knapplc
International Man of Mystery
Here's a writeup from YardBarker about the NCAA's denial of Alabama's appeal, which helps further explain why we may not face the same kind of penalty:
The bold and bold/underlined may be why we face little if any further penalties from the NCAA over this. 'Bama was nailed for ten major violations in 2002, mostly because their boosters were giving their athletes cash. Since we haven't had anything like that kind of penalty lately, I think we'll be OK.Back in June of 2009 the NCAA handed down a penalty to sixteen athletic programs at the University of Alabama, all but the rowing team was found at fault for improperly obtaining textbooks from other students.
The basis of Alabama’s appeal was that the penalty given to the teams was not consistent with past penalties handed down by the NCAA from textbook violations. The Crimson Tide received three year probation and the football team was ordered to vacate 21-football wins from 2005-2007. 2005-06 was under Mike Shula as the head coach, and the 2007 team was coached by Nick Saban.
Alabama was not appealing the three year probation it received, but the football wins that were vacated. In no other textbook case had the institution been forced to vacate wins, but the NCAA considers the Crimson Tide a repeat offender due to the probation it was on at the beginning of the decade as well.
Alabama self reported the violations back in 2007 when they found out that football players, Antonie Caldwell, Marlon Davis, Glen Coffee, Marquis Johnson, and Chris Rogers had been obtaining the textbooks improperly. The five players were promptly suspended prior to the 2007 Tennessee game.
The University was hoping the fact that they self reported the violation and suspended the players when they found out what was going on would sway the NCAA into being more lenient. But, the fact that it had been going on since the beginning of the 2005 season made it tough for the NCAA to not give a strict punishment to a team that had as recently as 2002 received probation for violations.
The NCAA was actually somewhat lenient to the Crimson Tide because they self reported and suspended the players when they found out. The University had nothing to do with the players obtaining said textbooks, but they were at fault for not more closely monitoring the situation.