OT - Oregon admits to violations

Submitted by m83econ on

Very interesting - before even receiving a Notice of Allegations from the NCAA, Oregon has already stipulated that they violated NCAA regualtions:

http://www.registerguard.com/web/updates/27666543-55/ncaa-ducks-oregon-…

This looks like an attempt to accelerate the process.  Hope the NCAA takes it's sweet time - the uncertainty in past cases has been worse the actual punishment (see Football-Ohio).

CRex

February 24th, 2012 at 11:25 PM ^

I remember how the PAC12 said it was going to monitor the tOSU situation (read: ensure what tOSU got was fair relative to USC).  Then suddenly they shut up.  The crazier side of mind wonders if there was some horse trading where the PAC12 agreed to shut up in exchange for Oregon getting off easy.  

Elmer

February 24th, 2012 at 10:33 PM ^

The NCAA is a joke, but the main reason Ohio and Auburn didn't get body slammed was that they couldn't prove many of the allegations.  I still think Cam Newton probably knew about his Dad's pay for play scheme, but there's no proof.  Maybe Oregon can't play the denial game on this one.  Phil Knight probably has them lawyered-up, so there must be some solid evidence against them.

mGrowOld

February 24th, 2012 at 10:42 PM ^

Why no self-report it Justin?  If i was representing them I'd point to the absolute lack of any sort of punishment to the other schools violating NCAA rules recently and say "take your chances".  It's the wild, wild west out there right now and everybody knows it.

Until the NCAA grows a pair and disciplines somebody these things are just going to get more and more prevelant IMO.

WolvinLA2

February 24th, 2012 at 11:01 PM ^

But the reason there was lack of punishment was because the NCAA never charged them with anything too strong. 

Analogy, LA style - If I'm selling coke and I get arrested, and I deny everything, and although everyone knows I sell coke, the cops never find much on me, I will get off with some lesser charge.  That doesn't make it a good idea for the next guy to full on admit to selling coke just because I got off light.

OSU didn't get much because the big stuff was never proven.  Oregon must think they're in deep (or that they won't be able to hide anything) if they're already self-reporting FTM. 

mGrowOld

February 25th, 2012 at 9:33 AM ^

In all due respect the reason "the big stuff was never proven" is pretty simple.  The NCAA depends on its member institutiions to provide the evidence to convict themselves.  Ohio chose to only provide the "evidence" that supported their contentiion that Tressel was a "lone gunman" so to speak.  The reason ESPN has been fighting so hard to get the actual email transcripts.....ALL the transcripts and not just what OHIO says are relevant....is because they don't believe them.

To use your analogy it would be like if the coke dealer had the option of providing the evidence (or not) to the cops.  OSU chose "not".

Belisarius

February 24th, 2012 at 9:14 PM ^

Admitting these violations probably does mean they're in trouble. Ohio State got off easy in part because they denied everything until the bitter end. They fought the NCAA and reality every step of the way, and the NCAA doesn't have the backbone for that kind of a brawl.

Look at us, on the other hand. We always comply fully with the NCAA, and even if it comes down to a few minutes of extra stretching, we get a comparatively heavy sentence. Why: because we make it easy for them.

If Oregon learned anything watching us compared to Ohio, they shoudld have learned to force the NCAA to prove every point. If they're not, I surmise they're either stupid or guilty as hell, and appealing for leniency is their only recourse. Probably bad for them.

elaydin

February 24th, 2012 at 9:47 PM ^

Thank you... I had to go back and read the the COI report because I keep reading about the "few minutes of extra stretching".  You are exactly right.  It was more about a "renegade GAs" and "quality control staff" engaging in extra practice.  

link

Not to rehash it all again, but where does the "few extra minutes of stretching" meme come from?

Dailysportseditor

February 24th, 2012 at 9:33 PM ^

Dum da dum dum, dum da dum,...dummmmmmbbbbbbbb!  Failure to Monitor violation means you've been caught in the dragnet!  This is what happens when some super-rich guy gives some fantastic amount of money to an athletic program.  All the Nike freebies, cool colors and stuff may not be able to put O back together again.  I'm guessing the USC folks won't allow the NCAA administrators to just give them a pass.  After all, USC will be still suffering from the scholarship reductions for awhile.

