The University of Miami football team is no stranger to controversy as of late and as a Hurricanes fan I agree that there needs to be something done to limit the distractions. However, new regulations just released by the University regarding contact between agents and student athletes may be a step that is taken in vain and may just end up blowing up in the University's face.
Compliments of the University
According to a Forbes article, the new policy is known as the "Covered Individual" policy and applies to anyone who is an agent or directly related to an agent. This includes runners, sports marketing reps, financial planners, PR firms and more. All are prohibited from contact with student athletes.
While it might be believed that this rule is the result of an ongoing investigation that the NCAA is conducting on the Hurricanes, the reality is that the University put the policy in place and not the NCAA. In fact, according to the article, it was the University officials who saw to it that every registered agent got these new guidelines via e-mail.
The Trouble
Even though these regulations are meant to help the Hurricanes players stay focused it might end up doing more harm than good. Miami based sports agent Drew Rosenhaus is even cited in the article saying how strict the new University of Miami policy is. While he acknowledges that he and the other reputable sports agents will respect the University's wishes, he cautions that other agents with less morals and ethics will likely attempt to get around the rules. This means that the University of Miami football players will have some of the more unsavory individuals around them when the ones who might actually have their best interest at heart stay away as instructed.
Penalties No Joke
The University of Miami is not fooling around with these rules. Any player caught violating the rules will face suspension and/or release from the team. As a Hurricanes football fan I would hate to see one of the best players on the team get suspended or dropped just because they made a simple mistake. In the end, these are very young men and young men often make questionable choices in life.
Uncharted Waters
With all the negative attention that the University of Miami has garnered over the past year or so I'm happy to see they are taking action and attempting to fix many of the problems that led to such a mess. However, with these new rules and regulations the University is entering uncharted waters and is really expecting a lot of their student athletes. Hopefully it will all be for the better, but with such strict rules in place it might be the student athletes, and the fans by extension, who end up suffering should things not go as the University plans.
Jimmy Collins has been a loyal fan of "The U" since he was a child attending games at the original Orange Bowl. Still a resident of South Florida, he attends numerous Miami Hurricanes games each season and enjoys writing about NCAA Football and the Miami Hurricanes in particular.
More from this contributor:
Miami Hurricanes Football Players Are like Their Mascot, the Ibis: A Fan's Perspective
Top Five Reasons to Watch Miami Hurricanes Football in 2012
Pitt and Syracuse Joining ACC in 2013 Great for Hurricanes Football: A Fan's Opinion
