To Know Rules Is Not to Love Them : Nance, a Former NCAA Investigator, Sees Inequity in NCAA Regulations

There is no shortage of coaches who criticize National Collegiate Athletic Assn. rules, but Coach Lynn Nance of St. Mary’s has a unique perspective.

He used to work as an investigator for the NCAA 1 year.

During a hiatus from coaching in the early 1970s, Nance was one of a staff of four investigators that included David Berst, now the NCAA’s director of enforcement with a staff of nearly 20.

In his third season at the Moraga, Calif., school, Nance is critical of the rules he once helped enforce.

“The rules are preposterous,” he said. “They are set up for middle-class WASPs. They don’t take into consideration that some players’ parents don’t have money. They don’t take into consideration that some travel a long way to school, that some climates are warm and some are cold. . . . The unfortunate thing is that the NCAA rules are a little like the IRS: The more rules you make, the more the cheaters cheat.”

Nance objects to rules such as those that prohibit a coach from buying meals for a player or helping a player with travel expenses in a family emergency.

He also objects to the NCAA’s investigative procedures and powers, an issue that concerned him when he was working as an investigator--and an issue that was considered by the U.S. Supreme Court when it ruled that because the NCAA is a private group, it did not have to adhere to constitutional guidelines when it ordered Nevada Las Vegas to suspend Coach Jerry Tarkanian.

“I said, ‘People have legal rights,’ ” Nance said. “The things we were doing were not going to wash in court.

But then, as now, the NCAA’s power to investigate and punish as it chooses has been upheld. “In the long run, (the NCAA) has been proven right,” Nance said. “To me, in a free country (you should not have) to give up your rights to participate. (The NCAA) really does have a monopoly.”

His time with the NCAA was not Nance’s only work experience outside of coaching. Before going to the NCAA, he completed a 3-year stint with the FBI, during which his duties ranged, he said, “from more exotic cases, like bank robberies and fugitives, to violation of the Smokey (the) Bear emblem.”

Nance said the FBI training taught him organization and attention to detail.

“Tex Winter (former coach at Marquette, Kansas State, Northwestern and other schools) always told me everything turns on a trifle,” Nance said. “It’s the little things that beat you. The bureau preached the same thing.”

Nance moved to the NCAA with the idea that he could combine his investigative skills with sports, but being involved in sports again only served to reinforce his desire to coach.

“I was in conflict,” Nance said. “Anybody that had coached who went into that situation would be. But please understand I was in conflict with the rules, not with the people enforcing them. I think highly of the people I worked with.”

His expert knowledge of the rules has helped him in coaching, Nance said, enabling him to avoid breaking rules--and to do things legally that other coaches might not realize can be done.

But when a school he won’t name sought to hire him in the belief that his knowledge could help the program cheat without being caught, Nance was deeply affronted.

With his knowledge of NCAA enforcement, Nance holds the conviction that there is a need for change.

“It’s getting a little bit sad,” Nance said. “I don’t pretend to have all the answers. But I’m beginning to get frustrated with running an honest program.”

Besides having one of the most intriguing resumes among college coaches, Nance also has quite a team.

His Gaels are 16-2.

The Gaels’ losses were by 1 point to Stanford and by 3 points to USF. All but 3 of their victories have been by 20 points or more.

They rank in the top five among Division I teams in five categories: scoring defense, 55.5 points allowed; scoring margin, +23.6; won-lost percentage, 94.1%; field goal percentage, 53.7%, and defensive field goal percentage, 38.6%.