RALEIGH, N.C. _ When N.C. State's infractions case was officially accepted by the NCAA's new independent resolution process on Monday, it moved its simmering dispute with the NCAA _ one that broke into open hostility and allegations of acting in bad faith in April _ into a netherworld of uncertainty and secrecy.
The Wolfpack's fate in the Dennis Smith Jr. case now rests in the hands of a process so new even the people most closely associated with it aren't quite sure what exactly to expect.
Naima Stevenson Starks moved over from the NCAA's legal department to act as the liaison between the NCAA and the new Independent Accountability Resolution Process, or IARP, and even after spending 14 years at the NCAA and being as familiar with the rules and regulations surrounding the new process as anyone alive, she's curious to see what will actually happen.
"A lot of the meat is already on the bone, but there will certainly be nuances as to how certain issues are approached as they arise, as long as they're done within the confines of the structure put in place," Stevenson Starks said in a telephone interview Friday. "I'm fascinated, even being on this side, how it all will play out."
There's so much about the independent process that's different from the usual peer-review process, but even things that are generally the same are kept quiet.
