Al Myatt: Stance on medical hardship leaves questions

Don't miss Al Myatt's profile of new ECU Chancellor Steven Ballard in the 2004 Bonesville Magazine.

View from the East
Friday, October 15, 2004

By Al Myatt

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• PAT DYE: Short on Tenure, Long on Impact

• INSIDE PIRATE FOOTBALL
• Recruit Profiles
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• Tracking the Classes
• Florida Pipeline
• NCHSAA & ECU: Smooth Sailing Again

• HIGH HOPES FOR HOOPS

• STEVE BALLARD: New Leader Takes Charge

• SCOTT COWEN: Busting Down the Door

• KEITH LECLAIR on ECU's Field of Dreams

• BETH GRANT: Actress Still a Pirate

Despite assurances from Coach John Thompson that freshman quarterback Patrick Pinkney will not lose a season of eligibility for playing in a junior varsity game on Tuesday, there appears to be doubt about the situation when circumstances for a medical hardship as stated in NCAA regulations are evaluated.

In the case of East Carolina tight end Shawn Levesque, there is no question about approval for an extra year of competition based on medical hardship status. Levesque sustained a knee injury in the second game this season that knocked him out of action for the rest of the year. Levesque is duly entitled to get a season of eligibility back as a result.

There appears to be a lot more gray area, even red flags, regarding Pinkney's case.

The timing of an injury is one crucial factor in our layman's review of the terms for a medical hardship classification. The most lenient interpretation of the rule turned up by Bonesville.net's research on NCAA conditions for a medical hardship states that an injury may precede an athlete's arrival on campus as long as it occurs subsequent to the start of classes in the student-athlete's senior year in high school.

One problem with Pinkney's situation would appear to be that his injury occurred prior to his senior season at Pine Forest High School. That's according to information obtained by our Bonesville.net colleague, Sammy Batten, who covers college football for The Fayetteville Observer. The shoulder injury for which Pinkney is scheduled to undergo corrective surgery today happened when Pinkney was a junior at the Fayetteville school, according to Batten's research.

Thompson has said that Pinkney was cleared for a "medical redshirt" prior to this week's junior varsity game with Hargrave Military Academy, a 19-7 win for the Pirates in which Pinkney completed 10 of 22 passes for 127 yards and two touchdowns.

But to qualify for medical hardship waiver, according to the Rutgers compliance office's official web page, "the injury or illness must result in incapacity to compete for the remainder of that playing season."

The injury in question obviously did not keep Pinkney from performing with a degree of effectiveness in the junior varsity contest and one would assume he could continue playing on the same level. That would appear to contradict the NCAA's terms for medical hardship.

I'm missing something if a determination was made by ECU that Pinkney was eligible for a medical hardship before he played in a game — and then he went out and played. That doesn't seem to be the intent of the medical hardship provisions.

The surgery scheduled for today may indeed keep Pinkney from competing for the remainder of the season but that doesn't seem to jive with the literal terms of the medical hardship waiver.

Thompson has insisted that Pinkney is qualified for medical hardship status that will give him four more years of eligibility. Hopefully, that is the case.

But is the Pirates coach saying that the NCAA approved Pinkney's medical hardship status before he played in a game? I'm just having trouble grasping that.

From my viewpoint, there appear to be enough questions about Pinkney's situation to warrant a full statement of explanation from the university and the NCAA about the young man's status in regard to medical hardship.

Pinkney, the son of Reggie Pinkney, who played defensive back at ECU in the mid-1970s, is in compliance with medical hardship stipulations regarding the limited amount of time he has played — less than 20 percent of ECU's 2004 season schedule. The playing time in question for a medical hardship must have taken place in the first half of the season. Pinkney is OK there as well.

The Pirates need to make sure that all the bases have been touched here. Penalties down the road for using an ineligible player, even if done unintentionally, could be severely detrimental to the program.