Syracuse Basketball and Football Sanctions (and what it might mean for ND)

[IrishLax]

Syracuse did not control athletics; basketball coach failed to monitor | NCAA Home Page - NCAA.org

So basically, Syracuse had a bunch of violations. They did lots and lots wrong over a long period of time. The end result is sanctions that as outlined in the article... 3 scholarships a year for four years (HUGE in basketball), 1 year post-season ban, suspension for Boeheim, and vacated wins.

One of the violations they harped on was "extra benefits" for athletes vis a vis impermissible academic assistance from tutors. Here's the kicker... the school actually concluded in it's investigation that no misconduct occurred, but the NCAA said "nah, we know better, that was cheating" and cited it as a violation. Apparently, a sticking point is that this work was done to keep athletes eligible to compete.

A couple takeaways... first, UNC is about to get sodomized. Second, this new tact taken by Emmert (an SEC guy ironically guilty of his own academic scandals to improve graduation rates, eligibility, etc. at LSU) seems to be a real thing. Third, the NCAA is probing a couple dozen schools on academics right now and it follows that Notre Dame is one of them. Fourth, the fact that Eilar Hardy was cleared by the NCAA for reinstatement at least means that his eligibility wasn't completely compromised. Fifth, that doesn't mean that other players (including ones out of school by the time the Frozen Five scandal broke) aren't in hot water or that they would be retroactively ineligible causing Notre Dame to vacate wins. Sixth, whether or not the trainer in question is deemed a representative of the athletic department probably has a huge bearing on whether or not this is a big deal at all... if all the cheating involved students just helping other students AND it's determined ND did it's due diligence in monitoring the work then there is no possibility of extra benefits... but it's scary knowing how hard the NCAA stretches at times to make its case. Seventh, it's hard to see how coverup isn't the best option with how the NCAA is now approaching self-reported penalties.

 

[wizards8507]

Sounds like one of those "everyone is doing it so whoever the NCAA decides to investigate is f*ed." Does anyone honestly think that Syracuse basketball was doing XYZ but Oklahoma football is clean? etc.

 

[PANDFAN]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Jim Boeheim be like... <a href="http://t.co/M080LiD2Ay">pic.twitter.com/M080LiD2Ay</a></p>— SportsNation (@SportsNation) <a href="https://twitter.com/SportsNation/status/573897553726562304">March 6, 2015</a></blockquote>
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[RDU Irish]

I don't see how our case can be construed as a serious lack of institutional control like 'Cuse or UNC. They come down on us and they will have to beat up every single school they investigate worse!

 

[PANDFAN]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Coach Boeheim officially stripped of 108 wins, now 6th all-time. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OrangeNation?src=hash">#OrangeNation</a></p>— Syracuse Basketball (@syracusebball) <a href="https://twitter.com/syracusebball/status/573902913438875648">March 6, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Boeheim cheated for a decade and got suspended 9 games.

Bruce Pearl lied about a BBQ and got show caused for 3 years.

<a href="https://twitter.com/NCAA">@NCAA</a> = Incompetent.</p>— Teran Johnson (@TeranJ_VLZ) <a href="https://twitter.com/TeranJ_VLZ/status/573896612289843202">March 6, 2015</a></blockquote>
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[IrishLax]

I don't see how our case can be construed as a serious lack of institutional control like 'Cuse or UNC. They come down on us and they will have to beat up every single school they investigate worse!

Right, and this case is a lot different, because it's actually TONS of cheating and other stuff for a long period of time. These sanctions aren't all for academics.

There's virtually no chance of "failure to monitor" or anything like that, the bigger question is whether it's extra benefits at all and if there were ineligible players that'll retroactively cost us wins (something that really only matters for us and Michigan). Simple fact is that unless there were people in a tutor role or you classify the trainer as an athletic department employee it's hard to make a case... but the NCAA is known to stretch.

 

[IrishLion]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Boeheim cheated for a decade and got suspended 9 games.

Bruce Pearl lied about a BBQ and got show caused for 3 years.

<a href="https://twitter.com/NCAA">@NCAA</a> = Incompetent.</p>— Teran Johnson (@TeranJ_VLZ) <a href="https://twitter.com/TeranJ_VLZ/status/573896612289843202">March 6, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Welp haha

 

[Grahambo]

Zero shock.

 

[Irish#1]

I'm surprised it took the NCAA this long to nail Boeheim. It's been almost a decade since rumors started swirling.

 

[RDU Irish]

Right, and this case is a lot different, because it's actually TONS of cheating and other stuff for a long period of time. These sanctions aren't all for academics.

There's virtually no chance of "failure to monitor" or anything like that, the bigger question is whether it's extra benefits at all and if there were ineligible players that'll retroactively cost us wins (something that really only matters for us and Michigan). Simple fact is that unless there were people in a tutor role or you classify the trainer as an athletic department employee it's hard to make a case... but the NCAA is known to stretch.

