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Jim Delany wants freshmen athletes ineligible for men's basketball and football. Seriously

Jim Delany wants to turn the clock back to 1971 and have freshmen men's basketball and football athletes ineligible again

By LincolnParkWildcat Updated
It's time to party like it was 1971. Where's my leisure suit and my hair?
It's time to party like it was 1971. Where's my leisure suit and my hair?
Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

Commissioner Jim Delany,

So I'm on my late lunch break, open up Tweetdeck, and I see a tweet from my friend and CornNation writer Brian Towle that you want to make men's Freshman basketball and football athletes ineligible for competition like they were up to 1971. And I have to agree. What the [PURDUE] are you thinking?

First off, I don't think this will pass muster with the other schools at an NCAA convention, and secondly, do you really think this is a good idea? There's pros and cons to this.

Let's discuss an infamous athlete from the past 15 years, Maurice Clarett. He started as a true freshman for OSU's BCS national championship team and had myriad off the field issues leading to his separation from the team. And then he got arrested, spent some time in jail, and has now shaped up. Would being ineligible have made this kid more mature? I'm not sure.

Also, lets discuss Christian Hackenberg. Bill O'Brien recruited this five-star QB as the linchpin of his first class, and the kid started playing right away. This last year his offensive line didn't help, but he's going to be a great QB for the Nittany Lions.

My team's football coach, Pat Fitzgerald, prefers to redshirt players unless they are too good to keep off the field, like Justin Jackson, or there's a need due to injury that caused Matthew Harris to step in (as best I can remember).

Also, my team's basketball coach, Chris Collins, recruited a great class of basketball players and needed them to start playing right away. Even though NU is not doing well, I think it's invaluable for these players to get experience.

On a side note, I think this would decimate Kentucky's basketball program because of all the freshmen who only stick around for one year and then go pro. Are you trying to put a stop to the one and done rule?

(IMHO, basketball players should stick around in college for three years, but that's between the NBA and the player's association)

Do you really think your coaches would let you do this? Especially with the amount of money flying around here?

This is how I perceive your job:

  1. Make the schools a ton of money by managing the TV deals and the BTN
  2. Handle all the NCAA stuff in conjunction with the athletic directors.
  3. Speak for the presidents and chancellors of the schools of the B1G.
Have you ran this by any of the presidents or athletic directors or coaches? The article in the Maryland student paper had a quote from Maryland's president, but he's one out of 14.

"What I like about the concept of the proposal is it puts right up front the basic issue: Are we basically a quasi-professional activity or primarily an educational activity?" university President Wallace Loh said. "And if you support it, you are basically saying very clearly the No. 1 priority is the education of the students."

I would like it if you would force the SEC to adopt our oversigning rules first, just to add insult to injury after our Buckeye football team won the championship.

All that being said, I don't think you've thought this through and you've potentially opened up a can of worms.

Sincerely,
LincolnParkWildcat.

UPDATE: Article changed to reflect that this proposal only applies to men's basketball and football