It all got started back in August 2011 during the midst of one of the most scandalous years in college sports history. NCAA President Mark Emmert asked a group of university leaders to join him in revising procedures now in place to sanction college programs who were flagrantly bending and often breaking the rules set down to govern how the schools should go about recruiting new athletes into their system. At the time Emmert said they were going to get tough on those who refused to play by the rules. That time is upon us now as the NCAA passed a package of sweeping changes Tuesday intended to crack down hard on rule breaking schools and coaches.
Coaches and Athletic Directors across the nation are constantly being tempted, often because of the financial pressures to win at all costs, to break the rules in the hopes that either they won’t be caught or that the consequences won’t be very harsh if they do get caught. This kind of thing has been going on for years right under the noses of the NCAA and no one did anything about it even though it was hard not to notice the shiny new cars that the star athletes rode around in.
Only after the recent scandals involving Penn State did they sit up and take notice.
Under the plan, violators found in a “serious breach of conduct” with aggravating circumstances could get those postseason bans and be forced to return millions of dollars from specific events or gross revenue generated by the sport during those years in which rules were broken.
Another piece of the plan allows the NCAA to scrap its current system of major and secondary infractions for a four-level stepladder – severe breach of conduct, significant breach of conduct, breach of conduct and incidental issues. The board is hoping this allows the enforcement staff to focus primarily on the most serious cases. If a member of the coaching staff commits an egregious infraction, the head coach must prove he or she was unaware it occurred or face a suspension that ranges from 10 percent of the season to one full season.
Under the new rules, programs that commit the most blatant infractions could face postseason bans of two to four years and fines that could total in the millions.
Offending coaches could face suspensions of up to one year for violations committed by their staffs.
