OT: Per the NCAA, no major violations by Tennessee football
On ESPN, the NCAA has decided Lane "Kiffykens" Kiffen did not commit any major violations while at Tennessee and won't be sanctioned. I'm sure the Orange Crush girls, or whatever they were called, are relieved to know they can resume traveling to games in other states to help recruit players. Any more skating on infractions and the NCAA is going to have to sanction it as a sport.
http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/ncf/story/_/id/6892438/no-major-violations-lane-kiffin-vols-tenure
August 24th, 2011 at 5:48 PM ^
The NCAA found 12 minor violations, which occured when TN recruiting interns contacted the staff at certain recruits' high schools. I suppose the NCAA could have lumped them together into a major violation, but really, these things are reported as minor violations all the time. And the interns did not even contact the prospects themselves (which frequently happens and gets treated as minor), but just the high schools. I wouldn't read too much into this.
August 24th, 2011 at 5:49 PM ^
I don't think anyone can take them seriously.
August 24th, 2011 at 5:49 PM ^
I don't know much about this, so someone should correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that secondary violations, when plentiful enough, are almost as dangerous as major violations. I get the sense that schools might calculate that it's worth the punishment to knowingly commit secondary violations. If you do it often enough, it probably creates a pretty significant competitive advantage.
Does the NCAA ever come down hard on those who flagrantly and repeatedly commit secondary violations?
August 24th, 2011 at 6:00 PM ^
The NCAA Rulebook needs to be overhauled. Some secondary violations are just accidents or inadvertent. Others are intentional. And some are just plain ridiculous anyway.
For example, if JoePa is walking to his office and stops to watch some players during offseason, voluntary workouts, that is a violation. So is a coach who is on the phone with a prospect but the call is dropped, so he calls the player back and violates the number of calls he can make to that player per week. And then there is the whole skype v. text messaging v. facebook stuff, i.e. they are not all treated the same way.
Urban Meyer has been on his soapbox for months now advocating the elimination of secondary violations and moving to a system of intentional violations vs. inadvertent violations. To some degree, I think his idea has merit. But there are also some violations, whether intentional or inadvertent, that are more serious than others. IMO, the NCAA should appoint a Blue Ribbon Panel of former coaches, players, ADs and college presidents and have them spend a year rewriting the entire rulebook from scratch.
August 24th, 2011 at 6:34 PM ^
the NCAA is coming under fire for the severity of the penalties it gave USC, while others are getting away with it (uh hem....OSU). Since Kiffen is there now, they don't want to pile on.
NCAA - how about you pile on AND punish those that should be?
August 24th, 2011 at 6:32 PM ^
The SEC gets away with recruiting murder! Think of all the teams that have been or is under the microscope: AUB (another no champ year), TEN, ALA, FLA, LSU, UGA... Dude the whole league is corrupt minus Vanderbilt. We, on the other hand, practice a bit more than allowed and we are scrutinized and posted as a "violator of rules". This absolute crap. The NCAA are a bunch of good ol boys with a hippocrit, not hippocratic, oath! Damn slobs.
August 25th, 2011 at 12:00 AM ^
I'm not buying the "it's the SEC" garbage. It's the whole sport, it's todays culture in general. My real concern is that if things don't change, can programs like Michigan-the ones with integrity- continue to stay relevant? After seeing all of these schools go down recently, and I'm sure more still to come, can you still compete for championships and be clean?
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<br> I think the last 10 years of huge media contracts and expanded coverage has made college football very rich and left it more bankrupt than ever before. Maybe I'm blowing this a bit out of proportion, I'm just really concerned for the sport I love.
August 26th, 2011 at 4:46 PM ^
SEC thing? Open your eyes. It is, by far, the most corrupt conference. The NCAA can't have "their" beloved "best conference in college sports" be spotted as what they are. Yes, other schools in the south are corrupt (FSU, UNC). Yes, some schools in the west are corrupt (USC, Oregon). Yes, some in the east (UCONN) and our backyard (osu). As a whole, the SEC has shown a pattern of rule bending, rule breaking, cover up and unethical acts that would be blown up had it been a different school not in the SEC. This might be reading between the fine print lines but it is definitely there. There should be a class action lawsuit from all the pther schools.
August 25th, 2011 at 10:28 AM ^
Wait, no, that's subtraction.
(Barbrady was one of the most underrated side characters on south park, he always killed me)
August 25th, 2011 at 8:15 AM ^
Obviously you have no idea how a football team is run....I think I can speak for the majority of coaches when I say Tennessee did things the right way......Signed Jim Tressel ...
August 25th, 2011 at 8:20 AM ^
If I'm not mistaken, Ohio is one of the highest self-reporters of secondary infractions in the NCAA. With their current issues, if the NCAA were going to roll a bunch of secondary infractions into a major, they'd be the poster child.
August 25th, 2011 at 9:44 AM ^
I live in TN and am a die hard Michigan fan so i have got to hear all of this talk on how Ohio and TN's violations are similar. Lets hope not. Ohio most certainly needs scholarship reductions and a two year bowl ban! Yea people criticized the NCAA for the way the USC scandal was handled but in my opinion the sweater vest scandal was worse..Either way. Its great to be a Michigan Wolverine! And just in case anyone is wondering how i am a fan living in TN, here is a quick run down since i am new. My father was born in the dump they call Columbus, my whole family with the exception of two cousins are Ohio fans. So i learned at an early age the difference between class and trash! GO BLUE!!