An evaluation by the NCAA is welcome, for a change

Never, in my wildest imaginings, did it occur to me I would be saying, “Hurray! I can’t wait. Hurry up and get here!”

But that’s the message I’m passing on to the NCAA, which is about to send someone to look into the Athletics Department at the University of Maine in Orono.

Eagerly anticipating an NCAA evaluation (that’s the official word, not investigation) of the state’s only Division I athletics program should be more like eagerly anticipating exploratory surgery. When the doctor thinks something might be wrong, but he’s not sure, you approach that operation with great trepidation.

The NCAA? On campus? To look at the athletics program? YIPES!

But that is not the case here.

The sooner the NCAA arrives, the better. This is one exploratory session I’m looking forward to.

The sooner someone whose profession it is to objectively look into problems plaguing one of its member institutions, the sooner we can all breathe a little easier.

The current problems at the university stem from administrative mistakes involving the eligibility of student athletes. So far, the NCAA has not sanctioned the university for those violations.

But the university, after a self-examination and an outside examination by highly respected former Congressman Stanley R. Tupper of Boothbay Harbor, has sanctioned itself; specifically, members of its staff.

Director of Athletics Mike Ploszek was suspended and compliance officer Woody Carville’s dismissal was announced.

Carville had earlier made charges that Ploszek planned not to report the mistakes to the NCAA, but the Tupper Report characterized the situation as one of confusion rather than conspiracy.

But, apparently, the embers of that little fire were still smoldering in Orono, and it flared up again.

Now comes assistant athletics director Anne McCoy with charges of her own that Ploszek did not intend to report the violations and, if they were discovered, to “feign ignorance.”

McCoy claims she protested Ploszek’s alleged cover-up and passed her concerns along to the appropriate people, including Tupper.

Interestingly, at the time of its release, McCoy did not officially challenge the contents of the Tupper Report, which gave little attention to her concerns.

Tupper said he found “no credible evidence” to support an alleged cover-up. Tupper told the NEWS she contacted him only to correct an error in a date, which he did.

Before the NCAA arrives, University of Maine Systems chancellor J. Michael Orenduff will also look into the scandal which has kept the university in the headlines much of the school year, providing a major distraction for everyone associated with the Orono institution.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I freely admit I am absolutely baffled by the aspersions being cast about.

I am baffled by the “he said, she said, we said, they said” mentality. I am baffled because all of the principals involved are people I respect and admire.

I cheered Fred Hutchinson’s homecoming appointment as president, recalling the high esteem in which he was held from my university days to his departure from Orono in 1982.

I have known and liked Woody Carville equally as long, and have come to respect Mike Ploszek’s work at Maine.

Stan Tupper’s reputation for forthrightness goes back to my high school days when he was first running for public office. Everyone knew, and respected, Stan the Man.

Anne McCoy I know only by reputation, and that is a good one. She is considered a hard-working young woman of integrity.

So I’m left, like many of you, scratching my head, not knowing where to turn, nor whom to believe.

Hopefully, the NCAA will sort things out for us, make some sense of this mess, and give the administration the green light to proceed with its primary mission: providing the best education possible for the young people who choose to attend the University of Maine.