Gonzalez sisters story highlights hypocrisy and ridiculousness of NCAA rules

Dakota and Dylan Gonzalez have left the UNLV women’s basketball team despite having a year of eligibility remaining, citing NCAA rules that don’t allow them to play for the Rebels while pursuing their budding careers in music. This story highlights a disparity between the NCAA’s words and actions.

The NCAA touts that most of the athletes at its member institutions will “go pro in something other than sports.” That’s an accurate statement, as most former NCAA athletes — even those who played baseball, basketball, football, hockey and soccer — never begin careers as professional athletes. As demonstrated by a recent interview with Dakota and Dylan Gonzalez, it seems NCAA rules work to ensure “going pro in something other than sports” doesn’t happen until after the athlete’s playing days are over, however.

Rodger Bohn of Slam magazine spoke with the Gonzalez sisters about their decision to leave the UNLV Rebels. In the course of the interview, the sisters mentioned several points that seem to contradict the NCAA’s message.

Dylan says NCAA restrictions limiting her sister and her to performing national anthems and making music in their home were “a good 90-95 percent” of the reason why the twins decided to leave the Rebels. She also stated the NCAA sent multiple emails stating, “if you’re going to do this, then this is going to happen.”

Both Gonzalez sisters also talked about the demands of being an athlete at an NCAA-member institution being a hindrance to their musical careers. Both sisters called it a job, and Dylan commented, “if you’re trying to build a foundation for yourself in another avenue, it’s nearly impossible because you don’t have the time to do it, nor are you allowed to do it.”

That’s a stark contrast with the picture the NCAA tries to paint.

Now the twins have graduated and decided to end their collegiate basketball careers, they are focused on music and have dropped their first EP, Take 1. From one point of view, the Gonzalez sisters could be the poster children for the NCAA’s message. They both graduated and are now using their talents to do what they love. However, the story isn’t quite as flattering as the NCAA might try to make it seem.

In order for the Gonzalez sisters to put in the effort necessary to make their EP, should the Rebels have had to lose their top scorer for the past two seasons and another key player? Why does the NCAA have restrictions on how athletes can use the little time they have available outside of their sport and studies?

Both of the twins stated they would have returned to UNLV for their final years of eligibility if not for how the NCAA restrictions would have limited their music careers. Doing so even without those restrictions would have been a tremendously demanding situation, but it’s a testament to the love that the Gonzalez sisters have for basketball. Both women are interested in playing professionally overseas. From the Gonzalez’s point of view, the only reason that they won’t be lacing them up for the Rebels in 2017-18 is because of the NCAA’s rules putting the kibosh on the robust pursuit of their musical careers.

The probable reason that those rules exist is because allowing athletes to freely participate in activities that could reap financial rewards could threaten the NCAA’s sacred cow of “amateurism.” That puts athletes at a disadvantage compared to the general student body they attend classes with, just like how NCAA athletes are the only adults in the United States who aren’t allowed to profit off their own names and likenesses.

If a student on an academic scholarship signs a deal with a label, records and releases an EP, not only is her/his status as a student and/or scholarship in zero danger, but the school would probably advertise that fact in its marketing. Why should the fact that the Gonzalez sisters played basketball on their school’s team, and therefore provided UNLV with a valuable service, change the rules on the exact same activity so drastically for them?

There’s another point of NCAA spin versus actual fact that the Gonzalez sisters point out in the interview. Dylan stated that, “the majority of people [who play sports] don’t actually end up with their degrees.” This is in stark contrast to the NCAA’s claims that “82 percent of Division I freshmen scholarship student-athletes who entered college in 2004 earned a degree.” The answer lies somewhere in the middle, and is most accurately understood when understanding how the NCAA cooks the books.

The NCAA aggregates all athletes together, and in its latest publishing, included Ivy League athletes. In essence, the NCAA uses the high graduation rates of students who play golf and tennis to counter the lower rates of graduation among football and men’s basketball players. When segregated out by sport, the rates of graduation for football and men’s basketball players are lower than the rates of males in the general student population. Additionally, counting Ivy League athletes as “freshmen scholarship student-athletes” is deceptive because Ivy League schools don’t award athletic scholarships.

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The NCAA presents itself as a student advocacy organization whose interest is in helping athletes make the most of their time in college so they can be successful after school. It may be an unintended consequence, but its rules protecting its business interests have actually put the athletes at a disadvantage. The story of the Gonzalez sisters is a great example of the NCAA’s hypocrisy and the ridiculousness of some of its regulations.