The NCAA has ruled Notre Dame had a student athletic trainer in violation of NCAA ethical conduct rules by committing academic misconduct for two football players and providing six others with impermissible academic benefits. As a result, the NCAA’s Division 1 Committee on Infractions is recommending one-year probation, a fine and all wins from 2012 and 2013 to be vacated.
The trainer, unnamed by the NCAA at this time, will be slapped with a two-year show cause penalty, essentially preventing employment within the NCAA member schools for the next two years. Any school hiring the trainer would be subject to penalties from the NCAA.
The decision by the NCAA stems from lingering academic issues that were investigated that included the so-called “Frozen Five;” KeiVarae Russell, DaVaris Daniels, Kendall Moore, Ishaq Williams, and Eilar Hardy. All were held out of games during the 2014 season while the NCAA investigated the program.
Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly was not tabbed for any recommended punishments by the NCAA, but he was clearly not happy with the result of the NCAA’s decision.
“It’s never happened before in the history of the NCAA, the penalty has never been issued in this fashion before,” Kelly said Tuesday during his regularly scheduled press conference. “I think that qualifies for being, first of all, it was discretionary, this is a discretionary action by the committee. That’s No. 1. No. 2, student-on-student cheating, nobody implicated. The NCAA agreed across the board with that finding, and it was clearly excessive, so we’re gonna appeal this, and one of the options or clear reasons for appeal is that the penalty is excessive in its discretion and we believe we have obvious grounds there.”
Brian Kelly’s assessment of his own culpability in this case: “Zero. None."
— Irish Illustrated (@PeteSampson_) November 22, 2016
And that is important to keep in mind as well. While the NCAA has outlined recommended punishments for Notre Dame, the university has the right to appeal the findings. And it sure seems as though they will do juts that, with the president of the university also suggesting that will be the next course of action. Jon Solomon of CBSSports.com reports the only terms of the punishment from the NCAA the school will contest will be the vacated wins. If all wins from the 2012 and 2013 season are to wiped clean, the strips Notre Dame of 19 wins from their all-time record, which is really only important to two fan bases anyway; Notre Dame and Michigan.
Removing 19 wins from Notre Dame's record per the NCAA would put Michigan in a 0.0070560382 point lead over the Irish. https://t.co/hn6qdD4wIR
— Hoover Street Rag (@hooverstreet) November 22, 2016
The question is how much will this be worth the time and energy to contest? The NCAA didn’t slap Notre Dame with a postseason ban of any kind. It merely tosses the 2012 and 2013 seasons out the window, but it’s not as though the Irish won a bowl game or championship in that span. Considering the NCAA also fined Notre Dame $5,000, the Irish could end up paying more in legal fees in the appeals process for just one or two days of work with lawyers to fight this. They could probably just pay the fine with money raised from the commemorative DVDs from Notre Dame’s now-vacated 12-0 regular season.
Pay the fine. Admit your failings. Move on, Notre Dame.
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