BCS is not NCAA's biggest problem

The shocking situation being revealed around the University of Colorado football program should remind everyone concerned with collegiate athletics that the biggest problem with NCAA football is not the BCS system

A high school student alleged that a Colorado football player raped her in 1997. A female place kicker on the team, the only woman ever to play for the Colorado football team, says that a teammate raped her in 1999. Three female students claim that they were raped in 2001 at a party sponsored by the football team.

The frightening fact is that in some of these cases it seems that the coaching staff did nothing to dissuade the activities. The three women raped in 2001 say that it happened after they attended a party hosted by members of the football team at which alcohol and sex were used to attract recruits. A player took a recruit to a strip club. A striptease operator said that he regularly sends lap-dancers to perform for the athletes.

This issue does not receive the national attention and concern that it should. The return to the elite level that the Colorado football team had when it won a national championship in 1990 should not be paved with recruiting techniques that are vile, offensive, and criminal. Unfortunately it seems that is the path Colorado has chosen.

The problem goes beyond charges that the team uses alcohol and sex as recruitment techniques to the conduct of the players themselves. So far we only know of five women who have suffered from it. It is obvious that these actions are not singular occurrences, but a pattern of behavior. How many more will come forward now that their word will be trusted and they do not have to suffer the fear and humiliation alone?

Similar to the abuse cases in the Catholic Church, it is unlikely that Colorado is the only athletic program committing these atrocities. If the NCAA wants to preserve the honor and integrity of collegiate athletics it must make a real effort to discover the extent of the issue. At the same time it must act to end both the immoral recruiting techniques and the deviant behavior of offending players. Athletes, students, and fans should start by demanding that the players and coaches act in an honorable and respectable manner, and only then should they worry about determining a national championship.