NCAA Sanctions?

[Stephen Gray]

The Lord's chicken would never be involved in such a scandal.

Chickens of all stripes are out to get us these days

 

[Stephen Gray]

So, Fulmer manipulates the boosters and administration and finally becomes AD, a job he is not remotely qualified for. His big hire is Pruitt. He lauds Pruitt endlessly and publicly as the savior of Tennessee football. He gives Pruitt a contract extension with no mitigation clause. Pruitt is the man!!!

When the sh** hits the fan, we say it’s not our fault “we tried our best, we didn’t know he was a cheater…..”. Sorry, it doesn’t work that way in college athletics, never has, never will. Schools are held accountable for the actions of their coaches That’s why hiring the right AD who hires the right coaches is so damn important!

For those saying screw the NCAA, that doesn’t happen. Period. We need to let this play out, accept the punishment, and move on. We’ve got a pretty good looking team right now. Heupel is rebuilding quickly. We don’t want to run afoul of the NCAA or Greg Sankey.

Yeah, I get the argument that they had no idea and it was all the evil coaches fault but in every industry companies are frequently punished for the activities the people they hire engage in. For one thing even if it’s not true and more people knew and let things go on, once someone is caught people can and do lie.

Let me be clear: I am not saying we did that. I’m saying there is no way to know one way or the other. Taking the University’s position as truth ar face value is not something I think we can assume will be done. I’m also saying that the “We didn’t know what was going on” argument does not always fly when the people you hire do ethically questionable things.

A big Fortune 500 I once worked for ended paying billions in fines when some of its business practices game out. Turns out bribery can be useful in a lot of fields. Like most every corporation I have ever worked for you take ethics and compliance training every year, which at least part of is “Don’t bribe people”.

I am a technical guy who rarely finds himself taking clients to dinner like an account executive, but still everyone takes these trainings. That didn’t stop a massive scandal when it came out. It also didn’t stop the huge fines when the company claimed they didn’t know what their people were doing and pointed to the process they had put into place. I think such things are put into place to limit liability, but it doesn’t always work.

I really hope all of the people saying they won’t do much more and have become a lot less dangerous are right. That said, I went and read a bunch of infraction summaries and appeals and it’s pretty common for them to praise the cooperation and then disagree with with a school having done enough and level more punishments.

Now a lot of the situations in football I read were many years old and some schools had a history of getting caught. That does give me some hope that they maybe will do things differently.

I’m not so sure even with NIL though they are really going to be as quick to ignore their old rules for things from the pre-NIL period, particularly after making the statement they did not too long ago clarifying their position about how such violations will be adjudicated. Things are changing but few give up power without a fight.

I guess all of this is to say I hope the legion of people here who are confident we are fine are right, but I’ll be nervous until it’s resolved. One thing that does give me hope is it’s awful convenient in my mind that Pruitt’s activities were uncovered around the time we needed to get rid of him with cause.

The official story is we had no idea and uncovered some things and self-reported. If maybe some people did know some things but disclosed them to get rid of him, one would suspect the calculus of what the NCAA response would be factored into that decision. Hopefully the truth of what would happen was known, even negotiated before they even disclosed it and this is all theater.

On the hand, maybe I just want to believe that things are going to be fine and I’m rationalizing naively.

 

[cobbwebb0710]

Right. Brazenly cheating and bringing unprecedented disgrace, infamy and shame upon our football program and university and making us a national laughingstock, as well as costing us scholarships that could have gone to other needy student-athletes, just isn’t that big of a deal. My bad.

I’m glad you see it that way.

 

[cobbwebb0710]

One of the aspects of Pruitt's job as a D1 coach was to cheat without getting caught. He seems to have failed spectacularly in that area.

I'll agree that's more of an intelligence issue than a character flaw but the guy didn't know what asparagus was. I can't imagine his intellectual deficits weren't obvious when he interviewed for the job...... but then again, Fulmer interviewed him.

I'll not attack his character but I'll plead with UT not to put another guy who doesn't know basic vegetables in charge of a multi-million dollar football program.

I can agree with that.

 

[Stephen Gray]

I’m glad you see it that way.

I mean it’s definitely a big deal when you get caught haha.

 

[Mightyvol]

I think UT can prove their response to the NCAA. When Plownan and Boyd became aware of the situation, they fired everyone. The investigation was open and thorough and they administered appropriate punishment. It should result in NCAA laudatory comments about UT’s administrations handling of the entire situation. End of story.

