Mark Richt, Georgia Handled Payments Wrong, but That Doesn't Make NCAA Right

Ohio State was just handed down sanctions for breaking NCAA rules and Miami and UCF are both still awaiting their fate. But now Mark Richt has gotten Georgia in trouble because he paid some of his staff members out of pocket.

As first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Richt paid his assistants upwards of $63,000 dollars over a course of three years for not getting paid what they were worth, as well including over $21,000 to two coaches who left Georgia.

This goes directly against NCAA bylaw 11.3.2.2, which regulates supplemental pay for staff members.

The thing is, neither Richt nor the athletic administration knew that what he was doing was against the rules. In some instances, the university was entirely aware of the situation, but the other instances all came during Georgia?s campus-wide spending freeze.

He went to then-athletic director Damon Evans and asked for raises of $10,000 for then-recruiting assistant Charlie Cantor and then-linebackers coach John Jancek, but he could not give them any more money.

Richt wrote them checks of $834 per month as compensation. He also gave director of player development John Eason a check for over $6,000 because he moved Eason to an administrative role, which paid less.

It?s obvious what the NCAA was trying to do when it implemented bylaw 11.3.2.2; they didn?t want to create a situation where coaches are being paid under the table to stay at a certain university.

This situation is not like that at all.

Should Richt and the athletics administration be aware that writing checks to staff members is against the rules? Of course, and now everyone in the country will know not to do it. But the NCAA needs to make an exception to the rules in situations like this.

Universities all across the country are having tough economic times and faculty and staff are getting cut across the board. If a coach who receives millions of dollars per year wants to make sure the people he has around him are financially compensated for their work, he should be able to do that.

Contrary to what some believe, the NCAA is not an evil organization, but it is certainly flawed; this situation is just one instance. Richt and the athletics department messed up, but so did the NCAA by having such a strict rule.

No one wins from all of this until the rules are changed.

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/992877-mark-richt-georgia-handled-payments-wrong-but-that-doesnt-make-ncaa-right

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