University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, November 2, 1988
THE NCAA RULING
9
Ruling could be worse than it was SMU recovering from 'death penalty' imposed on football team in 1987
By Ken Winford Kansan sportswriter
The NCAA dealt a heavy blow to the Kansas men's basketball program yesterday by putting the Jayhawks on three-year probation for recruiting infractions, but the ruling could have been worse.
Yet, as damaging as the decision
wins, hayhaws still can compete
next year.
Under the ruling, the Kansas basketball team will be banned from postseason competition this season, was stripped of one basketball scholarship for the 1989-90 academic year and the program can't pay for any recruiting visits to the school in 1989.
The NCAA Committee on Infractions said in its report to Kansas that because the Jayhawks had committed "major" violations within five years of another "major" infractions case, Kansas could have been exposed to more serious penalties, such as the "death penalty."
The Kansas football program was placed on probation from 1983 to 1985 for violations.
Under the death penalty, an athletic program can be ended for a specified amount of time, as well as having restrictions on recruiting and the number of scholarships available.
The Southern Methodist University football team, which built a national-power reputation in the 1980s around big-name players such as NFL standouts Eric Dickerson and Craig James, was given the death penalty in 1987.
Ed Wysneksi, sports information director at SMU, said the university athletic program still was trying to recover from the ruling.
"It was a difficult transitional period trying to function without a football team," Wysneski said. "The absence of football gave more attention to other sports out of necessity. Our homecoming game that year was a soccer match.
"Right now, we're just trying to get the program back on its feet. Most of the players from that team transferred to other schools and the coach and the athletic director resigned.
"There's been a large turnover in the athletic department."
Darryl Terrell, a running back who transferred to Kansas from SMU after the death penalty was imposed on the Mustangs, said the Kansas basketball players probably were going through some of the same feelings he experienced in 1987.
"The first reaction you have is that you know the goals you had at the first of the season are tarnished because you can't play," Terrell said. "I feel especially bad for the seniors. They just won the national championship and I love back to the tournament. Now with the sanctions, it puts a dark cloud over everything you do."
Terrell, whose career ended last year after he suffered a torn Achilles tendon in the last game, said at SMU most of the players affected by the NCAA penalty weren't involved in the violations.
"Most of the time it's people doing things prior to when you get there that cause the problem," he said. "Sometimes it will be punished for what happened."
The SMU football program was given the death penalty after it was revealed that during the period from September 1985 through December 1986, monthly payments from $50 to $725 were made to student-athletes in the football program. The payments were made from money supported by an outside representative with university athletic interests.
Under the death penalty ruling, all Mustang football games were canceled for the 1987 season. SMU could have played seven away games this fall, but the school decided to wait until 1989 to compete again.
After having its scholarships taken away in 1987, SMU was allowed to give 15 for the 1988-89 academic year and 25 in 1989-90.
Forrest Gregg, who coached the Cincinnati Bengals to the SuperBowl in 1982, was hired to rebuild the Mustang program.
Now that SMU has a new coach, Wysneski said all efforts were being directed toward fielding a team next fall.
Staff will focus on starting over
Roy Williams knew the Kansas basketball program was under investigation by the NCAA when he accepted the Jayhawk position July 8.
By Jeff Euston
Kansan sportwriter
July 8.
But the man who hired Williams, Bob Frederick, did not have that advantage when he took the job as Kansas athletic director 17 months ago.
Although no one cited in the NCAA report is currently affiliated with the University of Kansas, Frederick said the penalties may have tarnished the University's image as well as his own
"Two weeks after I accepted the job in May of 1887, I was informed that the NCAA had decided to conduct a preliminary inquiry with some aspects of the basketball program," he said late yesterday afternoon.
ty's image. "The person who is sitting in Laguna Beach, Calif., sees this on the national news and just assumes that the athletic director is in the wrong." he said. "I think this represents some kind of signal that the enforcement committee intends to deal severely with violations in the future."
told in the face of Williams said he did not regret his decision to come to Kansas despite the stiff penalties.
