Over the years, Georgia Tech alumnus Steve Zelnak has been exceedingly generous in giving to his alma mater and its athletic department. He and his wife, Judy, gave the lead $4.5 million gift on the basketball practice facility and also were behind the football team meeting room, among other donations.

His next donation might be his most unusual. As Tech’s appeal with the NCAA for penalties stemming from the men’s basketball team’s recruiting violations continues, Zelnak said he’s willing to help fund a lawsuit against the NCAA should Tech’s appeal fail.“If the NCAA were to turn us down, I’d love to see us just flat sue the NCAA,” Zelnak told the AJC.Zelnak made sure to clarify that it was his position, and not that of the athletic department. But Zelnak was critical of the NCAA for what he considered inconsistency in how the association has penalized member schools for infractions.

It echoed the perception held by fans across college athletics that the NCAA lightly penalizes the most prominent athletic programs while treating others more harshly.“If you look at their inconsistency in penalties and what they have done over time and how they do it, I don’t think they have a leg to stand on,” Zelnak said. “Personal view and, again, plenty of people would disagree with me. But, as you can tell, I am not a fan of the NCAA. I like consistency. I like people who do their jobs well. I don’t see that at the NCAA.”Zelnak, it should be noted, is not a wild-eyed booster speaking off the cuff. The past CEO and chairman of the board of Martin Marietta, Zelnak has served on the boards of the Georgia Tech Foundation and the Alexander-Tharpe Fund. Beyond gifts to the athletic department, he endowed the dean’s chair of Tech’s college of business. He said he had “minimal lawsuit activity” in his 28 years running Martin Marietta.

It was clear that he has given plenty of thought to a lawsuit that likely would send shock waves through college athletics.“The NCAA is on shaky ground, and it wouldn’t hurt to have a few schools who have been wronged, at least in their view, file suit, (and) go after it,” he said. “I think the depositions would be really interesting.” Moreover, Zelnak said there are others who would be willing to go along with him in seeding a legal fund.“We can raise seven-figure money in a heartbeat for that,” Zelnak said. “I’ve already worked on that some. And I’m not the only one. There are other guys (within the Tech community).

”Zelnak said that he has told athletic director Todd Stansbury that a legal fund would be available if he chose to pursue that path, but that Stansbury wasn’t entertaining the discussion as the appeal is proceeding.“I think there’s a lot that needs to have a light shined on it,” he said. “Again, personal viewpoint.”In the interview, Zelnak shared other thoughts and observations of the Tech athletic department unrelated to potential legal action.


Link
https://www.ajc.com/sports/college/appea...C2Zv5vwEK/

I've had the pleasure off meeting Mr. Zelnak. He definitely bleeds blue & gold. He's about as laid back as a CEO can be. On the other hand, if Zelnak wants something to happen, Stansbury would be wise to not get in his way.

Louisville fans would love to have had a Zelnak in our camp when dealing with the NCAA ... who, upon administering punishment, ADMITTED they didn't take into account the self imposed penalties (including a post season ban for a team ranked in the top 10 at the time of self imposition) when making their additional penalties known.

Notre Dame had a similar beef with the how the NCAA treated them on self reporting minor transgressions, that the NCAA over-reacted to in penalties.

Add in the North Carolina approach ... of aggressive defense of themselves, and the result of their case with the NCAA ... well, it only added fuel to the rage against the NCAA by Louisville fans here.


You SHOULD do this, if the appeal falls short of expectation. It'd be one more aggrieved party to add to the cause of abandoning the NCAA. AND, if the UNC model holds true, you'll fare better by sticking up for yourself.


I'd also submit this to consider for the ACC ...

IF the power 5 conferences were to take away basketball from the NCAA like they did football, just think of the added revenues THAT would bring to the conference. Given the traditional strength of the conference in hoops, I think you'd see a pretty healthy boost to ACC revenues if that were to ever transpire. And I don't think it's that outlandish a thing to consider, anymore.

(02-26-2020 08:42 PM)GTFletch Wrote:  Over the years, Georgia Tech alumnus Steve Zelnak has been exceedingly generous in giving to his alma mater and its athletic department. He and his wife, Judy, gave the lead $4.5 million gift on the basketball practice facility and also were behind the football team meeting room, among other donations.

His next donation might be his most unusual. As Tech’s appeal with the NCAA for penalties stemming from the men’s basketball team’s recruiting violations continues, Zelnak said he’s willing to help fund a lawsuit against the NCAA should Tech’s appeal fail.“If the NCAA were to turn us down, I’d love to see us just flat sue the NCAA,” Zelnak told the AJC.Zelnak made sure to clarify that it was his position, and not that of the athletic department. But Zelnak was critical of the NCAA for what he considered inconsistency in how the association has penalized member schools for infractions.

It echoed the perception held by fans across college athletics that the NCAA lightly penalizes the most prominent athletic programs while treating others more harshly.“If you look at their inconsistency in penalties and what they have done over time and how they do it, I don’t think they have a leg to stand on,” Zelnak said. “Personal view and, again, plenty of people would disagree with me. But, as you can tell, I am not a fan of the NCAA. I like consistency. I like people who do their jobs well. I don’t see that at the NCAA.”Zelnak, it should be noted, is not a wild-eyed booster speaking off the cuff. The past CEO and chairman of the board of Martin Marietta, Zelnak has served on the boards of the Georgia Tech Foundation and the Alexander-Tharpe Fund. Beyond gifts to the athletic department, he endowed the dean’s chair of Tech’s college of business. He said he had “minimal lawsuit activity” in his 28 years running Martin Marietta.

