Columnist Steve Carp: NCAA riding a rare legal losing streak

Steve Carp

Thursday, May 7, 1998 | 9:04 a.m.

AFTER YEARS OF dominating in the courtroom much the way UNLV used to dominate the Big West on the basketball court, the NCAA finds itself on the other side of the ledger.

Right now, it's two losses in a row, three if you want to count the Title IX lawsuit Brown University lost to its women athletes.

But for fairness' sake, which is an oxymoron to the NCAA, let's say the streak stands at two. First, there was the out-of-court settlement with Jerry Tarkanian a month ago that cost the NCAA $2.5 million. That was more of a submission hold by Tark's attorneys. The NCAA's mock trials showed it had no shot of beating Tark. So basically, it was like getting put in the Camel Clutch and asking the ref to ring the bell.

However, that pales in comparison to the verdict rendered earlier this week when a group of coaches fought and won a 12-round decision over the monolithic NCAA.

Forced to work for poverty wages for several years, a few brave souls decided to take on Goliath. Today, they and their brethren share in the rewards to the tune of some $67 million.

Of course, nobody should be counting his money just yet. The NCAA doesn't take kindly to losing and you can take this to the bank -- there will be an appeal. This thing may take years before reaching an absolute final conclusion.

By then, Travis Rice might be old enough to attend college. Assuming the NCAA doesn't win its appeal, his dad, UNLV assistant basketball coach Dave Rice, will have some additional bucks to put toward his son's education.

Right now, the little guy is only six months old. So there's no rush to come up with the tuition, even if day care isn't cheap.

"Being in coaching was never about money for me," Rice said. "If it was about money, I would have gone into a different profession.

"But the thing is it was a tremendous struggle at the time. You can't live below the poverty line."

And that's what $16,000, the maximum a limited-earnings coach could make in 1992, amounted to. No one was expecting a silver spoon. But no one expected to endure hardship, either.

So it's difficult to find sympathy for an organization which treats elements of its membership as if they're mere accessories. Truth is, it's nice to see the NCAA go down for the count. It's such a high-and-mighty bunch that it must really believe it's invincible.

It sure seemed like that in 1992 when its smug, high-priced attorneys came into Donald Mosley's downtown Las Vegas courtroom and basically kicked the teeth in of a bunch of kids who wanted nothing more than to represent their university in the national tournament. It was a right they had earned with their 26-2 record. But those Rebels wound up being sanctioned for violations that were none of their doing.

Instead, they left the courthouse with bewildered, angry looks, looks I will never forget. For that 1992 team and everyone else who feels like they've been done wrong by the NCAA, enjoy the streak. It's proof that nothing lasts forever.