12/03/24
June 11, 2009
Alabama Will Forfeit 10 or More Games: Alabama will forfeit at least 10 wins from the 2006 and 2007 seasons and be placed on probation over the improper disbursement of textbooks to athletes, according to media reports. Coach Nick Saban led the Crimson Tide to a 12-0 regular-season record and a No. 1 ranking last season before losing to the SEC championship and its bowl game.
First, let me state that I hate the crimson poop (as a Georgia Bulldawg fan) and Nick "where will I be coaching next year" Saban. But, I feel that this punishment is excessive. The players did not directly reap the additional benefits, but in fact, non student-athletes did. They may have done it with the wrongful help of student-athletes, but the benefits were not received by those student-athletes. Yeah, I know it may only be semantics, but when dealing with the stupid NCAA people, I will always err on the side of the employee, ummm, I mean student-athlete/lol.
posted by jagsnumberone at 12:41 AM on June 12, 2009
That's a crazy over-the-top punishment. WTF?
posted by dusted at 01:19 AM on June 12, 2009
How is it too much punishment when they didn't lose any scholarships? This is a slap on the wrist, compared to what would have happened had the NCAA found evidence of the dreaded "Loss of Institutional Control." Hello, death penalty."
posted by The_Black_Hand at 02:25 PM on June 12, 2009
Nothing to see here. Wins vacated are now the favorite penalty of the NCAA, since it is meaningless (it's not like the team that lost gets to add those wins to their books, and the offenders still get the glories they had at the time), and most of the time it gets rejected (see Oklahoma from Rhett Bomar). Texas Tech was ordered to vacate it's victories from either the late 90s/early 00s, and never did (they never put a deadline on when they have to report in). This will probably be overturned on appeal.
posted by Bonkers at 11:21 PM on June 13, 2009
From the story:
"A small number of athletes took advantage of the program to obtain textbooks for their friends, textbooks that had to be returned or paid for at the end of the semester," "It's important to note that no coach or staff member was involved in the violation, no sport gained a competitive advantage and not one athlete pocketed $1.
How does this punishment fit this, rather philanthropic, crime?