Forget for a second about the fact that Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel may (or may not) have sold his signature for cash, and focus in on what the NCAA’s been doing outside of that particular  situation.  The governing body for college athletics has made some controversial decisions about the game of football as of late that makes them look less than reputable.

The NCAA recently made a ruling that former Marine and current Middle Tennessee State freshman Steven Rhodes was ineligible to play college football this year due to the fact that he played intramural or recreational football on a military base. Then just a short time ago, the NCAA ruled that he was eligible to play, due to pressure from the public through social media.

Is that all it takes to reverse an NCAA decision? It shows how uncommitted and easily manipulated the NCAA and its President Mark Emmert are when it comes to making rulings like the Rhodes case. If they want to be taken seriously as an organization, they have to be able to make firm decisions in the face of controversy and be non-wavering in their rulings. And that is why college sports needs new governing bodies – the NCAA has shown that they are almost incompetent in every facet of their business.

Back in early August, the NCAA was shown to be even more incompetent by NCAA-basher Jay Bilas. Bilas found that if an athlete’s name was entered into the search box of the NCAA online shop, the athlete’s uniform would come up for purchase right away. However, that would violate the current lawsuit the NCAA is involved in, because the NCAA claims that no money is made off the likeness of student athletes. So in response, the foolish NCAA simply removed the search function from their website in order to attempt to sweep the problem under the rug as they always do.

Personally, I believe that all athletes should be able to market themselves in any way they see fit. A change such as this would show that the NCAA can see what needs to be changed and correct themselves without having people on social media sites do it for them. However, it is more likely that the NCAA will keep clutching onto its archaic rulebook which only changes when it further benefits the NCAA. This organization needs to go the way of the BCS and cease to exist.