Legendary UGA Swim Coach Suspended for NCAA Allegations

Photo Courtesy: UGA

((ht: onlineathens.com))

It's not one of the "Big Ticket" NCAA Sports, but Swimming and Diving are sports that many Colleges have had great success.

One of the most successful, the University of Georgia under the guidance of coach Jack Bauerle.

Bauerle has run the school's wildly successful programs since the l979 and has been an Olympic Coach. He's also in the swimming and diving hall of fame.

He's now also on the short list of coaches under investigation for serious violations of NCAA rules.

Bauerle is accused of getting one of his star swimmers admitted to a class after the enrollment deadline and according to the NCAA's investigation, got that swimmer, Chase Kalisz a passing grade despite Kalisz not doing any course work.

The school has been cooperating with the NCAA in the
investigation and suspended Bauerle until all investigations are completed.

Read more from OnlineAthens.com RIGHT HERE

For his part, Bauerle has been apologetic, but the question now is; "Is it too late?"

We've interviewed Bauerle many times and he's been nothing but the widely respected, class guy everyone says he is.

Which makes what happened perplexing and may put Georgia in a very difficult position. How do you part ways with someone who's taken your program to unprecedented heights?

We suspect the answer probably will lie in how severe the NCAA Penalties are...

Since When Is Eating Pasta An NCAA Violation

[HT: newsok.com]

Tuesday the University of Oklahoma released a list of NCAA secondary violations from 2013 the program self reported.  Most of this involves text messages, impermissible calls, etc.

This secondary violation caught the eye of us in the OSG HQ:

May 10, 2013

Violation: Three current student-athletes received food in excess of NCAA regulation at a graduation banquet. The three had graduated from the school but returned for an additional season of competition. The players were provided pasta in excess of the permissible amount allowed. Resolution: The three were required to donate $3.83 each (the cost of the pasta serving) to a charity of their choice in order to be reinstated. The department provided rules education to applicable athletics department staff members.

That's right, an excess in pasta in an NCAA secondary violation.

Let that be a lesson for you student athletes if your attending a dinner of some kind, that second helping of spaghetti might cost you and force you school to be slapped on the wrist.

All for just under four dollars.

The pasta had no comment.

Oregon Suspends 2 For Selling Shoes, 3 Ex-Players Connected...

((HT: Campus Insiders))

There's a certain sense of obvious irony here with the act in the headline and the benefactor of the program, but the HQ digresses for the moment...

But our friends over at Campus Insiders have details on the University of Oregon dropping the hammer on three former players who sold team shoes along with current players Dominic Artis and Ben Carter. Artis and Carter have been suspended until further notice...

Here's their breaker on the subject...

Fred Richardson, Willie Moore and Carlos Emory are the ex-Ducks who were busted. Richardson and Emory transferred after their freshman seasons back in the spring, and Emory used up his eligibility after last season was completed.

And, then came the news releases...

"Ben and Dominic are two good young men who made a poor decision that was against NCAA rules I feel that both regret their decisions and the impact that it has on their teammates and our university," UO coach Dana Altman said.

In the same news release, Artis said: “I want to apologize to the University, to Coach Altman and to my teammates for selling team apparel. I regret my actions and do not want this situation to define me or my character.”

Oregon is set to start their season overseas in the made-for-TV event at Camp Humphreys in South Korea Friday.

U of Miami: No Major Penalties for NCAA Violations

Further proof that either the NCAA has no teeth, is hypocritical or clueless depending on your interpretation.

The University of Miami, long rumored to be in serious trouble due to former booster Nevin Shapiro, found out Tuesday morning what their penalty would be.

And thanks to some self-imposed restrictions, it wasn't too serious. No bowl ban for the football team, 3-years probation and 3 scholarship losses over each of the next 3-years. Several football assistants will serve "Show-Cause" penalties.

In addition; the basketball team will lose 3 scholarships and former head coach and current Missouri Coach Frank Haith will be suspended for 5 games.

The Hurricanes have imposed a bowl ban on their own the past 2 seasons and fully cooperated with the NCAA during the investigation. That according to reports, was a big factor in the relatively light sentence.

You can read more specifics from ESPN.com RIGHT HERE

The Hurricanes problems came to light in 2011 when Yahoo Sports did a detailed investigation and interview with Shapiro, convicted in his past of running a Ponzi scheme, and Shapiro spoke about lavish parties with players, handing money to them, wining and dining them over an 8-year period of time.

For their part, the school will pay a minor price and all parties will finally after 3-years of investigating, move on.

Reaction from WPLG-TV in Miami:

Alabama Strength Coach Placed On Administrative Leave For Clinton-Dix Loan

((HT: Tuscaloosa News/Suttles))

University of Alabama assistant strength and conditioning coach Corey Harris has been placed on administrative leave for providing impermissible benefits to suspended football safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix.

Basically, it was a loan of less than $500, and Clinton-Dix has since paid the loan back...

