Monday, May 24, 2010

Before Armageddon


So tomorrow is the day when we'll get one of the last pieces of the NCAA infractions puzzle: Michigan's response to the allegations including their self-imposed sanctions. Via AnnArbor.com:

Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon said last week the university will make its response public on Tuesday. The response is expected to include a period of probation and loss of practice time, and Michigan already has made internal changes to its compliance practices and Rodriguez’s coaching staff.

That's basically what everyone is expecting and should anything more serious be dished out, either internally or handed down by the NCAA itself after reviewing the documents, expect my head to explode shortly after burning down every USC athletic facility.

But if history tells us anything, Michigan should get hit with the sybolic-est of symbolic penalties along with various other inconveniences. After the letters of inquiry came out, I started digging through just about every NCAA infraction case I could get my hands on. The most relevant case I found was one concerning Florida International that had a whole bunch of similarities to the Michigan case, including a coach/quality control assistant stupid enough to lie to the NCAA and subsequently get sent to a lookout post in Alaska. FIU's self-imposed sanctions are as such:

The good news? The sanctions aren't really all that damning. Florida International self-imposed several sanctions, none of which were all that painful (paraphrased):

1. Fired the coach that lied to the NCAA committee
2. Reduced the amount of coaches allowed for the next season by one. The one that was removed was the coach doing improper training who, in the Michigan case, were quality control folk. This might be a problem for the new linebacker coach we just hired, but no one else really.
3. Lost four fall camp practices
4. For every hour of impremissable practice, the team sacrificed two hours of mandatory practice/conditioning.
5. Reduction of one coach in off-campus recruiting visits
6. A few penalties against the AD that won't apply to the Michigan case because of Brandon coming in and tidying up
7. Loss of money, written reprimand, loss of bonuses, and having to attend meetings and other meaningless things imposed on the coach.
8. #7 only for S&C coaches and assistants.

So tomorrow, we're likely to read a similar list of penalties self-imposed on the program in far more scary, the-sky-is-falling language. Prepare for a wrist slap disguised as a crippling blow; these are "major violations", mind you. You will be informed of any changes or updates as they come down.

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