White Paper Project
Purpose Statement

First, respond to the following questions in a paragraph each. Then, having outlined your responses, draft a succinct, clear purpose statement that sums up your intent in three or four sentences (beyond, of course, fulfilling a course requirement).

1.) Audience - The project should be intended for decision makers who could (at least theoretically) make important decisions with regards to your topic or issue, effecting positive change. A major step in the process is to figure out what people, groups, or organizations might have decision-making capacity to effect change, and tailoring your document to their interests. What specific person or group would be most interested in hearing your group present your ideas?

We identified university presidents and university athletic directors as the people most interested in solutions to the problem of what to do with NCAA coaches who break the rules. These individuals are held responsible for the repercussions of their coach's behavior. They also have the authority to implement any of the solutions our white paper may present including, but not limited to hiring, terminating, and disciplining coaches. It is our hope that university administrators around the country will begin to discourage unethical behavior from the coaches they hire thus improving the reputation of college sports and continuing the great traditions of the NCAA.

2.) Exigency - One of the first steps is to prove to these decision-makers that there is a significant problem to be addressed. Can you express succinctly or quantify why your audience of decision-makers should be interested? (Remember: because you are interested doesn't mean they would be!!) What is it about this issue or problem that makes it worth researching and presenting?

It would be hard to express why university presidents and university athletic directors would not be interested in the issue of how to effectively and efficiently discontinue intolerable behavior of NCAA coaches who disregard NCAA rules and regulations. Any worthy president or athletic director would be adamant in representing his/her university in a reputable manner and dealing with those that stray from this vision in an appropriate fashion. By having an established punishment system in practice, this eliminates room for biased decisions and judgment as well as communicating to the university’s coaches that there is zero tolerance and any potential incompatibility with the NCAA’s governing rules will not be taken lightly. We believe our proposed solutions will not only help resolve any established issues, but will also help prevent others from taking place. This helps the university president and athletic director by evading unwanted public attention, saving money in potential law suits, as well as avoiding punishments such as removing scholarships from sports programs or putting the university’s athletic department under probation. These would occur if the NCAA discovered an infraction that the university had not been handling appropriately. With our proposed solutions in practice, the president and athletic director would not have to face these concerns.

3.) Feasibility - Solutions proposed to your audience should be definable and feasible. "Reform the U.S. economy" is far too broad a solution. You will need to be explicit and specific about the recommendations you make; they should be direct and actionable, and tailored to a specific audience. Can your solutions be implemented by some person or group? How so? Be specific.

The solution that we have chosen to use in this white paper is “If at any time during the season, a coach is under investigation by the NCAA they must be put on a mandatory suspension by the school until the investigation is finalized and the coach is proven innocent. Also, if a coach is found guilty by the NCAA the university that the coach is currently employed by must fire the coach. This employment termination would include no severance package due to the fact that the coach broke one or more NCAA regulations.” We feel that our solution is a very good option for the University presidents and university athletic directors that would be implementing it for two reasons. One the solution is very specific and it does not leave anything open to interpretation. The second solution protects the University from any legal recourse because of the fact that it would be an NCAA mandated regulation.

4.) Given the above, the purpose of our document is:

The purpose of our document is to provide a clear response and reaction that could be implemented by the any university that is experiencing a possible NCAA violation in regards to their coach's recruiting practices. Our target audience is university presidents and athletic directors. We hope to present an effective solution to the recruiting problems currently taking place in several university settings.