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August 20, 2008

Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap.

University of Pittsburgh head men’s basketball coach Jamie Dixon announced Wednesday that senior forward Mike Cook has been denied an additional year of competition from the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

In order to be considered for a sixth year extension, Cook would have needed to obtain a medical hardship waiver for his participation during the 2007-08 year. NCAA rules state that to be eligible for a medical hardship, a student-athlete must participate in no more than 30 percent of the team’s regular season games in order to guarantee an extra year of athletic eligibility. Even though Pitt played 37 total games including six postseason games, NCAA rules only allow postseason contests to be counted as one game when determining total number of games played. Since Cook played in 34 percent of Pitt’s games, Pitt filed an appeal with the NCAA to grant him an additional season of competition, as well as a sixth year after the hardship waiver was denied by the conference. The appeal was denied by the NCAA Division I Student-Athlete Reinstatement Committee, comprised of faculty members and conference and athletic administrators.

One game. If it had been the 10th game when he got hurt — he’s getting another year. If it had been in game 12, not at all in dispute and there isn’t even an appeal. But right in the middle. Realistically Pitt played 37 games. For counting purposes a conference tournament and the NCAA Tournament get lumped as one single game. The numbers were uncomfortable.

In the end they fell back on, “a rule, is a rule, is a rule.” Why? Damned if I know. I do know whatever the letter of the rule, the spirit just got dumped on like John Edwards in a cancer survivors chatroom.

“Situations like this are hard to take when you know how dedicated Mike’s life has been to playing basketball,” Pitt Basketball Coach Jamie Dixon said. “Over the last three years, Mike has contributed significantly to our success both on and off the floor and has been an important member of our basketball family. When I asked Mike why he wanted to come to Pitt, he simply said he ‘wanted to win’. And he has won, going 40-8 as a starter. He has grown into a leader and has become an outstanding example for the younger players in our program. Mike has earned his degree and will have the opportunity to continue his career professionally when he returns to the floor.”

He did indeed. He left East Carolina where he was the man, but the rest of the team sucked. He had to do everything. He could have padded his stats and likely looked a lot better to NBA scouts. He came to Pitt and became part of a team. A family. He gave up a lot more chances to score. Embraced defense and — I hate this, it’s like a frickin’ eulogy.

I’m just really pissed about this.

Look, by all accounts Cook’s rehab is going a bit slower than expected. This was a brutal injury for a wing player. In all probability it will take him another 6 months — at least — before he can approximate where he was before the injury. He would have been a great presence and leader for the team, but his contributions would not have been as big. This wasn’t about how much better Pitt could have been with him. I think that was overstated.

It’s about the NCAA, once more, talking about how it is about the student-athlete. That it’s about the kids, and then falling back to hidebound rules when convenient and screw the kids.

One thing in the Pitt press release, though, did make me feel good.

Cook graduated from Pitt this spring with a communications degree and has spent the summer rehabbing his injury and preparing to action. The university will provide Cook an opportunity to remain in Pittsburgh as he takes additional classes and continues his rehabilitation.

That’s how you treat the student athletes.

Cook will at least have the time to really rehab. To really get better. All the while getting more education and prepared for the future. Even if in the short term, it’s just about basketball.

In an interview last month, Cook sounded ready to move on.

“As long as I can play basketball, that’s the most important thing to me,” he said. “If it’s not here, then I have to work for it to be somewhere else.”





As I said in an earlier comment, this is a bunch of BS. Falling back on the percentage of games is a copout argument by the NCAA.
Again, how long does it take to divide 11 by 31? Five months, really? If that’s your argument, let it be know so both the player and program can move along and plan appropriately.
Glad to see Pitt is standing behind Cook. Hopefully he takes advantage of the chance for a post-graduate degree. And hopefully he can get some tryouts in Europe or the D-League after rehab.

Comment by Dave in Orlando 08.20.08 @ 6:09 pm

I am very sad for him but at least he knows the decision now. If he can get close to a Master’s Degree while he is rehabbing, then this is great news for him. Heck, Cook deserves more. Still, I cannot help but feel like the NCAA let down another student athlete. Freaking Soup Nazi’s, that’s what they are. I want some breadsticks dammit, and I want Cookie back for another year.