I don't think they need to make an example of Notre Dame on this one. They know we are trying harder than pretty much anyone out there.

UNC and Syracuse being thrown under the bus would raise a lot of eyebrows around the country. Be nice if some SEC schools could get exposed.

 

[IrishLax]

Cuse response: Syracuse University Athletics - Chancellor Syverud’s Message Regarding NCAA Report

 

[Monk]

These mistakes must never happen again. That is why beginning in 2009, the University strengthened its policies and reformed a range of student-athlete support services.

The University reported that in January 2012, a men's basketball student-athlete committed academic misconduct.

It looks like the changes made in 2009 really worked out well.

 

[dshans]

... this new tact taken ...

First and foremost, I harbor no animosity toward you, Lax. Far from it. Over the years I've come to not envisioning you as a Leprechaun wandering the airport in Los Angeles. I'm not quite there.

I'm working hard (with moderate success) on imagining a Lacrosse stick while reading your posts. Now there's the "I love My Lax" television ads for a laxative. Life is a bitch!

However, with my Grammar Hammer Foil Hat still on, I will point out that your "tact" should probably be "tack." Either might be appropriate here, but I intuit that "tack" is more along the lines of your intention.

Look 'em up!!!

 

[IrishLax]

You're correct. I never I knew that. Been using "tact" that way my entire life.

First and foremost, I harbor no animosity toward you, Lax. Far from it. Over the years I've come to not envisioning you as a Leprechaun wandering the airport in Los Angeles.

I'll return the favor and point out that you mixed tenses in this sentence

 

[Grahambo]

You're correct. I never I knew that. Been using "tact" that way my entire life.



I'll return the favor and point out that you mixed tenses in this sentence

 

[IrishLax]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Crazy detail in the Syracuse report. Director of basketball ops and others had players' passwords, would email their professors as them.</p>— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) <a href="https://twitter.com/slmandel/status/573911175684993025">March 6, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>The academic portion of Syracuse report involves collaborated corruption, yet a fraction of what went on at UNC. What will that penalty be?</p>— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) <a href="https://twitter.com/slmandel/status/573916217536159745">March 6, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>The lesson: 10 years of violations on your watch, you miss 9 games. But lie to the NCAA over 1 incident (Tressel, Pearl) and you're done.</p>— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) <a href="https://twitter.com/slmandel/status/573905602042159105">March 6, 2015</a></blockquote>
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[ND NYC]

so many guys in the "sports media world" are cuse grads (annnouncers etc)...wonder how they are going to react/spin all of this.

 

[ND NYC]

like Paterno....Boeheim will have all those wins reinstated at some future date.

 

[dshans]

You're correct. I never I knew that. Been using "tact" that way my entire life.



I'll return the favor and point out that you mixed tenses in this sentence

Damn! I didn't see that petard headed my way!

"Lord, what fools these mortals be!"

"Early in life I had to choose between honest arrogance and hypocritical humility. I chose the former and have seen no reason to change." – Frank Lloyd Wright

Well I'll be damned!

One step forward and two steps back ...

 

[Buster Bluth]

like Paterno....Boeheim will have all those wins reinstated at some future date.

Doubt it. Paterno didn't commit NCAA violations.

 

[Monk]

Syracuse AD (Daryl Gross) resigns. Will stay at University in a different role.

Daryl Gross out as athletic director at Syracuse University | syracuse.com

My guess is they will keep him through his contract then he will be completely out at Syracuse. What does this mean for Boeheim?

Edit: Apparently Boeheim will retire in three years.

Jim Boeheim will retire from Syracuse basketball in three years | syracuse.com

 

[Whiskeyjack]

SI's Pete Thamel just published an article titled "Jim Boeheim's retirement shows Syracuse still hasn't learned":

For years, Syracuse has exhibited the soullessness that is inherent with pursuing the spoils of big-time college sports—television exposure, millions of dollars and an indelible university identity. In doing so, it shrugged off NCAA investigations and persistent negative headlines as collateral damage. Who cares about probation, low graduation rates and the head coach cursing his way into YouTube lore? Certainly not Syracuse, as the school has shown consistently that it would gladly trade small bits of its soul for the glory and enrollment bump that comes with a Final Four run.

So Wednesday’s news that Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim, 70, intends to retire in three years is surprising only because his tenure seemed destined to end like those of college coaching legends, such as Bobby Bowden, who are forced into awkward exits after the glory fades. The question of whether the three-year window was Boeheim’s choice or the university’s will be the biggest one answered at a Thursday morning press conference where Boeheim is expected to speak. But no matter the spin, this feels like the type of resolution where a bunch of academics sat around after an avalanche of bad publicity and said, “We have to do something.”

