NCAA must punish those using hurricane to steal athletes

The victims are about to get used, and unfortunately that using involves sports.

The struggle to recover from Hurricane Katrina has only just begun. The rebuilding process will be costly and agonizing.

Soon, Congress will pass a 15-pound document that will claim to assist the hurricane victims. The legislation will be loaded with pork barrel measures for individual Congress members that have nothing to do with Katrina.

Lobbyists for big business will try to use the hurricane as an excuse to do everything from reducing national environmental standards to paving the way for political allies to enter the affected area and make money.

Sports are on that slime list as well.

Universities and colleges in the devastated area, such as Tulane in New Orleans, have reported to the NCAA that schools outside the hurricane zone have been calling their athletes asking about possibly transferring.

Apparently, some of the calls have come from athletes in other schools and some have come from coaches. It is a violation of NCAA rules for one school to tamper with another’s scholarship athletes.

That has not stopped the calls.

The NCAA is often blamed for all the world’s ills and it started to take some heat over an announcement this week that any athletes who wished to transfer from a Katrina-affected school would still have to abide by the NCAA transfer rules.

That means that Division I-A transfers in baseball, hockey, and football have to sit out a year before they can play for the new school. Some said why not give the kids a break and let them play immediately.

Now we know why. As usual, the NCAA is forced to act because member schools are seeking slippery edges upon which to slide by the rules. In this case, those schools doing the calling should be ashamed.

Hurricane-affected schools are attempting to keep their students together while attending other institutions. They are doing the same with their athletes.

The last thing these affected schools need are some ethically devoid coaches making calls to steal athletes. The last thing the athletes need to hear is some confusing flimflam from a coach trying to convince them their current school may have trouble with its athletic program, so why don’t you come to us.

The NCAA has not decided if an investigation is needed. There should be one. These crass calls are so disgusting that punishment to the acting parties should be swift and severe.

Any school knowing such acts are occurring should be placed on probation. Any individual coach or player involved in making such calls should be suspended.

Worthy of thanks are the universities who have welcomed students for as long as it takes their schools to get up and running again. Some schools have taken in whole teams of athletes, kept them together as such, and are arranging for them to compete in the name of the school affected by the disaster.

There’ll be enough using of these hurricane victims by the politicians and special interest groups. Let’s keep sports out of this mudfest.

Old Town native Gary Thorne is an ESPN and ABC sportscaster.