State Flag Issue with NCAA
Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2006 1:30 pm
There is a movement afoot by the black coaches association for the NCAA to expand its post-season ban of championships being hosted by states which have the confederate flag as part of its state flag. The expansion of the prohibition would include baseball and tennis regionals and super regionals currently being hosted in Mississippi, and would ostensible apply to hosting of an NIT basketball tourney game, since the NCAA now owns the NIT tourney.
Here is an article from a South Carolina newspaper discussing this issue:
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Clemson’s role as baseball host unfurls flag flap
Black Coaches Association complaint prompts NCAA to review scope of ban in S.C.
By JOSEPH PERSON
jperson @thestate.com
Unless lawmakers remove the Confederate flag from the State House grounds, the road to the College World Series could become longer for Clemson, South Carolina and the state’s other schools.
An NCAA subcommittee is re-examining the flag issue after the head of the Black Coaches Association questioned why Clemson hosted regional and super regional games before advancing to Omaha this past season.
In 2002 the NCAA implemented a two-year moratorium prohibiting schools in South Carolina from hosting any pre-assigned championships. A year later the NCAA extended the ban indefinitely.
Now BCA executive director Floyd Keith wants college athletics’ chief governing body to consider broadening the ban to keep all postseason contests out of the state.
“At least from our viewpoint, there should not be any postseason events awarded,†Keith said Friday during a telephone interview.
Robert Vowels, commissioner of the Southwestern Athletic Conference and chair of the NCAA’s Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee, said an eight-person subcommittee plans a teleconference in the coming months to discuss the issue. The group wants to review the original moratorium and the selection process for championship sites in sports such as baseball and tennis, in which the highest-seeded schools often are chosen as hosts.
“The main thing is understanding the selection process and just seeing what’s what,†Vowels said. “Once we can understand processes, then we can go from there.â€
The NCAA maintains the same postseason ban in Mississippi, which incorporates the Confederate flag into its state flag.
Greenville’s Bi-Lo Center hosted first- and second-round games of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament in 2002 because the bid had been awarded before the ban took effect.
Since then, however, South Carolina has lost out on several NCAA-sanctioned events.
• A cross-country regional that Furman had hosted for 21 years was moved.
• The ACC pulled its baseball tournament out of Fort Mill in 2003.
• Officials with USC and the Bi-Lo Center were turned down after submitting bids to serve as first- and second-round sites for the NCAA men’s basketball tourney.
“March Madness is March Sadness in South Carolina because there will be no March Madness here. And the NAACP is in lockstep with it,†said Lonnie Randolph, the NAACP state president.
Lawmakers have not addressed the flag issue since 2000, when a legislative compromise moved the flag from atop the Capitol dome to a Confederate monument on the north side of the State House grounds. Beginning in 1999, the NAACP asked African-Americans to boycott South Carolina’s tourism industry, an effort Randolph said would continue until the flag comes down.
In the meantime, the only postseason games that have been staged in the state have been at the conference level. While aware of the NCAA’s moratorium, the SEC allows its schools from South Carolina and Mississippi to submit proposals to host the conference’s neutral-site championships.
The SEC held its 2005 women’s basketball tournament in Greenville after a scheduling conflict at Atlanta’s Philips Arena forced organizers to look for an alternative site. This past fall the SEC cross country championships were run at Fort Jackson.
However, despite attractive arenas in Greenville and Columbia, event organizers across the state have had their hands tied when it comes to trying to host games in the lucrative NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
Said Randolph: “(Basketball fans) don’t drop pennies in your community. They drop millions of dollars in your community.â€
Vowels said his subcommittee would study the issue of extending the NCAA’s ban to include all postseason events and would make a recommendation to the NCAA’s executive committee by the end of the year.
Even if no changes are made, Keith, the BCA director, believes the ban has been effective in drawing attention to the flag.
“It’s certainly an issue of awareness that has been supported and embraced by the NCAA. That in itself is a positive step from our platform,†Keith said. “Is it completely eradicated or something we can say it’s done? No. The issue is still there.â€
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IF this occurs, such would absolutely hurt the baseball programs at MSU, UM, and USM (to a lesser degree). And while it would hurt all three schools' tennis programs, it would really hurt UM since it is highly ranked and hosts regionals year in and year out.
Imagine not being able to host baseball regionals in the state of Mississippi? The road to Omaha would be THAT much tougher, and recruiting the top players would be a hard sell as well. I think such a development would send Bianco packing to a school in another state, and likely trigger the resignation of Polk at MSU.
There has already been a statewide vote on this issue. The confederate flag proponents voted to keep the current state flag. To a large degree, changing the state flag would be out of the control of MSU or UM. Even if the state were to have another vote, would the prospect of not hosting baseball and tennis regionals make a difference with most of the population who voted in support of the current state flag?