Now, we know why this was what Coach Nick Saban told the media yesterday...


The university compliance office also discovered that Harris had a connection to a representative of a sports agent. The subsequent investigation determined that Clinton-Dix has not had any contact with anyone that Harris may know fitting that description.

The act by Harris may be a violation of NCAA Bylaw 16.11.2.2, which states that “an institutional employee or representative of the institution's athletics interests may not provide a student-athlete with extra benefits or services, including, but not limited to ... a loan of money.”

Is Urban Meyer Sabotaging The Florida Gators?

((ht: orlandosentinel.com))

So Florida Gator fans, you still loving on former head coach Urban Meyer?

We ask this in light of a report that Meyer...or an assistant coach reported the Gators had a "Secondary" NCAA violation over a high school running back from New York named Curtis Samuel. Samuel was also being recruited by the Buckeyes.

As the story goes, the NCAA allegedly investigated, found nothing wrong with the contact, but Samuel summarily dropped Florida from his list of potential schools.

Hmmmm....

For what it's worth, Meyer claims it was not-true that he turned the Gators in, but that an assistant did it.  Which raises the obvious question...would a college assistant coach do something like that without informing his boss.

Yeah.

Anyway, read the story with the allegations from the Orlando Sentinel RIGHT HERE

Yes, we find this amusing.

And according to the Sentinel's Mike Bianchi, this isn't the first time its happened. Maybe its just us, and we aren't exactly Gator fans, but it makes us laugh to know most Florida fans hold Meyer in such high regard. And that he speaks, at least publicly, in reverential terms about his former employer.

But it appears that he'll do whatever he deems necessary when it comes to recruiting, or for that matter anything else to win. We can't totally fault him for that, but if that's what you want to be, at least own it, don't try coming across as "The Good Guy".

And no, we won't wade into the Hernandez part of the story.

St. Mary's Basketball Gets Stiff NCAA Penalties

Well, the NCAA certainly had a lot to say over the recruiting charges against St. Mary's College (CA).

The school was in trouble for a number of problems, including: A former assistant coach knowingly committed violations in recruiting 3 international students. And when warned about it, the school did nothing. The head coach knew this assistant, who apparently had ties to an agent, arranged for at least one of the kids to be flown and housed in the U.S. (Can't do that).

The list and explanation of what happened is lengthy. The punishment, that's lengthier.

Among the penalties: 4 Years of probation, a 5-game suspension for the head coach next season, no off-campus recruiting next season, 2 scholarships lost and a bunch of restrictions on tournament play.

Read the entire list from the NCAA their ownselves RIGHT HERE

So Randy Bennett, what'cha gonna do next? Bennett has been the Gaels Head Coach for the past 11-years and is by far the winningest coach in their history. They are coming off a 27-win season last year.

And now this.

Good luck.

Here's one of those games Bennett wishes he could have monitored, his loss to Gonzaga earlier this season...
((HT: GUAthletics))

Miami On Notice With NCAA

((HT: WSVN-TV))

Miami's athletics program is now on the clock with the NCAA and they now have 90 days to respond to the letter of allegation set forth by the NCAA in their investigation in and around Nevin Shapiro...

Those words "lack of institutional control" are being bandied about...

And President Donna Shalala thinks the school has been punished enough and punished itself enough...

Thanks for that thought, Madame President...

You can't punish yourself... unless you really wanted your football team to go to the Belk Bowl...

In addition to the alleged 72 athletes Shapiro claims benefited in the football program, former head men's basketball coach Frank Haith has been named as part of the deal. He did address the letter after his win over Virginia:

"There was no unethical conduct in my notice of allegation," Haith said. "And it is just an allegation, so we get a chance to defend ourselves."

Haith is alleged of failing "to promote an atmosphere for compliance," a charge specific to how he handled things when Shapiro allegedly wanted money in exchange for not going public with accusations that he paid to help the Hurricanes recruit a player.

So, there's that...

Here's Steve Shapiro...with that and highlights...
WSVN-TV -

President Shalala wrote a rather lengthy rebuttal to the NCAA's allegations, saying in part:

"Despite their efforts over two and a half years, the NCAA enforcement staff could not find evidence of prostitution, expensive cars for players, expensive dinners paid for by boosters, player bounty payments, rampant alcohol and drug use, or the alleged hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and gifts given to student-athletes, as reported in the media. The fabricated story played well -- the facts did not."

The whole response can be found hyah, thanks again to WSVN...

Haith May Face NCAA Ethics Charge

((HT: KSHB-TV))

It looks like Uncle Nevin is coming back to bite people from behind bars, and one of them may be current Missouri head hoops coach Frank Haith.

According to a story on CBSSports.com, the NCAA may hit Haith with unethical conduct and failure to promote an atmosphere of compliance- two very serious charges that won't be taken lightly.

