Ole Miss has self-imposed a postseason ban in women's basketball and double-digit reductions in scholarships for football as part of its response to an NCAA notice of allegations that was released Friday morning.
In its 154-page response to the NCAA, Ole Miss officials said the school "accepted responsibility for the violations that occurred and self‐ imposed meaningful penalties."
The Rebels received a notice of allegations from the NCAA in late January, but have released very little details of the investigation.
Among the other penalties self-imposed by Ole Miss, according to the report: "The termination of four coaches, including the only two involved head coaches still employed when the violations were discovered; the disassociation of every involved booster; a post‐season ban in women's basketball; a double‐digit reduction of scholarships in the football program; a significant reduction in off‐campus evaluation days and official and unofficial visits in football and track and field; violation‐specific rules education across all involved sports; and a $159,325.00 financial penalty."
"In every one of these situations, the University carefully weighed the appropriate range of penalties and erred toward the upper limits," the report said. The Rebels were accused of 28 NCAA violations, according to the report, including 16 Level One violations, the report said.
"The fact that all but one of the 16 Level I violations arose from intentional misconduct committed by rogue former employees or boosters outside the University's direct control acting in contravention of rules education provided to them by the University," the report said. "Although a post‐season ban may be imposed in a Level I -- Mitigated case, the University believes a ban is unnecessary here based upon applicable precedent and because the most serious allegations occurred years ago, involving staff and student‐athletes long‐since separated from the University."
