The tenor of the enforcement session at the NCAA Convention in January was all Jon Duncan.
Approachable and instructive.
Duncan, three years removed from being one of dozens of outside attorneys assisting the NCAA with its legal matters, has stayed true to his personality, qualities that now permeate his 58-person staff.
“I’m here this morning to be your tour guide,” said Duncan. He went on to speak of “transparency” and then encouraged everyone in the audience to come to Indianapolis and get to know his team. After all, “it’s your building, not ours. … Then, I can show you where it is that the work happens.”
Duncan, formerly of Spencer Fane, talked of “charges and missions that we take serious, that guide us.”
‘Protecting the Game’
“We’re here to protect the game,” said Duncan. “Sure we’re trying to protect student athletes and member institutions. But really it is to protect the game. Which game? All the games, in all the sports. We’re also focused on protecting this bigger animal called the collegiate model.”
He continued:
“We do this by putting ourselves in position to know about as many violations as possible. We then present those that are of most significance to the Committee on Infractions. That group can ultimately decide what to do about the violations. Why do we do this? We don’t do it to be punitive. We don’t target coaches or programs we don’t like because we enjoy poking them in the eye. We do it to reduce the universe of violations to protect the game and those schools that are doing what they are supposed to be doing.”
Duncan noted that his department of 58 professionals is broken down into four departments:
Development;
Investigations processing;
Level III/secondary violations; and
Quality control.
While the last three departments are somewhat “self-explanatory,” Duncan felt it important to take a deeper look at development, which is run by Managing Director Mark Hicks, Duncan’s co-presenter.
Using Relationships to Stay One Step Ahead
“Our role in development is to be proactive,” noted Hicks, an attorney. “We are relationship-based as opposed to transaction-based.”
To that end, Development houses four major focus sports-specific groups — football, basketball, track & field, and baseball. The specialists are frequently former coaches, who don’t have a legal or compliance background.
“They have a good grasp of the collegiate athletics landscape,” said Hicks. “And they are all about building strong relationships with coaches and administrators in the industry.”
Common Misconceptions about Enforcement
Duncan then followed Hicks to the podium where he addressed the “biggest misunderstandings” about the NCAA enforcement team:
That we are somehow responsible for creating bylaws, or drafting them;
That we are the ones deciding the punishment;
That allegations are brought haphazardly; and
That allegations are brought selectively.
Duncan elaborated on the last one, noting that some members believe “we target schools and coaches that we believe to be cheaters. And then we give a pass to schools and coaches we like.
“The gospel truth is, ‘We don’t care.’ We have no other agenda, except to get it right. That’s all that matters. What keeps me up at night is our charge to objectively investigate potential violations.”
Duncan then touched on the “investigatory process.
“Before we bring allegations, we hand them off to our colleagues at academic and membership affairs. They are the rules experts. They look at the draft allegations. If the facts are true, the draft allegations are presented to a review board. This is a fresh set of eyes. They decide whether the allegations are supported. Then there is an opportunity for the institutions and individuals to review the allegations and provide input.”
“We have all these checks and balances along the way to make sure we get it right.”
Focusing on Academic Integrity and Recruiting
“Based on feedback from you about what threatens the collegiate model, we are focused primarily on two areas — academic integrity and recruiting
“We have dedicated resources to those areas, especially in the development arena. We want to know how these violations occur — from bumps and impermissible text messages, all the way to cash transactions and everything in between.”
In addition, Duncan noted that his staff is determined to meet objectives around timeliness and transparency. “Nobody wins when a case goes on for years, except maybe the lawyers,” he said.
Challenges Remain
“We do face challenges when it comes to doing our job,” said Duncan. “We have no truth serum. We still have no subpoena power. We don’t have badges or guns. We have to deal with a code among coaches that discourages cooperation with an investigative bodies like ours.
“We have a limited number of tools in our bag, but we do have a few good ones, such as interviews, document requests, and new technologies. We are proficient and efficient with the tools that we have.”
Hicks then discussed some of the challenges within his department, mostly centered on the overall industry.
“One challenge is accelerated change, or how fast people come into the process,” he said. “Prospects are only prospects one time. An uncle comes through one time. A parent one time. A coach one time.
“We have to be out in front of the change. We have be out there fast. What is essential is we have to match that speed. It is a great challenge.”
Coaching Code Is a Vexing Problem
“No one really likes to tell on other people,” said Hicks. “I mean they’ll come to compliance and say everyone is cheating. But when it comes time to go on the record, they don’t want to do it
“It’s a trust problem. They are worried that if they rat someone out than they may not get hired. It’s a real concern, and I understand it because I have been a coach.
“But it is equally important that they have trust in enforcement, that they have trust in confidentiality.
“I am not optimistic that we will ever make the code go away, for the same reason that we might see crime on the street and we don’t report it. We simply don’t want to get involved.
“But the more people can see our conviction and see the way we go about doing our job, the more that code can soften a little bit.
“It only takes a few pieces of information to get things going.”
