Damned Lies

The American humorist, Mark Twain, once wrote that there are three kinds of lies: “lies, damned lies and statistics.”
In March of last year, Duke University basketball coach, Mike Krzyzewski, Was the only Division I men’s’ coach to win 1,000 games. It was expected that Syracuse University basketball coach, Jim Boeheim, who had over 966 wins was expected to be the next Division I men’s’ coach to cross that threshold.
That expectation was dashed on March 15, 2015 when the NCAA stripped Boeheim of 108 victories due to eligibility issues some of his players had during earlier seasons and which the University had disclosed through self-reporting. On December 3, 2015 the NCAA denied Boeheim’s appeal and upheld the sanctions it imposed. Boeheim now ranks sixth in most victories.
This isn’t the first time or the first sport in which the NCAA had sanctioned an athletic program by stripping the coach of victories. The University of Michigan’s basketball program was stripped of 113 victories for violations, Penn State head coach, Joe Paterno was stripped of 112 victories following the conviction of assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky, for committing multiple sex offenses against children in the Penn State locker room.
The use of this kind of sanction is a curious one since it calls into question the historical integrity of the NCAA’s record keeping and raises more questions. If those 108 victories are nullified how is the won-lost record of the defeated team affected? Does that team now get to claim a victory? What about the points scored by the individual players? Are they nullified too?
Even more curious is the NCAA’s determination to uphold the sanction despite having reinstated the 112 victories Paterno’s team won while Sandusky was sexually abusing children. It certainly makes one wonder about the NCAA’s priorities.
I think Twain would characterize this one as a damned lie.