The Breakdown of the NCAA Women's Golf Regional in Baton Rouge.

The story of no leadership, no communication and no golf as six schools and three individuals advance to the NCAA Championship without making one swing.

The Breakdown of the NCAA Women's Golf Regional in Baton Rouge.

Part 3: Jay Bilas provides perspective on the NCAA and the Women's Golf Regional in Baton Rouge.

Here we are, almost exactly a week after Brad Hurlbut, the athletic director at Fairleigh Dickinson and member of the local NCAA Championship committee who walked down the stairs of The University Club in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, put his hand on his chest and stomped on the hearts of the assembled crowd.

In Part 1, we told the story of what happened last week. In Part 2, we covered what happened after they cancelled the championship. And in Part 3, I turn to Jay Bilas, the college basketball analyst who once played and coached at Duke and is still a practicing lawyer in North Carolina. Bilas has spent the better part of his career questioning and assessing the dysfunction and flaws of the NCAA. Bilas is brilliant. I always get smarter when I spend time with him. It’s Bilas, Bones, John Smoltz and Tony Romo who are on my modern Mount Rushmore of sports analysts. Even if I don’t care about the teams or the outcome, I’ll watch for an education on the sport and what I’m seeing on the screen. In this case, I called Bilas to teach us about what we saw on those steps that day, and I wanted to get a better understanding of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

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Part 2: Riggs and Barstool to the Rescue!

Sam Bozoian, also known as Barstool Riggs, is the white knight who socially rode into Baton Rouge on a horse named Twitter, scooped up an assembled group of female golfers and their coaches out of the puddles of tears and broken dreams and is giving them an opportunity to finish their seasons, and in some cases, their college careers, ON the golf course. What a concept! Throughout this podcast, you’ll be hearing more from all of the players and coaches I spoke to last week to report Part 1. Most of my conversations took place on the days right after their regional was cancelled. Their thoughts on what Riggs and Barstool were trying to do to help are used throughout the Riggs interview.

So, it’s Sunday night and I called Riggs as he and his Barstool squad of do-gooders were well on their way to saving the day with a consolation tournament for the teams and individuals who got run over by the NCAA, the very organization that’s supposed to provide them opportunities to be athletes. This is the story behind the LTP Classic, as in: Let Them Play!

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Part 1: The story of no leadership, no communication and no golf as six schools and three individuals advance to the NCAA Championship without making one swing.

So, I can assume you’ve seen it by now; the video of a guy, walking down some stairs, puts his hand on his chest, and like a fire-breathing dragon, torches the hopes and dreams of an innocent gathering of female athletes. Then he turns around and disappears.

The dragon is the NCAA, in this case, in the form of Brad Hurlbut, an athletic director at Fairleigh Dickinson, who, from what I’m told, volunteers for this particular NCAA Committee, which was running a five-day Regional tournament at The University Club, home to the LSU Tigers.

In Part 1 of tracking down the story of how and why the Women’s Golf Regional in Baton Rouge was cancelled and six teams and three individuals will be going to play for a National Championship without ever hitting a shot, I spoke to three coaches, five players and other members of the media. There were emotions, frustrations and a lot of anger over the organization and communication of the people in charge. Some could even call it corruption.

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--Matt Ginella

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