At least we aren't Ole Miss

Lewis also may not be in violation of NCAA rules if it determines that Calvin Green was providing Lewis with “normal and reasonable living expenses.” Bylaw 12.1.1.1.6 allows someone in Green’s position, “family of a teammate,” to give to a player like Lewis even if the relationship developed as a result of athletics as long as that person is not an agent or representing a school recruiting Lewis.
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Wait. So, why did we get put on probation and have to forfeit our ACC Championship?
 
KrazieJacket said:
DRad telling Johnson the players were being investigated.
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Yes but also our lawyer treating it like a normal investigation (ie adversarial) rather than the cooperative process (hey we’re all on the same side aren’t we) the NCAA’s member institutions are supposed to see it as.
 
18in32 said:
Yes but also our lawyer treating it like a normal investigation (ie adversarial) rather than the cooperative process (hey we’re all on the same side aren’t we) the NCAA’s member institutions are supposed to see it as.
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I've never heard a good recap of what actually happened. From what I understand, players are supposed to be informed and allowed counsel if they are being investigated, but for some reason ours weren't, we ignored the directive and then got hammered for it. Also, I heard our appeal was basically arguing the same case twice (dumb), rather than pulling a Miami and accusing the NCAA of screwing up their investigation (smart).

Can you (or anyone else) chronicle what actually went down?
 
EffinDane said:
I've never heard a good recap of what actually happened. From what I understand, players are supposed to be informed and allowed counsel if they are being investigated, but for some reason ours weren't, we ignored the directive and then got hammered for it. Also, I heard our appeal was basically arguing the same case twice (dumb), rather than pulling a Miami and accusing the NCAA of screwing up their investigation (smart).

Can you (or anyone else) chronicle what actually went down?
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The bottom line is that the NCAA found that D. Thomas got clothes he shouldn't have, but then punished us disproportionately because we refused to 'play along' with the investigators.

For example, the NCAA told D.Rad. not to tell CPJ about the investigation, but he did anyhow. D.Rad later stated that he felt his personal loyalty to CPJ required it, regardless of anything else.

Another example is that when GT's counsel met with the investigated players, he 'coached' them on how to answer the questions the 'right' way, rather than simply trying to get to the bottom of things. That lawyer was later removed from his position.

Another example is that the NCAA told GT that two players were most likely going to be ruled ineligible, and therefore shouldn't play in the ACCCG. Rather than suspend them and appeal (which takes a long time to resolve), we decided to roll the dice and play them anyhow. The NCAA views that not simply as a calculated gamble, but as thumbing our nose at their investigative process.

Here's an AJC timeline recapping the situation. If you really want to go into the weeds, here's the NCAA's 17 page final report describing all the things we did wrong.

My biggest problem with the way the NCAA acted is that they treat their investigation into a few hundred dollars of clothes from a relative and/or friend as being more important than the trust, loyalty and personal relationship between colleagues or between coaches and players. It is not right to expect an AD to keep a hugely important secret from his closest colleague. It is not right to expect a coaching staff not to provide advice and counsel to their charges, the players.

Essentially, the NCAA can't pretend that this is anything other than an adversarial process. The problem is that the NCAA has no subpoena power... so if players simply show up and say 'I don't remember,' there's not a whole lot the NCAA can do to force them to talk. (This is how Miami skated, IMHO.) What the NCAA relies on is institutional pressure — the institutional adherence to the fiction of collaboration — that results in admins and coaches pressuring students to talk, rather than to clam up. Theoretically that makes sense, since the NCAA is a collaborative body in which everyone supposedly is on the same side. But they need to find a fairer way to handle it.

I spent too much time thinking about this tonight.
 
All I know is, why aren't these school ever good while cheating? I mean damn, if you are going to break rules, you should at least be winning games, championships, something. How many SEC titles did Ole Miss win? At least we won a ACC title.
 
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