No harm in appealing, but don’t look for victory, either

June 18, 2009

By Ken Rogers

I can’t see any harm in Alabama appealing last week’s sanctions for widespread violations it uncovered in its textbook distribution program.

Of course, I also can’t see Alabama winning on appeal, either.

The appeals process is a swing-for-the-fences deal. There are no repercussions if you lose. The NCAA can’t add to the punishment—which consisted of public reprimand, a $43,900 fine, three years of probation and the loss of 21 football victories in the 2005 through 2007 seasons and an NCAA tournament tennis victory. More importantly, it did NOT include scholarship reductions, a bowl ban or restrictions of television appearances.

So if you’re willing to pay some lawyers for their time and talent—and Alabama isn’t lacking in that category—why not try it?

Of course, I’d bet on Northview beating Florida in the Swamp before predicting an Alabama win in this case.

Why? First, Alabama is guilty. University president Robert Witt admitted that last Thursday. Alabama turned itself in, launched its own thorough investigation into the matter and as far back as it could find—which was only three years due to a change in software that reliably logged such data—discovered widespread problems.

Witt’s statement Wednesday announcing Alabama’s intention to appeal gave an indication of how Alabama will proceed.

“We appreciate that the Committee recognized the isolated nature of this violation as well as UA’s immediate and aggressive actions to correct the situation as soon as we discovered the problem,“ Witt’s statement read.

“Isolated nature?“ Sixteen sports and 201 athletes received “impermissible benefits,“ the investigation showed. Yes, most of those were inadvertent mistakes, some even clerical errors. The report duly noted those as “unintentional violators.“ It also found 22 “intentional violators,“ seven of whom were football players.

“... We are disappointed with the excessiveness of the sanctions in view of the facts of this case and the penalties in other textbook infractions cases,“ Witt said in the statement released by the university. “There is no evidence or allegations of other NCAA violations; no coaches or administrators were involved; no players obtained books and sold them for cash, and all the books were returned or charged to the student’s account as required by the UA textbook policy in effect at that time.“

Well, at least the school monitored some part of its textbook policy. But it doesn’t change the facts.

And the timing of these violations came during the window in which Alabama was considered a “repeat violator.“ That alone subjected Alabama to more severe sanctions from the Committee on Infractions. To its credit, the committee looked at the facts of the case, decided they didn’t warrant anything more drastic and tried to punish the players or teams that played these “intentional violators.“

It could have imposed stiffer penalties. The good news was that nothing has hampered Alabama in moving forward in football or any other sport. No scholarship reductions, no bowl bans, nothing.

So, a repeat offender turns itself in, essentially asks for leniency, gets it, but still wants to appeal the sentence?

Good luck winning that one, Perry Mason.

“We are in the process of preparing our Notice of Appeal and will file it prior to the 15-day deadline (June 26).  The University of Alabama remains committed to doing things the right way, and we will continue to work with the NCAA and the SEC as we focus on strict compliance with all NCAA regulations.”

Alabama textbook case chronology

June 11, 2009

By Ken Rogers

Here is a case chronology of the textbook investigation:

Oct. 17, 2007: The senior textbook buyer at the bookstore detected and reported textbook charges in excess of $1,600 for a women’s track and field student-athlete’s account for the fall semester.

Oct. 19, 2007: The institution determined that due to the start of the fall sports season, the Alabama textbook review team, as appointed by Dr. Witt, would focus on the 2007 fall semester back thorugh the 2006 spring semester.

Oct. 23, 2007: Alabama retained a law firm to oversee a review of textbook purchases for student-athletes.

Oct. 31, 2007: SEC Commissioner Mike Slive and SEC associated commissioner, Alabama AD Mal Moore, university counsel, the school’s associate AD and its outside counsel met with NCAA enforcement staff members to discuss Alabama’s preliminary findings.

Nov. 16, 2007: Alabama expanded its review of textbook charges to include the 2005 fall semester.

