University of Alabama’s “Double Super Secret Probation”
June 11, 2009The NCAA has handed down their punishment to the University of Alabama’s Athletic Department. Check out the full article here. So after reading that, I thought I’d give you my opinion…since I know it means so much to you.
First, the NCAA took it a little light on Alabama, at least in my opinion. They lost no scholarships, go on 3 years probation, and only had to vacate wins. Earlier today I didn’t know what was involved in “vacating” wins, but I did find out. In a nutshell it means that if Alabama won, it loses credit for winning, but it does not go down as a loss. All losses stay the same. It looks like 21 football games will be effected. They do have to pay back about $43,000 but that’s chump change to a program like Alabama.
15 out of 16 athletic programs at Alabama were effected. Everyone except the rowing team had “textbook” problems. Rowing? Really? Who’s the coach, Ned Beatty?
So what do I think the NCAA should have done? 3 years probation, loss of 3+ scholarships, vacate the wins and suggest the Athletic Director step down. In the end its Mal Moore’s fault for not overseeing his department. In the past decade, Alabama has been in NCAA trouble for the majority of the time. If it were just the football team or track team, ok, but this is 15 out of 16 athletic programs. Give me a break. That’s poor leadership.
Just to let you guys know, I’m not an Alabama fan, far from it. I graduated from Mississippi State, just 82 miles on highway 82 separate Starkvegas and Tuscaloosa. So, I’m not the “voice of a fan.” I don’t want you to think that I’m being hard on Alabama, because if MSU were in this exact situation; I’d want Greg Byrne to step down.
So that’s what I think about the punishment, or slap on the hand as I’d call it. What do you guys think?
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There is no excuse in the book to cover this gaff. The question is, where would the scholarships come from? 15 sports with the womens track team being the most egregious offenders, but the most publicized were the 5 football players for obvious reasons. They did a wise thing and did not take away any scholarships else a messy appeals process would have ensued.
3 years probation for all 15 sports is a pretty substantial punishment for any institution. However, the ones that should be punished severely are the 125 odd student-athletes that knowingly did this.
After this, Moore should step down as Athletic Director for sure. He has done good and bad for the program over the years, but this is a huge black eye on the program. Maybe he assumed that things were in place to prevent this, maybe he didn’t. Either way it happened on his watch and ultimately he is responsible.