Breaking news regarding KO on espn

[TRest]

KO has the worst legal team of all time.

Maybe it's their client.

 

[UConn990411]

He fixed his own mistake. Credit for that I guess, but he better have learned from it.

The contract was basically completed when Benedict was hired, so I wouldn’t really pin it on him.

 

[UConn990411]

I will say there are a lot of other Universities out there that have been involved in much worse scandals than shooting a few baskets with a recruit and they're laughing their asses off at this. I don't care whether it helps us in the buyout it stinks. I apologize if I echoed anyone else's thoughts from earlier in the thread.

He arranged for private workouts for players, which is the more serious violation.

And, and has been mentioned numerous times, the coverup is the problem here. Nothing Ollie did was all that serious, so why lie about it?

He dug his own grave there.

 

[intlzncster]

The contract was basically completed when Benedict was hired, so I wouldn’t really pin it on him.

That's not what happened, at least according to folks in the know*. The idea that Warde was involved is a boneyard meme of sorts. The contract itself was all Benedict. Warde had preliminary talks only.

The pressure to sign Ollie obviously forced Benedict's hand in that dept, but he could have easily structured the buyout differently.

*friends/family that work in the athletic dept

 

[intlzncster]

I’m guessing Ollie made the bad fart face when he heard this news.

Made me chuckle more than it should.

 

[intlzncster]

>>UConn will self-impose sanctions if it hasn’t already, probably docking itself a scholarship for the 2019-20 season and setting in place other recruiting restrictions, such as time off the road. The hope would be that the committee on infractions will see such a move, perhaps in cooperation with other moves, as just punishment.<<

They should do it for the 20-21 season*. We need that scholly for our definite class of Bouknight, Gaffney, Precious, Akok, and Kofi.

*If at all. We fired the coach who deliberately lied to the University. That is a proactive 'penalty' in and of itself. Just happens to be fortuitous. Remember, the guys who went to Georgia were cleared to play last year. That wouldn't happen if penalties were levied for that part.

 

[intlzncster]

Kind of convenient for your argument how you left out the part about Ollie sending, and paying for, players (illegal) to go work out with an outside trainer in Philly (also illegal) and then lied about it. St. Mary's was given 5 years probation for the same violation. But keep pretending it's all about shooting a couple baskets with a recruit.
You're either ill informed (doubt it), or purposly creating your own narrative by leaving out some obviously important facts.

I'm not even joking when I say that this violation would have been completely ignored for schools like Duke and UNC. NCAA shows they are 'tough on crime' with schools like St Mary's. So's he's not wrong in his general overall point--just bad at making the argument.

Not for nothing, but the kids involved in the workouts were cleared to play last year.

 

[intlzncster]

Maybe it's their client.

Somebody posited that he lied to his lawyers about his role. That could very well be true. I'm of the opinion that he might actually believe his own BS.

 

[Fishy]

The NCAA doesn't really care that he shot hoops with a recruit. They care that they asked and he lied about that and everything else

This.

If you ever read through the NCAA's list of enforcement actions, you'd see that schools self-report these things all the time and no action is taken. (Although the Griffin/Hamilton stuff was pretty troubling; those are signs the train is really getting ready to go off the rails.)

What the NCAA does care about is when you start to have a laundry list of these which starts to show that you really don't much care about compliance. And that's very clear with Ollie - the head coach is supposed to promote an "atmosphere of compliance" whereas ours plainly had a disregard for it.

And then when you mislead the NCAA about these things....you get Bruce Pearl'd.

 

[Fishy]

I'm not even joking when I say that this violation would have been completely ignored for schools like Duke and UNC. NCAA shows they are 'tough on crime' with schools like St Mary's. So's he's not wrong in his general overall point--just bad at making the argument.
.

You're just as bad.

This isn't accurate.

 

[intlzncster]

You're just as bad.

This isn't accurate.

How so? When's the last time Duke's gotten busted for anything? Cory Maguette on record as taking money. Nothing. Duke barely gets investigated for anything.