Nevin Shapiro had accused Haith of acknowledging a $10,000 payoff to land a commitment from DeQuan Jones while he was the Hurricanes head coach back in 2007.
The NCAA can't currently link the 10-grand to Jones and Haith, but they didn't believe his story on his assistants taking the money to repay Shapiro.

There will be a test later on...

Here's the early thoughts from Kansas City...

Butch Davis Understands...He Really Does...

((HT: WRALSportsfan.com))

So, we now know what Butch Davis is up to...

He is keeping up his end of the bargain with the University of North Carolina as a "consultant" with the Tamps Bay Bucs and their new head coach Greg Schiano...

That way, he keeps up with his buy-out clause and everything is cool...

He understands why the university made him the fall guy (his words) in the situation that had academic fraud and coaching improprieties that led to Davis being fired a week before the football season started in 2011.

The larger question was: "How could you NOT know what's going on, dude...?"

His answer from the interview:

“It's a question that I've asked and thought about a lot over the last several months. What I would tell you is I think that we knew, we worked extraordinarily hard to know a lot of things,” Davis said. “There were things that would happen with athletes that we would find out immediately. (And) yes, take care of it.”

Up until the firing, NC AD Dick Baddour was supportive of Davis, publicly, and Davis admits that problems even preceded him by two years that he felt compelled to take care of... by his numbers, Davis dismissed 18 players in his early days.

Davis also discusses the Jennifer Wiley situation and the impermissable benefits that were apparently given by her during the time she was a tutor- a situation created, according to Davis, by the school in a letter his wife received.

Here is the Jeff Gravely interview in its entirety...

It's good stuff and we commend Gravely for his get...

Using Photo Editing Software is an NCAA Violation

((ht: diehardsport.com))

Seriously?

Not even Instagram from an I-Phone?

Well, it's a good thing that all NCAA schools adhere to the "No Cheating" rules and don't use altered photos.

Gosh, don't you feel safer now?

The blog DieHardSport.com had a post on Wednesday that mentions the NCAA, because they don't have a lengthy enough rule book, added more.

They've posted a page full of rules about sending photos to recruits.

You can read it RIGHT HERE

Now. On the good side, this page of the rule book isn't confusing at all.

Coaches apparently can NOT send a photo via text message or in an e-mail without it being considered an attachment. But...a staff member can send photo's of team practice as an attachment to a text message as long is it wasn't altered or staged for recruiting purposes.

Huh?

Oh, the can send a photo as an attachment to a Twitter message too. As long as it wasn't altered or staged.

Okay....

Question: Do not rule #2 and #3 completely contradict rule #1?

If you aren't already confused, read further....

So. The NCAA has some issues with clarity. And apparently doesn't like edited photos. Hmmmm....good to know.

Somehow, we expect this page of the rules would be vigorously enforced and a violation would bring sanctions within a week. BUT. Those school who commit actual recruiting violations, still won't find out for years what kind of trouble they are in.

Just sayin'....

Report: Ohio St. may still have even more violations

Gene Smith

((ht: thelantern.com))

**UPDATE at bottom of the story**

The hits, they just keep coming.

According to a report in the Ohio State student newspaper "The Lantern", OSU athletic director Gene Smith admitted the school may have another dozen NCAA violations to tack onto the 46 that surfaced last week.

Really?

The paper...nor Smith specified the violations other that to say it wasn't known if they were primary or secondary in nature.

Among those already known, and we might add are mostly minor in nature, include one by Smith himself who appeared in a personal recruiting video for a prospect along with OSU legend Archie Griffin.

Yes, that's a violation and Smith admitted it wasn't the 1st time he's done such a video.

Read the Lantern story RIGHT HERE

Okay. While Smith and Chad Hawley of the Big 10 don't seem to think any of this is a big deal, the fact of the matter...is that it is.

Sure, we detailed some of the original 46 violations last week, which you can read RIGHT HERE. and showed that most were minor and many were just plain idiotic, they also show a bit of a pattern.

The school, the Big 10 and Smith in particular seem to think that having 40 something violations a year is minor. In some ways it is, but considering the other problems with the NCAA the Buckeyes face, this is kind of a big deal.

Yeah, the NCAA rulebook is bloated and full of silly, idiotic things that you can and can't do while recruiting, but it seems, at least on the surface the OSU either doesn't teach or doesn't concern with it. In fact Smith shrugged it off to the paper, saying its because the athletic department is so big.

Sigh.

He doesn't get it. And he is a big part of the problem. But he's the AD at a "Power School" in a "Power Conference". They will get a slap on the wrist. Both for this and for the Terrelle Pryor, tattoo-gate whole enchilada thing too.

And they'll continue doing business the way the feel like, while the smaller school will receive monster penalties...for similar...or the same infractions.

**Smith released a statement Thursday morning, apparently after realizing he put his foot squarely in his mouth. The statement read "Contrary to reports attributed to me, Ohio State athletics is not facing any major NCAA violations."

Hmmmm...wonder why Smith felt compelled to deny saying anything to the Latern?