Nov. 20, 1007: The NCAA enforcement staff issued a notice of inquiry to Alabama.

April 16, 2008: Membership services provided a response to a joint request for interpretation, which indicated that the provision of books and supplies that were not required for a particular course would constitute an extra-benefit violation.

May 19, 2008: The enforcement staff issued a notice of allegations to Alabama.

Sept. 16, 2008: Alabama submitted its response to the notice of allegations.

Jan. 8, 2009: Academic and membership affairs (formerly membership services) provided a response to a joint interpretation request, which clarified that the provision of books and supplies by student-athletes who received athletics aid to student-athletes who did not receive athletics aid would constitute an extra-benefit violation; the provision of recommended/optional books or books unrelated to the student-athlete’s course work to student-athletes who received athletics aid would constitute a violation of NCAA Bylaw 15.2.3.

Feb. 20, 2009: Alabama appeared before the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions.
June 11, 2009: The committee released its report (No. 299).

It could have been worse

By Ken Rogers

The NCAA Committee on Infractions report on the Alabama textbook case included few surprises.

Three years of probation and vacating 21 football victories were the attention-grabbers, along with no scholarship reductions.

One thing that did surprise me was the report said seven football players were “intentional wrongdoers” in the scandal that stretched back to the 2005-06 academic year.

Five players—Antoine Caldwell, Marlon Davis, Chris Rogers, Marquis Johnson and Glen Coffee—all were suspended the day before the 2007 Tennessee game. They served four-game suspensions and were allowed to return for the Auburn game.

The other players were discovered in the school’s investigation. They have not been identified. However, it’s fairly safe to assume those players were seniors on either the 2005 team or 2006 team.

Alabama did not have to vacate the victory over Tennessee and the bowl victory over Colorado in 2007. Had the unidentified players been on that team and participated in those games, those victories also would have been vacated.

 

Tide postseason baseball honors pour in

June 02, 2009

By Ken Rogers

Alabama players continue to gain honors even after the Crimson Tide has been eliminated from the NCAA Tournament.

Tuesday, Tide senior right fielder Kent Matthes was named as one of five finalists for the Golden Spikes Award, given annually to the nation’s top amateur baseball player.

Catcher Vin DiFazio was named to the Clemson (S.C.) All-Regional Team on Monday night. DiFazio was the Tide’s leading hitter at the regional with a .571 (4-for-7) average with two extra base hits and two RBI in the two games.  He was 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles and one RBI against Oklahoma State and went 2-for-4 with one RBI against Tennessee Tech. DiFazio batted .329 for the season with seven home runs and 24 RBI in 44 games.

Matthes was joined by pitchers Mike Leake (Arizona State), A.J. Morris (Kansas State) and Stephen Strasburg (San Diego State) and North Carolina first baseman Dustin Ackley.

“It is a tremendous honor for me to represent The University of Alabama as a finalist for such a prestigious award,” Matthes said in a statement released by the school.  “All of the finalists are worthy candidates and great players and to be able to join them is truly an honor.  I’d like to thank Coach (Jim) Wells, Coach (Mitch) Gaspard and Coach (Dax) Norris for their support this year and for all they have done for me at Alabama.  I’d also like to thank my Crimson Tide teammates for making my senior season a memorable one.”

Matthes hit .358 with 28 home runs and 81 RBIs in 58 games. He broke Doug Duke’s Alabama single-season home run record (27) that was set in 1986. Matthes finished with a slugging percentage of .858. He was the SEC Player of the Year and is a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy, also given to the national player of the year by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.

The Golden Spikes Award will be presented on July 14 at All-Star FanFest in St. Louis.

Dave Magadan, now the hitting coach for the Boston Red Sox, is the only Alabama player to win the Golden Spikes Award. He won it in 1983. Roberto Vaz was a finalist in 1997.

Matthes was a first-team All-American by Collegiate Baseball. Teammates Austin Hyatt and Jake Smith were on the third team.