One of the great stories of the 2014 college football season was Baylor backup running back Silas Nacita. After spending over a year in homelessness, a close friend helped him get an apartment. Nacita rushed for three touchdowns last year, and was named to the academic All-Big 12 team. Well, that act of kindness may have cost Nacita his college football career. On Tuesday, Nacita learned that by accepting that apartment, he had potentially jeopardized his eligibility since it may have been an “extra benefit” under NCAA rules.
The Bears began spring practice on Tuesday afternoon, but Nacita wasn’t on hand. Later that day, Baylor released a statement saying that Nacita was not going to be part of the team for the time being due to “rules violations that impact his eligibility.” The next morning, Nacita tweeted an explanation.
All I wanted to do was go to school and play the game I loved. pic.twitter.com/zYQ0HTaz05
? Silas Nacita (@Salsa_Nacho) February 25, 2015
Nacita had transferred from Cornell in 2013, but wasn’t able to enroll. He was also unable to find anywhere to stay in Waco. He spent the next year sleeping on the floor at friends’ apartments while taking community college courses online at a library. When a friend of Nacita’s in his hometown of Bakersfield got wind of the situation, he helped put Nacita up in an apartment and helped with some of his living expenses. Earlier this week, Nacita learned that the apartment and the living expenses amounted to “impermissible benefits” under NCAA rules–and by accepting them, he may no longer be eligible. Nacita clarified the situation in a tweet earlier this morning.
The bottom line is that I broke the rules. I should’ve never accepted the help and I am deeply sorry for my actions pic.twitter.com/Ekw0e4uSbQ ? Silas Nacita (@Salsa_Nacho) February 26, 2015
He revealed that Baylor compliance officials had warned him about the apartment arrangement. When they found out Nacita had gotten the apartment, they told Nacita, head coach Art Briles, and athletic director Ian McCaw that Nacita had to sit out until they could find a resolution. Nacita accepted responsibility for the situation, saying, “The bottom line is that I broke the rules.” It was obvious that Nacita was told he had to make this statement in order to have any chance of playing this fall. Briles subsequently said that he would welcome Nacita back to the team if some kind of “remedy” can be found to restore his eligibility.
Being a longtime college football and basketball fan, I’m all too familiar with NCAA rules on what benefits players can accept. My Tar Heels, for instance, are still reeling because several players were dumb enough to take money and other gifts from agents during the 2007-08 offseason. Due to those gifts, Carolina was forced to vacate all of its wins from 2008 and 2009. Nacita’s situation is different. Unless I’m very wrong, Nacita’s friend didn’t put up the money for the apartment and living expenses as an inducement to keep Nacita on the football field. He did it for humanitarian reasons.
The NCAA seems to have ignored a pretty loud warning that its rules on extra benefits need fixing. Back in 2004, Ohio State fired head basketball coach Jim O’Brien after he admitted to loaning one-time recruit Aleksandar Radojevic $6,700. However, O’Brien knew Radojevic had played professionally in Croatia, and therefore could never suit up for the Buckeyes. Radojevic’s father was on his deathbed, and his family didn’t have nearly enough money to pay for medicine or a funeral. O’Brien sued for wrongful termination, and was awarded $2.4 million in damages. The NCAA had originally slapped O’Brien with a five-year show-cause order for numerous recruiting violations, but was forced to reduce the penalty to two years after O’Brien won his wrongful termination case.
If you have to choose between being able to have a place to live–and to do so decently–and being able to play collegiately, something is wrong with the system. If this isn’t a sign that the NCAA needs to tweak the rules, I don’t know what is.