It was clear that he has given plenty of thought to a lawsuit that likely would send shock waves through college athletics.“The NCAA is on shaky ground, and it wouldn’t hurt to have a few schools who have been wronged, at least in their view, file suit, (and) go after it,” he said. “I think the depositions would be really interesting.” Moreover, Zelnak said there are others who would be willing to go along with him in seeding a legal fund.“We can raise seven-figure money in a heartbeat for that,” Zelnak said. “I’ve already worked on that some. And I’m not the only one. There are other guys (within the Tech community).

”Zelnak said that he has told athletic director Todd Stansbury that a legal fund would be available if he chose to pursue that path, but that Stansbury wasn’t entertaining the discussion as the appeal is proceeding.“I think there’s a lot that needs to have a light shined on it,” he said. “Again, personal viewpoint.”In the interview, Zelnak shared other thoughts and observations of the Tech athletic department unrelated to potential legal action.


Link
https://www.ajc.com/sports/college/appea...C2Zv5vwEK/

He should call Missouri, they are really smarting right now from the head scratcher of a ruling for their self reporting a rather minor incident.

BTW: This would make a really fine basis for another lawsuit along he lines of Oklahoma/UGa versus the NCAA which freed football media revenue to go directly to the conferences as opposed to the NCAA.

By napkin math it appears that the conferences should be able to disburse around15 million to the participating schools per year for Tourney revenue instead of the 2.5 million per year over 6 years in tourney creds. Right now the NCAA pockets essentially 5 years worth of revenue every six for the purposes of generating interest on the principal before paying out the units.

(02-26-2020 08:42 PM)GTFletch Wrote:  Over the years, Georgia Tech alumnus Steve Zelnak has been exceedingly generous in giving to his alma mater and its athletic department. He and his wife, Judy, gave the lead $4.5 million gift on the basketball practice facility and also were behind the football team meeting room, among other donations.

His next donation might be his most unusual. As Tech’s appeal with the NCAA for penalties stemming from the men’s basketball team’s recruiting violations continues, Zelnak said he’s willing to help fund a lawsuit against the NCAA should Tech’s appeal fail.“If the NCAA were to turn us down, I’d love to see us just flat sue the NCAA,” Zelnak told the AJC.Zelnak made sure to clarify that it was his position, and not that of the athletic department. But Zelnak was critical of the NCAA for what he considered inconsistency in how the association has penalized member schools for infractions.

It echoed the perception held by fans across college athletics that the NCAA lightly penalizes the most prominent athletic programs while treating others more harshly.“If you look at their inconsistency in penalties and what they have done over time and how they do it, I don’t think they have a leg to stand on,” Zelnak said. “Personal view and, again, plenty of people would disagree with me. But, as you can tell, I am not a fan of the NCAA. I like consistency. I like people who do their jobs well. I don’t see that at the NCAA.”Zelnak, it should be noted, is not a wild-eyed booster speaking off the cuff. The past CEO and chairman of the board of Martin Marietta, Zelnak has served on the boards of the Georgia Tech Foundation and the Alexander-Tharpe Fund. Beyond gifts to the athletic department, he endowed the dean’s chair of Tech’s college of business. He said he had “minimal lawsuit activity” in his 28 years running Martin Marietta.

It was clear that he has given plenty of thought to a lawsuit that likely would send shock waves through college athletics.“The NCAA is on shaky ground, and it wouldn’t hurt to have a few schools who have been wronged, at least in their view, file suit, (and) go after it,” he said. “I think the depositions would be really interesting.” Moreover, Zelnak said there are others who would be willing to go along with him in seeding a legal fund.“We can raise seven-figure money in a heartbeat for that,” Zelnak said. “I’ve already worked on that some. And I’m not the only one. There are other guys (within the Tech community).

”Zelnak said that he has told athletic director Todd Stansbury that a legal fund would be available if he chose to pursue that path, but that Stansbury wasn’t entertaining the discussion as the appeal is proceeding.“I think there’s a lot that needs to have a light shined on it,” he said. “Again, personal viewpoint.”In the interview, Zelnak shared other thoughts and observations of the Tech athletic department unrelated to potential legal action.


Link
https://www.ajc.com/sports/college/appea...C2Zv5vwEK/

Being mad and having a lot of money to spend on lawyers doesn’t mean you have a case.

Man it's nice to have the GTAA run properly at the top again.

Sent from my ZTE A2017U using CSNbbs mobile app

"It echoed the perception held by fans across college athletics that the NCAA lightly penalizes the most prominent athletic programs while treating others more harshly"

Not a perception. It is @#@$#@ reality.

Laugh my ass off when say Pitt gets smacked, but Bama and UGA aren't paying off players? Get the @#$@# out of here. NCAA isn't fooling anybody.

You should hire a PI to look into what ever kickbacks you can find within the NCAA. Add those to the litigation.

I think once they realized a lawsuit may put CJP on the stand they quickly dropped the idea and accepted the ban this year.

NCAA certifies GT has served its postseason ban (hahhahahhahahah FU NCAA)

https://www.ajc.com/sports/college/ncaa-...7N7WbaTBO/

Yup...good for GTech

“But wait! There’s more. If you act now you will receive your 2009 ACC championship football trophy for absolutely free, but you must hurry, time is running out fast.”