Frederick, the man in the eye of the storm, said he was relieved the business of the NCAA investigation was over.
"Right now I just feel very emotionally wring out," he said. "From the time we received the official letter of inquiry I was very nervous until yesterday (Monday), when we received the letter."
Chancellor Gene A. Budig and Frederick informed the NCAA yesterday that the University would not appeal the penalties.
"A number of things went into that decision," Frederick said. "The number one thing was recruiting. We wanted to resolve the whole thing now. We didn't want to drag it out any longer."
An appeal involves appearing before a 35-person NCAA committee and might not be acted upon without the original penalty had been served.
"I was trained in North Carolina under Dean Smith in how to run a program clean and that's the way we're going to run it here," he said. "The NCAA is not going to make me change the way I was going to run the program anyway, because we're going to run it cleanly. We're going to do it the right way."
Williams said the penalties would not change the operation of the program.
"I'm extremely frustrated for these young men and I'm extremely disappointed. I say I have mixed emotions about this, because now we can put this all behind us."
Larry Brown
David BrandtJKANSAN
KU escapes 'death penalty' for abuses
Kansan sportwriter
By Mark E. McCormick Kansan sportwriter
Kansas athletic director Bob Frederick said there were tense moments leading up to the NCAA's announcement of the penalties.
The University of Kansas men's basketball program escaped an NCAA imposed death penalty because it showed "unique circumstances" in its case, an NCAA enforcement official said yesterday.
"I was really nervous about the worst possible scenario," Frederick said. "We were hopeful that we could prove that unique circumstances existed in our case. Our response was based on the unique circumstances and trying to argue that these violations were not major."
Richard Hilliard, assistant director of enforcement for the NCAA, said Kansas avoided the sweeping censure of the penalty because no other serious violations were found in the program, the current violations were not connected to 1983 football violations and vice versa, and most of the violations were confined to a 10-day period in June of 1966.
Only one school, Southern Methodist University in Dallas, has received the death penalty, which eliminated the school's football program for two years.
01 7860:
The term "death penalty" was created by the media and doesn't appear in the NCAA rule book, Hilliard said.
years.
SMU, in the Southwest Conference, was banned from competition, practice and recruiting for two seasons. In 1987, the Mustangs were charged in a seven-page report with the payment of players and recruits, said Ed Wysneski, the sports information
director at SMU.
The death penalty was imposed upon SMU because it was convicted of many of the same violations the year before. Hilliard said the rule was created for repeat offenders like SMU.
"If a coach gives a player $20 in an isolated incident, there may not be a major violation," he said. "But if people were paying players $100 a month or $200 a month, that would rise to the level of serious infractions and would also be establishing a pattern that the committee could examine."
After a school commits a major penalty, it is placed under the umbrella of the rule, being watched closely by the NCAA. Hillard said. But if a second violation occurs within five years, the umbrella would close, bringing penalties such as prohibition from competition and the loss of recruiting and scholarship rights.
JAYHAWK PRIDE WEEK KU VS KSU 2 for 1 Game Special
Support The Jayhawks - Go to the Game!
Any student who purchased an all sports combo ticket ... You and one guest can get in with one ticket and two valid KU ID's.
Show your Pride A 2-Fer You Can't Miss!
★ Don't pass up your opportunity to get your nerf ball to win a trip to the Orange Bowl.
CHRISTMAS IN MIAMI Are You Dreaming of a White Sandy Beach Christmas?
Spend 4 nights and
in sunny Miami, Florida
3 days
A complete holiday package featuring:
- Hotel accomodations
- Airline tickets
- Tickets to the Orange Bowl
Compliments of Sunkist Fruit Growers
To win the trip, donate to the Sunkist Scholarship fund to help benefit KU non-revenue sports.
KU VS KSU Football Game Saturday, Nov. 5, 1:00 p.m.
suggested donations:
1 Ball $2.00
3 Balls $5.00
8 Balls $10.00