NCAA strikes again

[crappieseeker]

Looks like Alabama is being punished for rules violations. They have to forfeit wins and are also being put on 3 years probation. I am somewhat okay with the forfeiting the wins, if the athletes knew they were violating the rules. The probation part is what I have an issue with. The university self reported and corrected the issue at hand. So how do you draw the line on this. You get punished for doing wrong, but you also get punished for doing right. I dont want to say they should be rewarded for following the rules, because thats what they are suppose to do, but when you dont know something is going on and then you report it and take the steps to corrrect it, you still get punished more than what in my opinion the violation should call for. Some will say that is just do punishement. Lets look at it this way, i know alot of you have heard this, something along the lines of, " I would not have punished you for doing what you did, but then you hid it and lied about it, now you get it twice as bad. If you would have just come clean with me and told me we could have worked it out." Alabama came clean and self reported the violations and fixed the problem, then they still get double punishment. the sad part is, USC and other programs have committed worse violations and try and hide it and they get no punishment, or havent yet and it doesnt look like they are going to. When it comes to probation, does that mean they cant go to a bowl game for 3 years or does it just mean they have to keep their act clean to keep from getting the death penalty. Which in all reality they could have gotten this time.

[sailfish1]

the bad part i see is that the coaches can go elsewhere and coach again without penalties following them , looks like they should be penalized also

[DrJohn]

10''...30 limit...should have followed it!!!!! Sorry, I know that's a low blow, but I'm a
Vol...

[DrJohn]

It does "suck" as I always pull for 'bama except for the 3rd week in October....

[crappieseeker]

sailfish1, that is so true, coaches can run to another school. Kentucky's basketball coach is a prime example. Now I am not dissing on Kentucky basketball, I have always loved the wildcat b-ball program and what it has meant for the game. However we cant look at that coach thing with Saban, he actually made a point to correct the problem and suspended players for the issue when it happened. I feel he did his part and had no wrong doing in the matter. The bad part is, the players that are there now have to pay the price for what the other players done, long after they are gone. thats like whipping all your kids for something only 1 of them did, there is no right in that at all. Punish the players that were involved, fine the school, forfeit the wins of the games they played in, and leave it at that. To punish everyone is wrong, no matter which way you look at it.

[RogerA]

I must be on the wrong forum?

[fyrfytr112]

Sooooooo............. WAR EAGLE!!!!

[croppiedude]

Alabama will have been on probation 10 out of the last 17 years; and you are complaining that the recent penalties were too harsh? Had this been a "do-nothing" program they would have, most likely, gotten the death penalty. And you wonder why the rest of the SEC has no respect for the tide? Alabama has been cheating since Bear was there and the other programs in the conference are sick of it. I remember when Alabamians got mad because Phil Fulmer turned them in for cheating. Here's a novel idea- QUIT CHEATING and you won't have to worry about this stuff!

[crappieseeker]

croppiedude, first of all, what do you constitute as cheating. A bunch of young adults remind you, did what they thought was a favor for a friend. Have you priced college books lately? I dont think any of them knew they were breaking NCAA rules. Cheating my friend is what you do on a test. Cheating is what you do when you are unfaithful to your spouse, cheating is when you knowingly and willingfully break rules that you know are wrong. So this my friend is not cheating in my opinion. I think the students should have to repay the money, which in fact they did. The rule said you can not gain a competative advantage over another team in simple terms. Heck all big colleges break this generally with tradition, so throw that crap out the window. Alabama's question to the NCAA was, " How does someone gaining textbooks from scholarships that wasnt theirs, constitute a competative advantage. Their response was, the people playing in the games that broke the rule generally constitutes a competitive advantage. Heck, Mount Cody was a competative advantage just by his size lol. But back to the point. If thats the case, they should do what I said, take away the wins. Now when you take away the wins, there is no advantage, because now you lost the game. Probation for 3 years for something you find and correct that relates to acedemics and not sports in my opinion is wrong. Speaking on respect for the Tide, you might want to reclassify that. Everyone respects the Tide. Tradition demands respect in itself. As far as the rest of the SEC being sick of it, other schools have violated the rules too. Some of them have gotten away with it by simply lying and there not being enough evidence to prove it. Some schools do wrong and never get caught. Some break rules that they are just not aware of and dont intentionally do wrong. Some of the rules are so lame and senseless that most recruits dont even know about them and neither do the institutions for that matter. Here is an example of something that happened at Tennessee mind you, which is in the SEC. However I dont think they should be punished, but by your standards its cheating.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Tennessee officials self-reported two secondary recruiting violations committed in January under coach Lane Kiffin and his staff in a letter to the NCAA and Southeastern Conference.

The Tennessee athletic department said one violation occurred when nine prospects on an official visit to the school participated in a mock press conference at Neyland Stadium's media center.

