NCAA will announce penalties for Oregon football’s recruiting practices tomorrow

Posted on June 25, 2013

Originally Posted on Emerald Media via UWIRE

Tomorrow morning, Oregon football will learn its fate at the hands of the NCAA.

Just over two months after an NCAA hearing to discuss sanctions pertaining to the allegation of Oregon football recruiting violations, the University will be formally delivered its official punishment. Allegations against Ducks wrongdoing began in March 2011 upon the discovery that Willie Lyles, a recruiting agent working for the UO, had committed infractions of NCAA recruiting policy dating back to 2008.

In response to the scandal, the UO submitted a Summary Disposition Proposal to the NCAA Committee on Infractions late in October of last year, admitting to a series of infractions of NCAA recruiting law and suggesting a number of self-imposed sanctions with the hope of avoiding a full-fledged NCAA investigation. The proposal, which suggested that the UO face a penalty of a two year probation and the three year loss of a scholarship, was promptly rejected.

Documents released in May indicate that the University received a response to the summary disposition in the form of an official notice of allegations from the NCAA on December 5, 2012 — about a month after the initial summary disposition report was submitted.

The report from the NCAA found the University guilty of seven “major” recruiting infractions, including the authorization of Lyle’s impermissible contact with student athletes, 730 forbidden phone calls, exceeding the limit on the number of coaches involved in recruiting practices, the expenditure of around $35,000 on illegitimate recruiting services and the inadequate supervision of recruiting practices.

Although the “failure to monitor” recruiting practices is cited as one of the infractions, KATU reports that NCAA officials maintain that “the violations were not intentional in nature” and that there was “no finding of lack of institutional control and no finding of unethical conduct.”

The majority of the NCAA notice mirrored infractions that the UO had previously admitted to in it’s summary disposition statement, with the exception of one significant difference: each of the violations was labeled a “major infraction” by the NCAA, negating the University’s suggestion that wrongdoings regarding the use of scouting services should be considered only as a minor infraction.

In the next step of the process, UO officials, including former coach Chip Kelly, met with the Committee on Infractions in mid-April for a hearing to discuss potential penalties regarding the Ducks’ alleged violations. According to a Sports Illustrated source at the meeting, Kelly maintained the UO’s claim of institutional integrity, declaring that the football program had only used recruiting services “the same way other schools do.”  Upon conclusion of the hearing it was decreed that the NCAA would release notice of official sanctions within 60-90 days.

A pressing question to be answered tomorrow is whether or not the UO faces additional penalties for breaching the NCAA’s repeat offender rules. Prior to Lyle’s misconduct beginning in 2008, the UO faced NCAA retribution for misconduct involving a false letter of intent signed by Duck recruit J.J. Arrington in 2004. The UO could possibly face retribution harsher than their Summary Disposition Proposal originally suggested for committing multiple infractions within a five year period,

A media conference with infractions committee member Gregory Sankey has been scheduled for 8 a.m. tomorrow. Media will receive documentation by 7:30 a.m.

Although any official word on what’s next for the Oregon football program won’t be handed down until tomorrow, here’s the buzz on Twitter:

Read more here: http://dailyemerald.com/2013/06/25/ncaa-sanctions-to-be-announced-tomorrow/
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