How about the NCAA just loopholing around the UNC scandal? You honestly think that would have happened for a school like UCONN? If so, then we are just going to have to agree to disagree.

 

[Fishy]

How so? When's the last time Duke's gotten busted for anything? Cory Maguette on record as taking money?

How about the NCAA just loopholing around the UNC scandal? You honestly think that would have happened for a school like UCONN? If so, then we are just going to have to agree to disagree.

There was no loophole. The NCAA simply does not have jurisdiction over academic matters on campus. The NCAA likely spent seven figures trying to find a way to get to UNC, but simply didn’t have a way - if they had penalized UNC, they would have been sued and they would have lost.

They have not forgotten how they overreached with Penn State and had to hand Joe Paterno back 100-something victories.

 

[Jimdish255]

He arranged for private workouts for players, which is the more serious violation.

And, and has been mentioned numerous times, the coverup is the problem here. Nothing Ollie did was all that serious, so why lie about it?

He dug his own grave there.

I wanted him gone and feel like his ethical lapses should be an issue. But ut in the big picture it still comes down to who the NCAA chooses to punish and how severely. We know we're going to get dinged every time which leaves no room for error. But thanks for clarifying.

 

[intlzncster]

There was no loophole. The NCAA simply does not have jurisdiction over academic matters on campus. The NCAA likely spent seven figures trying to find a way to get to UNC, but simply didn’t have a way - if they had penalized UNC, they would have been sued and they would have lost.

They have not forgotten how they overreached with Penn State and had to hand Joe Paterno back 100-something victories.

I've heard that argument. Just don't understand it. If an athlete takes a 'fake' class, common sense would dictate them ineligible. Hence my use of the term 'loophole'. I guess the ncaa's excuse is they offered the classes to everybody,which is the weak 'loophole'.

If the NCAA can't rule on academic matters, then how are they penalizing schools via the APR thing?

As far as Duke goes, Maggette should be ruled ineligible for 98-99,and Duke therefore should have to vacate that season (NCAA runner up). Do you think that'll happen? It won't.

Maggette even signed a sworn statement.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

I guess Bazz's "this is what happens when you ban us" stuck with Emmert and ever since then he was watching KO and UConn like a hawk waiting for the opportunity to attack.

Doesn't change that I loved when he said it.

 

[huskiesouth]

Maybe it's their client.

Somebody posited that he lied to his lawyers about his role. That could very well be true. I'm of the opinion that he might actually believe his own BS.

I dealt with KO's lead lawyer a couple of times, he's smart, successful and has a good reputation, often as a lawyer your skills appear limited because of your client.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

I'm not grandstanding, or posturing, or moralizing.

I'm the person that... travels eight hours to and from tournaments without leaving my car...

I'm not planning on boycotting; maybe I'll DM you, but here are a couple thoughts in the meantime:

What you've written is a serious lookalike to grandstanding, posturing, or moralizing. I'm not surprised that it has been read that way.

More importantly, you have got to get out of the car and watch the tournaments . What's the point of such long drives if you end up not seeing the games?

PS - I wrote an impassioned "but I'm right" group email Reply yesterday that went to an unsuspecting & uncomprehending crowd. This gives me good insight in how it was likely received by the whole group, and additional gratitude that my super long Reply to what I got back from the original poster didn't not go Reply All which I'd originally intended. Let a single guy think I'm crazy
And yeah, I'm totally right. Maybe you are too.

 

[Stainmaster]

The contract was basically completed when Benedict was hired, so I wouldn’t really pin it on him.

This is not true.

 

[ctchamps]

This.

If you ever read through the NCAA's list of enforcement actions, you'd see that schools self-report these things all the time and no action is taken. (Although the Griffin/Hamilton stuff was pretty troubling; those are signs the train is really getting ready to go off the rails.)

