The NCAA has combined its investigations of two former USC star athletes into a single probe of the Trojans’ athletic program, the Los Angeles Times reported.
If found guilty I guess this solidifies Auburn as 2004 national champs…
Archive for the 'ncaa football' Category
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A chill from the north has settled over Alabama, and I don’t mean the cold snap that dropped temperatures into the 30s this week.This chill is blowing in from Indianapolis, where the NCAA mulls reviving television sanctions, giving closer consideration to postseason bans, widening scholarship cuts and levying fines.
Especially chilling is talk of making postseason bans a “presumptive” penalty in cases involving repeat violators. If that didn’t send a chill in Tuscaloosa, then it should have. The NCAA says potential major violations occurred in Alabama’s textbook case, which fell in the five-year repeat violator window dating back to the Albert Means case.
Jacksonville State ? awaiting possible penalties because its football program is expected to fall under the minimum Academic Progress Report number for the third consecutive year ? should also feel it.
Josephine Potuto, a Nebraska law professor and the immediate past chairman of the infractions committee, told USA Today that the NCAA must get more aggressive.
“The committee feels that, over the years, the penalties really have gotten out of synch with the magnitude of violations,” she said in a story published Oct. 29. “Increasingly, there were people on campus saying, ‘There’s no teeth here. Did they lose any scholarships? Were they taken out of the postseason? Were wins vacated? And if not, it couldn’t have been a big case.’”
Potuto made recommendations to the Division I Board of Directors on Oct. 31, and the board has been seeking member feedback since then:
-The first TV bans in Division I since 1996, and the bans would extend to “all modes of video transmission.”
-More scholarship cuts. Now limited to financial-aid violations, they would become “the norm” in serious cases.
-Fines, which the committee would assess sparingly but in more sports. They currently affect only basketball and programs forced to return NCAA tournament shares.
-And more postseason bans, which would become “presumptive” in cases involving academic fraud and repeat violations.
Alabama just made its fourth appearance before the infractions committee in 14 years.
The 2002 Means case involved violations so serious that one NCAA official said Alabama was “staring down the barrel” of the death penalty in 2002. The textbook scandal dates back to the 2005-06 school year.
Alabama’s response to the NCAA said that no coaches, employees or representatives were involved in the violations. The school said it gained no competitive edge and took corrective measures, including suspending athletes and changing book distribution policies.
Potuto did not specifically mention APR cases in the proposed crackdown, but the NCAA clearly wants members to feel the bite as well as fear the bark.
JSU officials cite improved grades and the promotion of an assistant coach with academic duties as good faith efforts to improve the program’s performance.
Will the NCAA listen? We’ll find out in the coming weeks.
Even in serious cases involving illicit extra benefits, recruiting and other competitive-edge violations, the punishment sometimes don’t measure up to sanctions now in place for teams’ academic deficiencies. Those start with scholarship cuts and escalate to recruiting and practice restrictions and ultimately postseason bans.
The prospective crackdown would subject offenders to:
• The first bans on TV appearances in Division I since 1996. The restriction would extend to “all modes of video transmission,” including video streaming and other internet appearances.
• More scholarship cuts. Now limited to cases involving financial-aid violations, they would become “the norm” in all serious cases.
• Fines, which the committee would assess sparingly but across a wider array of sports. They currently affect only basketball and programs forced to return shares of NCAA tournament revenue.
• More bans on postseason appearances. Among other things, that would become a “presumptive” penalty in cases involving academic fraud and repeat violations.
Already fighting off demands for a playoff system from President Barack Obama and leaders of the U.S. Congress, the Bowl Championship Series will soon face a more serious threat: an antitrust lawsuit from the attorney general of Utah that could dismantle its postseason championship scheme.
“From the very first kickoff of the college football season, the BCS uses its monopoly powers to put more than half of the schools at a disadvantage,” Shurtleff said. His investigation comes after an undefeated University of Utah team was relegated to the Sugar Bowl in January with no chance to play for a national championship.
OH SNAP! GET EM UTAH!
1. NCAA has either already met with or has requested to meet with a coach at Gadsden City High School. His initials are (OS).
2. Three REC members in Gadsden have been accused of paying or providing cars (Dodge Chargers) to players in exchange for them committing to Alabama. One person is a Gadsden lawyer (RM), one is a Gadsden surgeon
(BD) and the third is a Gadsden business man (DC). At least one of these men is said to REALLY be worried about this being made public.