Another violation occurred when a fog machine was used as a recruit entered the field at Neyland Stadium during his official visit on Jan. 9.

Under NCAA recruiting rules, schools are prohibited from simulating a game experience for recruits during official visits.

Tennessee issued letters of admonishment to Kiffin and recruiting coordinator Ed Orgeron and provided the staff with a review of NCAA recruiting policies. Neither the NCAA nor the SEC has issued any punishment.

"They understand that they must ask questions of the compliance office about anything 'creative' regarding campus visits," the Jan. 26 letter said.

The violations were first reported Monday by the Knoxville News Sentinel.

Tennessee's coaching staff believed the mock press conference was allowed because it was not done in public. They thought the use of the fog machine was allowed after seeing it used at other universities.

Kiffin, who was introduced as Tennessee's new coach on Dec. 1, was reprimanded by SEC commissioner Mike Slive on Thursday for falsely accusing Florida's Urban Meyer of a recruiting violation.

Kiffin said Meyer broke recruiting rules by phoning wide receiver prospect Nu'Keese Richardson as he was making his official visit to Tennessee. Doing so would not constitute a violation of either NCAA or SEC rules.

South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier questioned whether Kiffin broke rules by contacting a recruit before being cleared by the NCAA to do so. Kiffin assured fans that he had been notified by the NCAA that he was cleared before making his first phone call.

Here is another violation
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- The University of Tennessee is reporting a third secondary recruiting violation involving new football coach Lane Kiffin.

Kiffin, in a radio interview Friday morning, mentioned recruit Bryce Brown by name and called him "a great player."

According to The Knoxville News Sentinel, NCAA rules prohibit a coach from making such comments before the prospect has signed a letter of intent.

here is another
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee is looking into whether it committed another NCAA recruiting violation by allowing media to be present during a meeting between coach Lane Kiffin and recruits.
A segment of ESPN's Outside the Lines, which aired Sunday, showed Kiffin in his office with two people identified by the network as recruits.

According to NCAA recruiting rule 13.10.1, "A member institution shall not permit a media entity to be present during any recruiting contact made by an institution's coaching staff member."

Tennessee spokeswoman Tiffany Carpenter confirmed the review, but declined further comment.

Tennessee has reported at least four minor recruiting violations since Kiffin was introduced as coach Dec. 1. Athletic director Mike Hamilton said recently the number isn't any more than the school usually reports.

heres one involving a booster
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. --Tennessee football signee Jacques McClendon received an improper benefit when he and his mother attended a Lady Vols basketball game as guests of a booster, school officials said Wednesday.

Athletic department officials filed a report about the secondary violation and explained why McClendon, a star offensive lineman from Chattanooga, was at Sunday's game against Vanderbilt.

McClendon and his mother, Stephanie McClendon, were guests of Knoxville attorney Gordon Ball and his son, Tanner, who attends school with McClendon, according to the report obtained by The Associated Press.

McClendon was declared ineligible until he and his mother pay a total of $74 -- $15 apiece for game tickets and $22 apiece for a pregame meal at the arena -- to a charity of their choice. The university will send a warning letter to Ball.

"I apologize to everyone if there was a quote violation," Ball told the AP on Wednesday. "It was my fault, not Jacques' fault, not my son's fault. I was not thinking."

The McClendons were sitting on the front row in courtside seats assigned to boosters who have made at least a one-time donation of $40,000 per pair.

McClendon, who lives in Cleveland, was considered the prize recruit of this year's signing class. He committed early, and coach Phillip Fulmer praised him on the Feb. 1 signing day for sticking with the Vols despite the 5-6 season.

Ball's son, Tanner, asked his father if he was going to use all four of his tickets for the game and asked if McClendon and his mother could go with them.

"I didn't even think about it," Ball said.

Fulmer didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.

The McClendons watched the first half of the game from the courtside seats. But they weren't there for the second half, and officials said they moved to seats in another section for the rest of the game.

Ball said he was made aware of the possible violation at halftime.

here is a little more

Auburn’s ‘extreme recruiting’ violations?
Posted by capstonereport on May 31st, 2009 filed in General, Recruiting
UPDATE: Has the video on Rivals.com been edited? According to fans who have viewed the original video and the video now on the Rivals site, it has. Here is a Rivals national board thread with further discussion. If anyone doubted how close some of these “reporters” and sites were to the teams they allegedly cover—this should do it.

UPDATE 2: That Woodbery link I posted, it no longer works at 9:34 p.m. Why?

UPDATE 3: Woodbery has new story: AU to examine possible secondary violations.

Randy Kennedy of the Mobile Press-Register explained Auburn’s recruiting philosophy in a column over at al.com. He writes, “Offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn has a catchy name for the unique tactics employed by the Auburn coaching staff to replenish a roster that deteriorated quicker than most anybody thought possible during the final years under Tommy Tuberville.
Malzahn, in Mobile to speak at the annual L’Arche Football preview banquet last week, called it ‘extreme recruiting.’”

