?

The subway guy. He’s in jail.