By Bob Eschliman
Editor
Penalties handed down by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, or by its affiliated conferences, are rarely the subject of legislative scrutiny, but a bill offered in the Iowa House of Representatives may change that.
House File 220, authored last week by state Rep. Megan Jones (R-Sioux Rapids) would requires all NCAA-affiliated colleges and universities – including Drake University and the three Regents institutions – to submit documentation to the Iowa Finance Authority of any monetary penalties that are a direct result of the actions of a university employee. The bill would then require the IFA to assess a civil penalty upon the employee equal to the monetary penalty imposed upon the institution.
Those monies would be refunded back to the institutions by IFA. The bill includes a process to contest civil penalties, including judicial review.
NCAA regulations are notoriously onerous, and even the “cleanest” programs find themselves reporting “minor violations” to the sanctioning body. A report last year indicated Iowa’s three public universities were faring better than their rivals in the Big Ten, Big 12, and Missouri Valley conferences.
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