The NCAA Committee on Infractions has long come under public scrutiny and scorn for its often complicated, strange and uneven rulings on matters. However, it appears the committee may have gotten it right just this once in its latest ruling.
On Tuesday, it released its findings and rulings on allegations of academic fraud and illegal payments by now-former Louisiana-Lafayette assistant coach David Saunders, and the biggest of hammers was pounded down on the culprit himself — Saunders.
It was a refreshing moment, as the Committee on Infractions gave a wholly unprecedented punishment to the assistant coach after it found he arranged to have ACT test scores bumped up beyond the NCAA minimum qualifying standards and paid one prospect turned player a total of $6,500 over a two semester period.
As a result, Saunders is on an eight-year show-cause penalty, basically barring him from being involved in NCAA athletics unless there are extenuating circumstances. For the greater part of the next decade, Saunders isn’t going to be allowed around the collegiate game.
It was by far the harshest penalty on a single coach we’ve seen since the show-cause penalty was put in place.
Often times the coach was let off the hook with a lighter sentence by the Committee on Infractions, while the school and the current group of student-athletes bore the brunt of past actions.
The Penn State and USC scandals come immediately to mind, but there have been dozens of examples of current teams paying for the sins of coaching staffs long gone or players not involved with the program anymore.
It didn’t happen this time, as the worst of the penalties came to the coach involved. For once the NCAA chose to send the strongest of messages to the actual person who committed the wrongdoing, and also will have others thinking twice about losing their livelihood for nearly a decade at a time.
The Ragin’ Cajuns football team didn’t escape penalty, but much of it was already of the self-imposed variety and were pretty minor in nature.
Per the NCAA’s ruling, here is what the Ragin’ Cajuns football program is facing:
- A reduction of initial football scholarships by three for both the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons, leaving 22 initial scholarships each season.
- A reduction by five in the total number of football scholarships awarded in 2015-16, leaving 80, and by three in both 2016-17 and 2017-18, leaving 82. The reductions over the three-year period will total of 11 scholarships.
- A reduction in the number of off-campus recruiting days by six in the fall of 2015 and 22 in the spring of 2016.
- A reduction of official visits to 38 for the fall of 2015 and 44 total visits during the 2014-15 season.
- A prohibition of all recruiting communication for a three-week period during the 2015-16 season.
- A vacation of the records from the 2011 football season, including the team’s participation in the New Orleans Bowl.
Additional penalties and corrective actions prescribed by the panel include:
- A two-year probation period from Jan. 12, 2016, through Jan. 11, 2018.
- A $5,000 fine.
- An additional limitation in the number of official visits to 38 for the 2016-17 season.
- An additional three-week ban on all university-initiated recruiting communication in the football program for the 2016-17 season. The three-week ban should occur during the same three weeks as the university-imposed ban during the 2015-16 season.
- An additional vacation of records for the 2012-2014 seasons in which student-athletes competed while ineligible. The university will identify the games impacted following the release of the public report.
There was no stripping of 20 scholarships, post-season bans or multi-millions in fines for the school and the program. Instead, the school got off much lighter even in the face of academic fraud and illegal payments — two things the NCAA likes to throw out as “major” violations.
Instead, this time the football program received some temporary pain that it will easily recover from in the relatively near future.
However, the coach who acted alone and without the direct knowledge of the program was the one to face the toughest of the penalties.
Just once, and hopefully in a precedent setting moment, the NCAA Committee on Infractions got it right.
That alone is refreshing on the heels of some of the darkest days of punishments for those who had nothing to do with what took place when it actually happened.
(Photo: USA Today Sports Images)