 

[Mccage]

So Chick fil a bags? Good grief. As if the college football world isn’t laughing at us enough for getting skull dragged by South Carolina. Now we find out the cash in fast food bags was real. We truly are cursed. SMDH.

Hum you giving yourself away!!

 

[Mccage]

Tennessee is expecting additional punishments. That’s why they asked for the 30 day extension to respond, meaning they wouldn’t get a bowl ban this season since we at the time had a really good shot at the playoff

Nope. Normal operating procedure

 

[loservol]

Yeah, I get the argument that they had no idea and it was all the evil coaches fault but in every industry companies are frequently punished for the activities the people they hire engage in. For one thing even if it’s not true and more people knew and let things go on, once someone is caught people can and do lie.

Let me be clear: I am not saying we did that. I’m saying there is no way to know one way or the other. Taking the University’s position as truth ar face value is not something I think we can assume will be done. I’m also saying that the “We didn’t know what was going on” argument does not always fly when the people you hire do ethically questionable things.

A big Fortune 500 I once worked for ended paying billions in fines when some of its business practices game out. Turns out bribery can be useful in a lot of fields. Like most every corporation I have ever worked for you take ethics and compliance training every year, which at least part of is “Don’t bribe people”.

I am a technical guy who rarely finds himself taking clients to dinner like an account executive, but still everyone takes these trainings. That didn’t stop a massive scandal when it came out. It also didn’t stop the huge fines when the company claimed they didn’t know what their people were doing and pointed to the process they had put into place. I think such things are put into place to limit liability, but it doesn’t always work.

I really hope all of the people saying they won’t do much more and have become a lot less dangerous are right. That said, I went and read a bunch of infraction summaries and appeals and it’s pretty common for them to praise the cooperation and then disagree with with a school having done enough and level more punishments.

Now a lot of the situations in football I read were many years old and some schools had a history of getting caught. That does give me some hope that they maybe will do things differently.

I’m not so sure even with NIL though they are really going to be as quick to ignore their old rules for things from the pre-NIL period, particularly after making the statement they did not too long ago clarifying their position about how such violations will be adjudicated. Things are changing but few give up power without a fight.

I guess all of this is to say I hope the legion of people here who are confident we are fine are right, but I’ll be nervous until it’s resolved. One thing that does give me hope is it’s awful convenient in my mind that Pruitt’s activities were uncovered around the time we needed to get rid of him with cause.

The official story is we had no idea and uncovered some things and self-reported. If maybe some people did know some things but disclosed them to get rid of him, one would suspect the calculus of what the NCAA response would be factored into that decision. Hopefully the truth of what would happen was known, even negotiated before they even disclosed it and this is all theater.

On the hand, maybe I just want to believe that things are going to be fine and I’m rationalizing naively.

Your previous place of employment also got in trouble for price fixing.

 

[Stephen Gray]

Your previous place of employment also got in trouble for price fixing.

I’m sure most huge companies get away with tons of things they are never caught doing. When you are talking about thousands, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of employees working in the world of business competition probably a lot crazier occurs.

 

[UT_Tix79]

Nope. Normal operating procedure

Nope, we are expecting additional sanctions. Probably still lose a few schollys and get a 1-2 year bowl ban. That’s what we are expecting at least. We’ve had our response ready for weeks. We pushed it back because it guarantees punishment would not be handed down this season.

 

[Mightyvol]

Nope, we are expecting additional sanctions. Probably still lose a few schollys and get a 1-2 year bowl ban. That’s what we are expecting at least. We’ve had our response ready for weeks. We pushed it back because it guarantees punishment would not be handed down this season.

Bless your heart!

 

[Stephen Gray]

Nope, we are expecting additional sanctions. Probably still lose a few schollys and get a 1-2 year bowl ban. That’s what we are expecting at least. We’ve had our response ready for weeks. We pushed it back because it guarantees punishment would not be handed down this season.

I dunno if we are or aren’t but this huge assumption we won’t have any additional punishments strikes me as possible but also maybe just hopeful. I do think if they are gonna go light now is the time to do it. The changing landscape and our “textbook cooperation” make me hopeful.

Just in reading old infractions so many of the appeal decisions determine that yes the university in question was cooperative and there was no lack of institutional control but then go on to level more punishment than the offending institution self imposed.

Most of the ones I read though regarding recruiting were quite old however, so I hope the many who feel what we suggest will be enough or at least that we won’t get a bowl ban are right.

Still, plenty of people are sure of all kinds of things quite often that prove wrong.