FC: Harbaugh's World tour continues. Taking team on African safari
- Thread starter SLion
- Start date
These trips are paid for by boosters. That said, I can’t see how this is a permissible benefit, as it’s not something that the average student receives
You don't think there is a distinction between using funds to improve facilities and using funds to provide athletes with personal non-program related perks?
Those trips are for actual competition. All sports allow for trips for competition. Not just boondoggles. Technically, Michigan football could take an overseas trip for competition. But they'd have to forfeit any bowl game opportunities as a result.
Let him go on safari. We are bagging the big game on the recruiting trail.
Harbaugh heard there was a kid named Spring Bok in South Africa. He heard reports Mr. Bok runs like a deer. Jimbo wanted to see for himself and possibly extend a scholarship offer while he was there.
According to UM, these trips are being paid for by a "donor" not specifically identified. If the donor were to be a "booster" as defined by the NCAA, then the trip would be illegal and judged to be an impermissible benefit.
Hard to imagine UM hasn't been asked by the NCAA who the donor is and was satisfied that the donor was not a booster. The donor for all we know may not even be a person but a company or a trust or some other legal entity.
The NCAA passed legislation last year that prohibits practices on these trips after other programs complained that UM practiced during their first trip to IMG in Florida.
Bobby Kotick paid for Italy and Kotick and Don Graham paid for Paris. Lots of articles via Google. Athens, Barcelona and Cuba were under consideration as well for the 2019 trip.
http://graham.umich.edu/about/founder
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Kotick
Last edited:
Hmmm. A slippery slope but if they have no affiliation with UM Athletics then the NCAA would be hard pressed to say no. I would guess the trips were funded through one or more of their operating companies.
How could the donor not be considered a booster? They are the same thing, right?
The NCAA broadly defines a "booster" as an individual, agency, entity or organization who is known by an institution to: Have participated in or been a member of an agency that promotes the institution's intercollegiate athletics program.
I would make the argument that these particular donors are not promoting UM Athletics because the focus is educational in nature AND no practice is taking place during the trip. Its a slippery slope and one the NCAA has clearly decided to punt on.
That is BS... they aren’t paying to send a random selection of deserving students on these trips, they are choosing to pay for only football players to go on these trips and be educated and appreciate culture.
No different than someone endowing a fund to pay for trips for any random group in the university. Those footing the bill get to choose where their money is spent on academic pursuits whether it be for scholarships or trips for the french club or the football team..
Last edited:
What a crock of sh*t. Academic pursuits? This is a payment and extra benefit for joining the football program. It should be banned.
Correct. In fact, by rule it is no different than donors endowing specific athletic scholarships (by position, for example).
Under the same rule, MSU took its basketball team to see Hamilton and watch a Bulls game in Chicago last fall. It would seem UM football’s trip has far greater educational and cultural value.
A
anon_1eeb2b426hv3y
Guest
He’s once again pushing the limits and his program is getting another huge boost off the field. It’s great for the university. His bosses are thrilled there. I’ll admit part of me is glad he’s mocking and challenging the NCAA and flaunting some of their inconsistencies.
I don’t like what he’s doing from a competitive standpoint. On the other hand, he’s coming up short on game day for one of PSU’ biggest rivals (for now-hope it continues) and he’s got the guts to stick it to an organization that has a very fluid perspective on fair play and a very clear compass for its own interests.
A
anon_1eeb2b426hv3y
Guest
Of course it’s BS!
He’s looking at the rules, thinking of advantages for his program and university, finding inconsistencies likely to make enforcement difficult or uncomfortable (especially ones where the NCAA could likely find itself on the wrong side of media scrutiny, like for limiting a university opening doors to young people) and pushing those inconsistencies to the point of absurdity. It’s just like the satellite camp archipelago, which CJF similarly took advantage of before Harbaugh went haywire with it.
It’s a game. JH is playing it like a drunken pirate. Just look at the things he’s saying. “Yeah, we’ll give you this and that and this and that... dream big and join UM football.” Compare Rome and Paris and South African safaris at UM with a few tattoos at tOSU... better yet, don’t. You’ll be wasting your time calling folks out on their BS arguments/angles AFTER they’ve moved on.
Not true. Nobody is paying for the general student body to go on trips like this. I’m no expert, but The NCAA rules do not permit benefits that non athletes don’t also receive.
Jim should try taking his team to Indianapolis one of these years.
By punting on this, the NCAA has opened the door for other schools to push the envelope with this.
I wouldn't be surprised to see other schools, even PSU, do something similar to this in the future. If a donor is willing to pay up, and the NCAA allows it, why not?
I wouldn't be surprised to see other schools, even PSU, do something similar to this in the future. If a donor is willing to pay up, and the NCAA allows it, why not?
Indeed. For programs with deep pocketed donors like UM and PSU, there are only so many weight room and locker room upgrades to be funded; turning donors to opportunities for educational and cultural enrichment opportunities seems like a natural fit.
It all still seems shady to me. Boosters can't fund the trips but benevolent donors with no supposed interest in football are allowed to pony up without consequence. Do these same boosters open their wallets to send the French club to Paris or the biology club to the Galapagos Islands? Those would be much more educational and enriching to those students than would be what amounts to a sightseeing trip for the football team.
UM players that Hairbag wants to "process" will be eaten by lions or ortherwise vanish on field trip. MU admin will cite Harbaugh's innovative ways of dealing with personnel issues when extending his contract.
If PSU tried it, I wonder if delany and/or the ncaa would suddenly be interested?
Not sure I understand the difference you’re trying to draw here. By NCAA rule any donor to the athletic department is by definition a booster. Or maybe I misunderstand the donor/booster rules at Penn State- are they required to fund student rec center upgrades if they fund football locker room upgrades? Penn State has several endowed athletic scholarships; are those donors/boosters required to endow non-athlete scholarships as well?
If I were an Indiana football fan (or Maryland or Rutgers) --- I wouldn't be thrilled by all this. Those programs don't have that many wealthy football-loving alums who will fund stuff like this. They literally can't compete.
Of course, those schools already have structural disadvantages vs. the B1G East powers. That gap does seem to be expanding, however.
But us? All of U-M, OSU and PSU (and even MSU too) can do this sort of stuff. U-M is really NOT gaining a significant competitive advantage over PSU/OSU/MSU via stuff like this.