What the NCAA does care about is when you start to have a laundry list of these which starts to show that you really don't much care about compliance. And that's very clear with Ollie - the head coach is supposed to promote an "atmosphere of compliance" whereas ours plainly had a disregard for it.

And then when you mislead the NCAA about these things....you get Bruce Pearl'd.

Do you think UConn gets dinged by this? If so how badly?

 

[Kemba429]

What would happen if we landed 5 commits and we got a scholarship taken away? Would one just have to decommit? This is probably a stupid question but idc

 

[freescooter]

None of the violations are all that big a deal in the whole scheme of things but it just reitreates how he didn't want to put in the work, was cutting corners, and lying about it. Tried to tell all of you he isn't really the guy people thought he is and his hubris will cost him millions. Not getting another penny from UConn.

The old saying is it isn’t the crime that was so bad. It’s the coverup. None of the things he did were that bad but lying about them to UConn and the NCAA was the real problem.

 

[huskymedic]

Very much looking forward to Dick Vitale's (and all national media) public apology and retraction to UConn.

Well played @Storrs South !!

 

[freescooter]

I've heard that argument. Just don't understand it. If an athlete takes a 'fake' class, common sense would dictate them ineligible. Hence my use of the term 'loophole'. I guess the ncaa's excuse is they offered the classes to everybody,which is the weak 'loophole'.

If the NCAA can't rule on academic matters, then how are they penalizing schools via the APR thing?

As far as Duke goes, Maggette should be ruled ineligible for 98-99,and Duke therefore should have to vacate that season (NCAA runner up). Do you think that'll happen? It won't.

Maggette even signed a sworn statement.

Maggatte is ancient history but on the fake classes it’s pretty simple. The university, not the NCAA, determines whether a class is going to “count.” There we’re so many people affected by the fake classes, not only athletes, and the down stream impacts would be so complicated that the University just let the classes stand. For a simple example let’s say you were In your 3rd year of med school but because a class got voided now you lack the credits to have a BA. What does that do to your standing in Med school since your admission was based on having graduated from college? For that matter how do you unaward a degree? The school basically reviewed that and many thousands of other situations and deemed it best to simply accept the credits rather than create a mess. The NCAA for its part had no choice but defer because it cannot review class content. That is a slippery slope which neither the
NCAA nor the schools were willing to accept. It opens you deciding whether an English class at Boise State is comparable to one at Harvard or wherther Professor Smith’s polisci 104 is acceptable while Professor Jones’ section isn’t.

 

[CL82]

There we’re so many people affected by the fake classes, not only athletes, and the down stream impacts would be so complicated that the University just let the classes stand.

Calling BS. Though open to non-athletes, the numbers of non-athletes who actually took them were relatively few. Pretty sure no one is losing their medical license over it.

I think the NCAA could have made a failure to monitor sanction. The school is responsible for reporting APR. The reports they submitted were false. UNC said as much to the accrediting agency, while saying that otherwise to the NCAA. Academic integrity of the student athlete is a core function of the NCAA, or so they say. Letting UNC walk completely delegitimizes the NCAA in my opinion.

 

[Scrutineer]

Calling BS. Though open to non-athletes, the numbers of non-athletes who actually took them were relatively few. Pretty sure no one is losing their medical license over it.

I think the NCAA could have made a failure to monitor sanction. The school is responsible for reporting APR. The reports they submitted were false. UNC said as much to the accrediting agency, while saying that otherwise to the NCAA. Academic integrity of the student athlete is a core function of the NCAA, or so they say. Letting UNC walk completely legitimizes the NCAA in my opinion.

I think you meant DE-legitimizes the NCAA.
This has been a case of the NCAA looking for a reason to NOT penalize UNC. Since UNC admitted the classes were a fraud then it's not only a GPA issue but also a problem in that without the fraudulent courses the players didn't take the minimum credits required.
The NCAA is hiding behind their "inability to render judgements on academic issues". If the classes are fraudulent they didn't exist and without the credits the players were ineligible and if they're ineligible the games in which they played must be forfeited.