3. There are tapes of at least one car being given to a kid. Research shows that one of the cars was bought and sold four times in a short period of time before is was given to the kid.
4. A private investigator was hired after Harris committed to Alabama last year. This investigator is who is turning the info over to the NCAA.
5. Two of the cars given have been taken away from the kids.
6. The three men mentioned above are accused of funneling the money through the coach mentioned above. This coach also has a new Ford truck.
7. The offensive lineman that switched his commitment to Ole Miss after Fluker committed to Bama is said to have receive $20,000 from these men and then they tried to get it back after he switched his commitment.
McDonough, Georgia wide receiver Markeith Ambles was one of the high profile 2010 prospects on campus in Knoxville on Saturday for Tennessee’s Junior Day. Ambles visit did not meet his pre-visit expectations. In fact, his trip to Rocky Top was nothing like he thought it would be.When asked what his top highlight was from his one day spent in Knoxville, he quickly responded.“We were in a dark theater and all of a sudden they turned on the lights and the coaches ripped off their shirts,” Ambles said with a laugh.”It was like in the army and it got crunk up in there. Some of the players that were in there did some chants. It got crunk.”
AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Gus Malzahn isn’t picking favorites among the contenders for No. 1 quarterback leading up to Auburn’s spring practice.
The Tigers’ new offensive coordinator said Kodi Burns won’t automatically hold onto that top spot. In fact, Malzahn said he won’t go into the spring with an established pecking order, giving all the quarterbacks a shot at running his no-huddle, spread offense.
“It’s going to be wide open,” he said Wednesday. “We’re coming into this thing new and everybody’s starting new, and they’re going to have to earn it.”
He said Burns, Neil Caudle, redshirt freshman Barrett Trotter and possibly Chris Todd will receive comparable practice repetitions to start spring practice on March 24, but Malzahn hopes to narrow it down “as soon as possible.”
Burns, who is trying to learn his third system in three years at Auburn, started the final six games of last season but was inconsistent passing.
Signees Tyrik Rollison and Clint Moseley will join the mix in fall camp.
“They’re all starting new,” Malzahn said. “And I think anytime you’re putting in a new system and new coaches at every position, that needs to happen.”
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) — Middle Tennessee has hired Tony Franklin as the new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
Franklin was hired and fired by Auburn as offensive coordinator within about a 10-month span last year and previously worked in the same capacity at Sun Belt Conference-rival Troy in the previous two seasons.
“I know he can help us expand our offensive philosophy while bringing a lot of energy and enthusiasm to that side of the ball,” head coach Rick Stockstill said in a release Thursday. “He will also be a very valuable asset in recruiting because of his many contacts throughout the country.”
Franklin replaces G.A. Mangus, who served as offense coordinator for three years.
Middle Tennessee struggled with a young team last year, but played well in a couple of non-conference games, beating Maryland 24-14 and coming close in a 20-14 loss to Kentucky.
Franklin was brought on by Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville as a transition to a spread offense, but was fired just seven games into his tenure after it never clicked.
Middle Tennessee lauded his two seasons at Troy, where he pushed the team to 16-9 overall and 12-2 in the Sun Belt and collected two conference championships.
“I am very familiar with Middle Tennessee because of our conference affiliation when I was at Troy and I can’t wait to get started,” Franklin said in a release.
source: si.com
Thursday morning at a recruiting celebration banquet, Tennessee head coach Lane Kiffin accused Florida’s Urban Meyer of a recruiting violation in the recruitment of Pahokee, Fla. wide receiver Nu’Keese Richardson. Kiffin’s allegation: that Meyer repeatedly called Richardson while he was on his official visit to UT.
LINK TO VIDEO
Does the guy want teams to run the score up on him?
per Trent…
“Yeah, I’m still committed to Alabama. But some of their fans are starting to push me away. They call me all the time, send me flowers, show up to my high school games and track meets, and are just generally coming across as overly desperate. You know; a guy likes to have the door held for him and stuff like that, but they want me to do weird stuff like calling them when I get home to ‘make sure I made it in alright’ and always dissecting everything I say to my other friends in order to find hidden meanings. I know they mean well and they really are nice guys, but they are just trying to move this relationship along too fast. We should be in the early stages of getting to know each other, but they are really pressuring me to make a commitment to them before I technically can. My mistake was letting them force me into saying some things I may not have meant early on. Now that I want to play the field and see what else might be out there, they’re acting as if I’m leading them on…which is not my intention. I really like Alabama and would love to spend my college career there, but the desperation is making me uneasy.”
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