Silly Goose

February 24th, 2012 at 9:35 PM ^

There really is no point in trying to stonewall if you know the NCAA has everything they need to bury you. What worked out for OSU was the fact that all the wrong doings occurred on the side and the only way they could get busted was if the NCAA had legal right to subpeona people and get them to testify. However, Oregon's problems are all on the school's ledgers, so they can't really pretend nothing happened. Much better to play nice with the NCAA in this case than ignore them.

elaydin

February 24th, 2012 at 9:36 PM ^

More than half of the documents are redacted, so it's hard to draw any conclusions.

However, if I had to sum it up, they were basically paying recruits for 4 years, a.k.a. paying $25,000 for "oral reports".  I assume "oral reports" is just another way of saying "we have absolutely nothing to show for this money since we were using these guys as middlemen in paying recruits."

I'll have to go check out the Duck Pond to see read their reaction.

Tater

February 24th, 2012 at 10:07 PM ^

The NCAA loves to talk tough, and they seem to be putting a lot of effort into promoting a tougher image.  My guess is that they are going to hammer somebody.  Oregon is perfect, because, even though they have put together a great program, they don't really produce a lot of revenue for the NCAA.  

The NCAA wants to prove how tough they are.  I am guessing Miami gets hit hard, and Oregon gets hit hard.  Then, Mark Emmert and Gordon Gee can laugh over lunch about how the rest of the country have forgotten all about the Ohio State "investigation."

 

LSAClassOf2000

February 24th, 2012 at 10:17 PM ^

"Lyles has said he believed the Ducks paid him $25,000 for "access and influence" with recruits, which would violate NCAA rules."

Oddly enough, I understand the insertion of the word "believed" in here. Will Lyles (below) does not look like someone who, at any point, worked at Plante & Moran or Deloitte, so I dare say the accounting on both sides was likely somewhat sketchy, but Oregon can't get around the fact that they cut these checks, of course. You would hope that the NCAA wouldn't give them slack for being suddenly forthcoming, of course, especially when you're admitting to, oh, "failure to monitor".

manchild56

February 24th, 2012 at 10:20 PM ^

told on themselves is because of the Ohio scandal going down the way it did. I mean if it is only gonna be a slap on the wrist why hide it anymore? They will just say okay we will take the same punishment as Ohio got, and thanks NCAA we will do better from here on out.

Yeoman

February 24th, 2012 at 10:46 PM ^

According to the linked article this document was released by the university but was prepared by the NCAA. It's a draft set of violations apparently submitted for the university's review.

A draft statement of “proposed findings of violations” submitted by the NCAA to the athletic department notes that the Ducks used three scouting services in ways that did not conform with NCAA rules, and exceeded the permissible number of coaches involved in recruiting at any one time.

Several news sources are using headlines that imply that the university has acknowledged violations, but every quote I can find only implies that they've acknowledged that the NCAA intends to accuse them of violations, which isn't quite the same thing. They're cooperating with the NCAA in preparing the draft so it's a very good bet they'll eventually make an admiision, but they don't seem to have done it yet.

It seems odd that they'd release this at this stage. Any theories? Are they being hurt by rumors that the violations are going to be worse than they apparently are? Putting an FTM out there before it's even charged is strange, to say the least.

hennesbe

February 25th, 2012 at 9:55 AM ^

The NCAA isn't going to do anything.  They banned the suckeyes from a bowl.  But they wouldn't have gone to anything but a toliet bowl anyway.  They reduced the scholarships but that didn't stop Meyer from signing as many as the rest of the B1G.  He just eliminated some from guys that wouldn't have played.

 

jmblue

February 25th, 2012 at 11:39 AM ^

What makes you think that OSU won't be good enough to go to a good bowl in 2012?  They've got plenty of talent coming back.  

OSU is also banned from the Big Ten Championship Game, so they can't win the conference title either.

 

AMazinBlue

February 25th, 2012 at 1:04 PM ^

good anymore.  Now that USC can go to bowl games again, Oregon can fade away as far as the NCAA is concerned.   The punishment USC "suffered" turns out to be nothing.  THey missed two bowl games.  Their recruiting hasn't suffered, they are still considered a top-10 team.

No matter what evidence people show and what posturing some do, there are certain programs that are allowed to cheat and get away with it.  The punishment USC received was monetary in nature.  The program never really skipped a beat.  OSU, Alabama, LSU and the rest of the SEC are considered untouchable to the NCAA.  They drive college football.