Hopefully, this unfair scenario will never become the rule at the NCAA. But, I do not trust the NCAA and its attempts at political correctness.
Here is an article from a South Carolina newspaper discussing this issue:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clemson’s role as baseball host unfurls flag flap
Black Coaches Association complaint prompts NCAA to review scope of ban in S.C.
By JOSEPH PERSON
jperson @thestate.com
Unless lawmakers remove the Confederate flag from the State House grounds, the road to the College World Series could become longer for Clemson, South Carolina and the state’s other schools.
An NCAA subcommittee is re-examining the flag issue after the head of the Black Coaches Association questioned why Clemson hosted regional and super regional games before advancing to Omaha this past season.
In 2002 the NCAA implemented a two-year moratorium prohibiting schools in South Carolina from hosting any pre-assigned championships. A year later the NCAA extended the ban indefinitely.
Now BCA executive director Floyd Keith wants college athletics’ chief governing body to consider broadening the ban to keep all postseason contests out of the state.
“At least from our viewpoint, there should not be any postseason events awarded,†Keith said Friday during a telephone interview.
Robert Vowels, commissioner of the Southwestern Athletic Conference and chair of the NCAA’s Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee, said an eight-person subcommittee plans a teleconference in the coming months to discuss the issue. The group wants to review the original moratorium and the selection process for championship sites in sports such as baseball and tennis, in which the highest-seeded schools often are chosen as hosts.
“The main thing is understanding the selection process and just seeing what’s what,†Vowels said. “Once we can understand processes, then we can go from there.â€
The NCAA maintains the same postseason ban in Mississippi, which incorporates the Confederate flag into its state flag.
Greenville’s Bi-Lo Center hosted first- and second-round games of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament in 2002 because the bid had been awarded before the ban took effect.
Since then, however, South Carolina has lost out on several NCAA-sanctioned events.
• A cross-country regional that Furman had hosted for 21 years was moved.
• The ACC pulled its baseball tournament out of Fort Mill in 2003.
• Officials with USC and the Bi-Lo Center were turned down after submitting bids to serve as first- and second-round sites for the NCAA men’s basketball tourney.
“March Madness is March Sadness in South Carolina because there will be no March Madness here. And the NAACP is in lockstep with it,†said Lonnie Randolph, the NAACP state president.
Lawmakers have not addressed the flag issue since 2000, when a legislative compromise moved the flag from atop the Capitol dome to a Confederate monument on the north side of the State House grounds. Beginning in 1999, the NAACP asked African-Americans to boycott South Carolina’s tourism industry, an effort Randolph said would continue until the flag comes down.
In the meantime, the only postseason games that have been staged in the state have been at the conference level. While aware of the NCAA’s moratorium, the SEC allows its schools from South Carolina and Mississippi to submit proposals to host the conference’s neutral-site championships.
The SEC held its 2005 women’s basketball tournament in Greenville after a scheduling conflict at Atlanta’s Philips Arena forced organizers to look for an alternative site. This past fall the SEC cross country championships were run at Fort Jackson.
However, despite attractive arenas in Greenville and Columbia, event organizers across the state have had their hands tied when it comes to trying to host games in the lucrative NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
Said Randolph: “(Basketball fans) don’t drop pennies in your community. They drop millions of dollars in your community.â€
Vowels said his subcommittee would study the issue of extending the NCAA’s ban to include all postseason events and would make a recommendation to the NCAA’s executive committee by the end of the year.
Even if no changes are made, Keith, the BCA director, believes the ban has been effective in drawing attention to the flag.
“It’s certainly an issue of awareness that has been supported and embraced by the NCAA. That in itself is a positive step from our platform,†Keith said. “Is it completely eradicated or something we can say it’s done? No. The issue is still there.â€
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IF this occurs, such would absolutely hurt the baseball programs at MSU, UM, and USM (to a lesser degree). And while it would hurt all three schools' tennis programs, it would really hurt UM since it is highly ranked and hosts regionals year in and year out.
Imagine not being able to host baseball regionals in the state of Mississippi? The road to Omaha would be THAT much tougher, and recruiting the top players would be a hard sell as well. I think such a development would send Bianco packing to a school in another state, and likely trigger the resignation of Polk at MSU.
There has already been a statewide vote on this issue. The confederate flag proponents voted to keep the current state flag. To a large degree, changing the state flag would be out of the control of MSU or UM. Even if the state were to have another vote, would the prospect of not hosting baseball and tennis regionals make a difference with most of the population who voted in support of the current state flag?
Hopefully, this unfair scenario will never become the rule at the NCAA. But, I do not trust the NCAA and its attempts at political correctness.