The first thing the school did was seemingly force athletic director Daryl Gross to resign. Then it put a clock on the end of Beoheim’s four-decade tenure. It allows the university suits to look themselves in the mirror without wincing and say that they stood up to big-time sports. That they really do take academic integrity seriously. That maybe the academic issues were caused by systemic indifference more than a rogue operations guy. What’s most notable here is that things have gotten so foul at Syracuse that even an institution with such high tolerance for athletic department shenanigans felt it needed to do something—anything—to show that the person in charge of the university resided in the The Tolley Administration Building and not the athletic department.

On March 6, the NCAA hit Syracuse with a bevy of penalties stemming from a nearly eight-year investigation into numerous violations in the basketball program. Those penalties included a nine-game ACC suspension for Boeheim, five years probation and 108 wins vacated from Boeheim’s record. The report took on a scathing tone that cut to the heart of the university’s ideals. That included a “violation of the most fundamental core values of the NCAA and higher education.” And also: “The desire to achieve success on the basketball court over academic integrity, demonstrated clearly misplaced institutional priority.”

Said Tom Yeager, the Colonial Athletic Association commissioner and a former chair of the NCAA Committee on Infractions: “The words in a report are chosen very, very specifically. It’s written by a bunch of lawyers. If strong language was selected, there was an unequivocal basis for it.”

The university had already chosen to self-impose a one-year postseason ban, giving Boeheim two postseason bans on his record for his career. (The other came in 1993, for a series of NCAA violations.) This set of NCAA findings—which the university will appeal—put another permanent stain on Boeheim’s record, and assures him a place on the Mt. Rushmore of NCAA basketball cheaters.

But as the announcement unfolded, no entity looked worse than the university itself. The NCAA cited four instances of academic fraud and essentially called out the school for sacrificing its academic reputation for athletic glory. So what did the university do to respond? It released a letter from chancellor Kent Syverud that read like a point-by-point message board manifesto against the NCAA’s findings. It ignored the tone and severity of what the NCAA reported and instead fought back. (It even included a priceless passage referencing the Black Sox scandal, the epitome of the entire botched public relations move.)

Expect Boeheim to fire back at the NCAA on Thursday. But the overlooked reality of Syracuse’s NCAA case is that it was caught red-handed. This is an era where the NCAA investigative staff has been neutered, turned over and is somehow even more impotent since the botched Miami investigation two years ago. Not only did the NCAA Inspector Gadgets catch Syracuse, but they did so fully and thoroughly—computer tracings of academic fraud, bank records for funneling money and ignored drug test results—that there shouldn’t really be much to argue about. Syracuse not only got caught breaking the fundamental rules of the NCAA, but it also did so glaringly and obviously that the punishment required serious repercussions.

I attended Syracuse and covered the program for the local paper, The Post-Standard, for three years after graduating in 1999. From dealing with Boeheim on multiple arrests and suspensions of his players over the years, his only way of handling them is fighting and arguing over every detail like it’s a block/charge call. Boeheim’s competitiveness—the same trait that’s driven him to the Hall of Fame and made him a seminal figure in the university’s history—can also be his weakness. This showed up most famously when he called the molestation allegations of former ball boys against assistant coach Bernie Fine as “a bunch of a thousand lies” and said they were out for money.

And on Thursday, it will be stunning if Boeheim does anything but argue his case right down to the last detail. It’s all he’s ever done. It’s the only way he knows. But at this point, the appetite to listen and believe, beyond the hardcore fan, is limited.

The departure of Gross is the least surprising reverberation of the fallout. (He claimed in an interview with Syracuse.com on Wednesday that it was his choice to step down, which seems hard to believe). Even after 10 years, Gross was never fully embraced in central New York. He began his tenure by firing football coach Paul Pasqualoni and hiring Greg Robinson, which started a spiral into football irrelevancy that’s only been interrupted by brief snippets of mediocrity. He ends his tenure with the basketball program missing a year of postseason play because of self-imposed sanctions, on five years probation and amid as serious an athletic scandal as the university has ever seen.

In between, the school moved to the ACC and made long-overdue facilities upgrades. But in the end, Gross’ inglorious departure should offer a reminder that he oversaw USC football as a senior associate athletic director during its heyday in the early 2000s, and that run ended with a vacated BCS title and significant NCAA sanctions. (Gross has more direct involvement in the Syracuse report, as he led the infamous meeting with school officials to attempt to get former basketball player Fab Melo eligible.)

What we’ve learned from all this is that Syracuse will pause, reshuffle the deck and continue its relentless pursuit of athletic success. There will be some new administrators brought in and they will recite the same clichés. But the school’s actions throughout this investigation show that the university’s top priority is getting back to the top in the big business of college athletics. At Syracuse, that’s all they really know.