Football: Agreement wasn’t worth the paper it was written on

Download the documents that contradict UL’s Bowl snub on the right under file downloads

Bob Heist • bheist@theadvertiser.com • December 9, 2008

Four college football teams across the country – UL, Arkansas State, Bowling Green and San Jose State – sit at home today with 6-6 records preparing for final exams and a holiday season with far less travel than was hoped.

Two – the Cajuns and ASU – aren’t quite sure why, though. And that’s for good reason: It was in writing.

A production like none other in the eight years of Sun Belt Media Days played out in July to announce an agreement like none other in league history. And SBC commissioner Wright Waters put on a pretty stirring dog-and-pony show after signing deals with the Independence, PapaJohns.com and St. Petersburg bowls that called for bowl-eligible Sun Belt teams to be the first available to those games should the contracted conferences not be able to fulfill their requirements.

Guess what? It happened – in all three bowls.

And that agreement? It wasn’t worth the paper it was written on.

"When we sat down at Media Days, we were all under the impression that was given to us that you had to win six (games)," UL coach Rickey Bustle said Monday. "If (the contracted conferences) didn’t fill their quotas in those bowls games, we would be next. Obviously that was the confusion. I’ve talked to several coaches since (Sunday) and everybody thought the same thing."

"Absolutely under the same impression," Arkansas State coach Steve Roberts said. "We were read an agreement that our 6-6 will trump other 6-6 teams. I understand that teams better than that got first choice above us, but we also had the understanding that we were first choice in the situation we’re talking about, too."

Well, someone apparently didn’t read the fine print. And, apparently, no one has any interest in the Sun Belt Conference outside the New Orleans Bowl, which is the only bowl contractually obligated to take the champion.

That made for an interesting Monday. Folks at UL shook their heads in disbelief and, in particular, execs at the Independence Bowl wondered out loud, ‘What’s got their spices all shook up in Lafayette?’"

The short answer is this:

The term "bowl eligible" doesn’t mean squat without seven wins. Which is interesting, because the card the Sun Belt has played all season from its summer agreement – found on page 1 of every weekly conference notes package – reads, "The Sun Belt Conference has signed agreements with the St. Petersburg Bowl, Papajohns.com Bowl and the Independence Bowl … Bowl-eligible teams from the Sun Belt Conference will be the first available teams in these bowls should the contracted parties not be able to fulfill their requirements."

It was in writing. Six wins was the key.

"The contingency agreements only cover seven-win teams," Independence Bowl chairman Keith Bergeron told the Shreveport Times. "We had the discussion with the (Sun Belt) commissioner and he agreed. There are other bowls out there that have contingencies. I think the (NCAA) manual is pretty clear.”

Sorry, Keith. "Clear" must be a pretty relative term along the banks of the Red River. Down here on the bayou, some people think they’re stepping in something that doesn’t smell much like boudin.

Case in point, from the 2008-09 NCAA Manual, under the Postseason Bowl Licensing section:

30.9.2 Contest Status. (FBS) A contest shall be licensed only if it serves the purpose of providing a national contest between deserving winning teams. A "deserving winning team" shall be defined as one that has won a minimum of six games against football bowl subdivision opponents and that has more wins than losses. …

Which is followed by:

30.9.2.1 Exception – 12 Game Season. (FBS) An institution with a record of six wins and six losses may be selected for participation in a bowl game under the following circumstances:

(a) The institution or its conference has a primary contractual affiliation, which existed prior to the first contest of the applicable season, with the sponsoring bowl organization. In the case of a conference contractual affiliation, all conference teams with winning records must be placed in one of the contracted bowl games before any institution with a record of six wins and six losses may be placed in a contracted bowl game. There shall be no contingency agreements with other sponsoring bowl organizations intended to enable an institution with a record of six wins and six losses to become eligible for those contests; or

(b) All contractual affiliations per Bylaw 30.9.2.1-(a) have been fulfilled and all institutions with winning records have received bowl invitations (either through a contractual affiliation or as an at-large selection).

Nothing seems to keep bowls from sidestepping the Cajuns until the final segment of the bylaw, because all articles before that had been "fulfilled" and institutions with "winning records" had received bowl invitations.

"We probably didn’t read the fine print in that agreement with those other conferences because, evidently, it was a seven-game win deal," Bustle said.

But did it really have to be? Apparently.

Of those three bowls that the Sun Belt was supposed to serve as the mulligan for open slots left by non-qualifying SEC, Big East and Big 12 teams, the Independence Bowl selected Northern Illinois (6-6), the Papajohns.com Bowl liked N.C. State (6-6) and St. Petersburg grabbed Memphis (6-6).

"We played this past year under a misconception," Roberts said.

But it is interesting to look back on the summer and the original contingency bowl tie-in agreement released by the Sun Belt in July. (Several documents with all the information are attached to this story at theadvertiser.com.)

In fact, Bergeron contradicts himself. Today he says the I-Bowl doesn’t want a Sun Belt team. But in July, as part of the agreement statement:

"We feel good about partnering with the Sun Belt Conference as a contingency partner for the 2008 and 2009 games. Our primary agreements with both the Big 12 and SEC run through the 2009 game and year-in and year-out provide us with a great matchup.

"Now with 34 bowl games and nearly all conferences going anywhere from four to nine deep with bowl partners we felt it was necessary and good business to lock in a contingency plan in the unlikely event that we don’t host a team from either the Big 12 or SEC. The Sun Belt and its member institutions offer a natural regional tie with Shreveport being within driving distance for fans of any Sun Belt school."

Hmm.

"I can’t speak to their logic and rationale," Roberts said of the bowls that found a way out of the agreement with the Sun Belt. "But I will say it was a tough thing to explain to a team when you don’t understand it yourself. But it is what it is – and isn’t good."

"Never seen the agreement, so I don’t know what it says," UL director of athletics David Walker said. "We were depending on the conference with that agreement and their legal counsel to look at and understand that agreement. If there’s an error in that, the error is on all of us for not asking the appropriate questions. But I for one did not question 6-6 or 7-5 because the words used were ‘bowl eligible.’"

And the Sun Belt had that in writing – as part of an agreement that wasn’t worth the paper it was written on.

Amazing.

Bob Heist is sports editor for The Daily Advertiser. Reach him at (337) 289-6402 or bheist@theadvertiser.com.