[crappieseeker]

Extreme recruiting violations perhaps. At least if you believe the Internet chatter.

Chatter on the Internet asserts the Auburn staff violated rules in this video from the Opelika-Auburn News. A similar video is also available at Rivals.com. The O-A News describes the video, “Saturday night, hundreds of fans showed up to watch Auburn University recruits roll Toomer’s Corner during one of the biggest recruiting weekends of the year.” According to Evan Woodbery at al.com, at least 100 people were at the event.

What was wrong with the video? Perhaps these two NCAA rules that were forwarded to my attention:

13.10.6 Introduction of Prospective Student-Athlete.
An institution may not introduce a visiting prospective student-athlete at a function (e.g., the institution’s sports award banquet or an intercollegiate athletics contest) that is attended by media representatives or open to the general public. Violations of this bylaw do not affect a prospective student-athlete’s eligibility and are considered institutional violations per Constitution 2.8.1. (Revised: 1/14/97)

13.7.3 Activities During Unofficial Visit.
An institution may not arrange miscellaneous, personalized recruiting aids (e.g., personalized jerseys, personalized audio/visual scoreboard presentations) and may not permit a prospective student-athlete to engage in any game-day simulations (e.g., running onto the field with the team during pregame introductions) during an unofficial visit. Personalized recruiting aids include any decorative items and special additions to any location the prospective student-athlete will visit (e.g., hotel room, locker room, coach’s office, conference room, arena) regardless of whether or not the items include the prospective student-athlete’s name or picture. (Adopted: 8/5/04, Revised: 5/14/05, 4/27/06)

Does the video violate those NCAA rules? Odds are someone in the SEC will report it to the conference and the NCAA.

and here you go
Auburn reports 13 rule violations
Posted by capstonereport on July 19th, 2007 filed in General
Auburn fans, especially those on talk radio, have sanctimonoiously rebuked Alabama and Nick Saban for the minor violations the University reported. Thanks to the Mobile Press-Register we now know Auburn reported 13 minor violations in the last year, with three of these being from the football program.

The big laugh from the story was Auburn’s repeated plea that the academic scandal involving its sociology department was “unrelated to athletics.”

Of course, it is just coincidental 99.9-percent of your football players are sociology majors.

And if Auburn orchestrated as many claim to the hype of the rolling of Tumors corner and gaining a top recruit for it, So a couple of secondary recruiting violations to get the nation's top running back on campus for a visit? If Lache Seastrunk of Temple, Texas eventually signs with Auburn, that'll be like paying $50 for a Cadillac. WOULD THIS NOT BE A COMPETATIVE ADVANTAGE?


If you want to say Alabama cheats, then lets say everybody cheats. These are not my words but i will let you read what someone else had to say.
The reason everybody cheats is because the rules are impossible to keep in totality. I liken the NCAA bylaws to Jewish law in the Old Testament. With thousands of these man made laws on the books, it was impossible to keep them all. So God (who only gave us ten to keep, by thy way) saw that we were too stupid to do even that, and sent His Son to be the sacrifice for our sins once and for all. That’s a big deal, and outside of this article, the only real big deal there is in life. But you get my point. There is no way you can completely regulate a wealthy booster who lives in another state. Or an athlete who looks for a loophole with a textbook. NCAA, you’ve done things like doing away with athletic dorms which made it easier to monitor players because you said it was unfair to schools who couldn’t afford them, then you have the audacity to turn around and hammer us for not monitoring our players.

No other school in America gift wraps an investigation like we do. And where does it get us? Praise from the committee right before they hit us. Think back to your childhood. I was a child who always ran to my parents and ‘fessed up when I did wrong because I knew it would lead to a much more lenient punishment. Often times I wasn’t punished beyond a simple warning about doing it again. Argue that we DID find leniency by doing so if you want, but personally I’m getting pretty sick of us cooperating then getting punished anyway. Reggie Bush was living in a beach house worth over $750,000 while at USC, and USC has basically said “Ya’ll come prove it.” What’s happened? Nothing. You’re sending a message NCAA. If the real issue is deter speeding, sometimes an officer who shows grace and issues a warning does more good than an officer who goes ahead and writes you the ticket.

I could go on and on, I am not complaining about them getting punished, I am complaining about the depth of the punishment. Because they get more than they deserve for something that doesnt even pertain to sports. If you want to go on the kick about the rest of the SEC being fed up with Bama, I also read that Auburn is the second most punished school outside of Arizona State. I am not trying to bash Auburn, just pointing out that other schools break the rules alot. Now did Auburn intend to break any rules with the recent violations, of course they did not. Do I think they should be punished for it, of course I do not. They now know its a violation and I am sure they will fix the problem.