Date of Publication

Fall 2013

Document Type

Undergraduate Project

Professor's Name

Katharine Burakowski

Abstract

Cheating is a part of everyday life and is prominent aspect in the competitive nature of business. The ultimate goal of cheating is to gain an advantage over your competitors and ultimately be successful. Even though cheating is considered wrong, why do people still do it? The risk of being caught and punished is seemingly outweighed by the reward of success from cheating. This concept is relevant in the sporting world as well with the violation of rules by college athletic programs. In the highly competitive division I level of intercollegiate athletics the goal is to be the best. To be the best you must have the best coaching staff and acquire the best players. Not only do programs have to fight other programs to get players, they must keep those players satisfied and eligible even if it means violating rules to do so. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) violations are frequently occurring throughout the world of collegiate athletics at the division I level. These violations come at both the major and secondary level, while major violations provide a significant competitive advantage for programs. The NCAA committee of infractions hands down sanctions to violating programs to prohibit these competitive advantages and promote fair competition throughout, however their jurisdiction has been seemingly ineffective throughout history (Ribock, 2012). The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between NCAA sanctions for major violation and the future success of the violating programs. From the research I have conducted, I found that generally, teams remain unaffected when it comes to athletic success after sanctions set in place by the NCAA. The inadequate sanctions, lack of enforcement and monitoring of violations actually reinforce cheating in intercollegiate athletics because the sanctions often do not affect the future success of athletic programs.

These sanctions are often avoidable but through possible reform, the NCAA could improve their techniques to further enforce fair competition throughout. I expect this research to continue to provide evidence that sanctions handed down by the National Collegiate Athletic Association rarely effect the success of athletic programs on the field in the time period after. Gaining a competitive advantage over your opposition through the cheating process is something that will be nearly impossible to ever abolish and fully monitor, which leads to an increase in violations against the governing body of the NCAA, especially when the sanctions don’t always have lasting effects.

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