Comment by Panthoor 08.20.08 @ 7:09 pm

Why don’t NCAA Tourney Games and Big East Tourney games count? They’re games, aren’t they? It’s not like we’re talking about exhibition games. In fact, they are the most important games. If a team does better and goes deeper into a tourney, well, so be it, and the games should count. Glad to have had Cookie for as long as we did.

Comment by Crackbaldo 08.20.08 @ 7:44 pm

Weak sauce, NCAA.

Comment by Jeff 08.20.08 @ 8:22 pm

I’ll repeat what I said earlier:
You can’t count postseason games. Then a player’s eligibility would be determined by the performance of his team. This would lead to the best teams getting their players eligible more often. You can’t penalize a kid because his team got knocked out in the first round of the conference tournament.

Comment by Jamie H 08.20.08 @ 8:46 pm

[…] Pitt Blather has a really excellent write-up on it.  Godspeed Mike. […]


[…] Pitt Blather has a really excellent write-up on it.  Godspeed Mike. […]


I was a little shocked when I read in the PG article that this was his THIRD appeal – I didn’t even know the NCAA had already ruled twice that he was denied.

I don’t remember seeing that reported anywhere. Maybe it was on this site and I just missed it.

Comment by MaileMan1996 08.20.08 @ 9:33 pm

Chas, I share your disappointment but you have some errors in your report. First, under no scenario would he have been a shoo-in for a 6th year, that rarely happens for anyone. It only would have gone from a 5% chance to perhaps a 15% chance.

I am no NCAA apologist, they are downright dumb sometimes. But if they don’t go by the letter of the law, then everyone and their mother will be showing up asking for exceptions, then you may as well have no rules at all.

In the end, Mike was not screwed. He already finished his degree, free of charge. He will continue to take classes now, at his expense, but will likely have access to the training staff as he rehabs. He will also be on campus so he can hang with LeVance and give moral support to the team, which is about all his knee would have allowed him to do anyway, albeit now he can’t be on the bench.

Dave in Orlando – you may not have known this, but Pitt’s appeal was rejected twice before this most recent rejection, but it wasn’t publicized, most recently it was rejected in June. Pitt continued to re-write the request and was looking for a loophole that may have required a new interpretation of the existing rule, or a total re-write of the rule. I think given that Mike already had his degree, and already had 5 years in, led the NCAA to deem it wasn’t worth doing, though that last blurb is just my opinion, I am not on the NCAA team that made the decision, but it isn’t a hard conclusion to reach.

Anyways, I appreciate all that Mike did for Pitt, the bball program, and himself. He is a class guy, and like most of Pitt bball grads, I will miss him. Best wishes to Mike in his future pursuits!

Comment by jeff 08.20.08 @ 10:00 pm

Good job NCAA, making sure a true student-athlete doesn’t compete anymore, while ensuring the U$C’s and O$U’s of the world continue to employ professionals (that’s what its called when you get paid to play, right?) with no fear of retribution.

That orginization is disgusting. I second the motion that it should be ruled ineligible.

Comment by Stuart 08.20.08 @ 11:08 pm

Thank you, Mike for representing PITT as a class person!

All the best in whatever you do…here’s hoping in the next 20-30 years, you become the head of the NCAA!

Hail to PITT!
-al-

Comment by Oregon_Panther 08.20.08 @ 11:16 pm

MaileMan – It was not reported publicly that this was his Third appeal. However word got around from those in the know that this was indeed why it was taking so long. It was Pitt’s decision to drag this out, not the NCAA’s.

Comment by Jamie H 08.21.08 @ 8:59 am

Sucks….but you HAD TO KNOW that was going to happen. Did you seriously think NCAA would do something right?

Comment by bmac21 08.21.08 @ 11:20 am

I am very sad to see Mike Cook not get granted his extra year, but he might not have been back until December and by that time you almost already know your rotation. Let’s face it, he is going to still be on campus and he is going to be at those practices. He will almost be an assistant coach helping those younger players come along. This also means that you might not have to red-shirt someone now. As disappointing as this may be, this could also help out the team. GO PANTHERS!!!

Comment by Chris 08.22.08 @ 7:32 am

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