Death penalty (NCAA)

The death penalty is the popular term for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s power to ban a school from competing in a sport for at least one year. It is the harshest penalty that an NCAA member school can receive.

It has been implemented only five times:

1. The University of Kentucky basketball program for the 1952–53 season.
2. The basketball program at the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette) for the 1973–74 and 1974–75 seasons
3. The Southern Methodist University football program for the 1987 and 1988 seasons.
4. The Division II men's soccer program at Morehouse College for the 2004 and 2005 seasons.
5. The Division III men's tennis program at MacMurray College for the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons.

Current criteria

The NCAA has always had the power to ban an institution from competing in a particular sport. However, in 1985, in response to rampant violations at several schools, the NCAA Council passed the "repeat violator" rule. The rule stipulates that if a second major violation occurs at any institution within five years of being on probation in the same sport or another sport, that institution can be barred from competing in the sport involved in the second violation for either one or two seasons. In cases of particularly egregious misconduct, a school can also be stripped of its right to vote at NCAA conventions for four years. The severity of the penalty led the media to dub it "the death penalty," and the nickname has persisted to this day.^[1] The NCAA still has the power to ban schools from competing in a sport without any preliminary sanctions in cases of particularly serious violations. However, the "repeat violator" rule gave the Infractions Committees of the various NCAA divisions specific instances where they must either bar a school from competing or explain why they did not.

Since using it against the Southern Methodist University football program in 1987, the NCAA has seriously considered imposing a death penalty only once on a Division I school, when Kentucky basketball was found guilty of rampant recruiting and eligibility violations. In its final report, the NCAA said that Kentucky's violations were egregious enough to warrant a death penalty. However, the NCAA said the only reason it did not impose a death penalty was because school president David Roselle took swift action to bring the basketball program under control once the violations came to light.^[2]

University of Kentucky basketball

On October 20, 1951—in the midst of investigations into a point shaving scandal—former Kentucky players Alex Groza, Ralph Beard, and Dale Barnstable were arrested for taking money from gamblers to shave points during the 1948–49 season, in which the Wildcats won their second straight national title. Groza, Beard and Barnstable pleaded guilty to taking $1,500 in bribes in return for shaving points in a 1949 National Invitation Tournament game against Loyola-Chicago. The Wildcats were favored by 10 points going into that game, but lost 67–56. At that time, teams were allowed to participate in both the NCAA and NIT tournaments.^[3]

Later, All-American center Bill Spivey was also implicated in point-shaving during the 1948–49 season, and took himself out of the lineup until he could clear his name. As it turned out, the investigation dragged on through the entire 1952–53 season. Two reserves on the 1948–49 team claimed that Spivey was actively involved in the point-shaving scheme. Spivey denied any involvement, admitting only to not telling anyone about being approached to shave points. School officials, however, weren't convinced, and expelled Spivey from school in March 1952. In May 1952, Manhattan judge Saul Streit sentenced Groza, Beard and Barnstable to suspended jail terms and probation. He also contended that UK had created the problem by overemphasizing athletics.^[3]

At UK's request, the Southeastern Conference and NCAA began investigations of their own. In August 1952, the SEC barred Kentucky from conference play that season. Shortly thereafter, the NCAA investigation turned up evidence that players were being paid to play. As a result, the NCAA placed Kentucky's entire athletic program on probation for the 1952–53 school year and barred all of the school's teams from postseason play. As part of the penalty, the NCAA pressured all of its basketball-playing members into not scheduling the Wildcats—effectively canceling their season.

In November 1951, NBA President Maurice Podoloff barred all the players involved in the scandal, including Groza and Beard, from ever playing in the league again. Groza and Beard had been the stars of the Indianapolis Olympians, a charter member of the NBA, and the ban directly led to the Olympians' folding at the end of the 1952–53 season.

University of Southwestern Louisiana basketball

Southwestern Louisiana was found guilty of numerous violations after the 1972–73 season, including academic fraud, recruiting violations and improper financial assistance. The most serious violations involved five instances where players were allowed to compete despite having high school GPAs that predicted a college GPA lower than the NCAA's minimum of 1.6 at the time. On one occasion, an assistant coach forged the principal's signature on a recruit's high school transcript. The NCAA responded by barring the Ragin' Cajuns from competing in the 1973–74 and 1974–75 seasons.^[4]

Southern Methodist University football

Main article: Southern Methodist University football scandal

SMU football had already been placed on three years' probation in 1985 for recruiting violations. At the time, it had been on probation seven times (including five times since 1974), more than any other school in Division I-A.^[5]

However, in 1986, SMU faced allegations by whistleblowing player Sean Stopperich that players were still being paid. An investigation found that 21 players received approximately $61,000 in cash payments, with the assistance of athletic department staff members, from a slush fund provided by a booster. Payments ranged from $50 to $725 per month, and started only a month after SMU went on its original probation (though it later emerged that a slush fund had been maintained in one form or another since the mid-1970s). Also, SMU officials lied to NCAA officials about when the payments stopped.

While the school had assured the NCAA that players were no longer being paid, the school's board of governors, led by chairman Bill Clements, decided that the school had to honor previous commitments made to the players. However, under a secret plan adopted by the board, the school would phase out the slush once all players that were still being paid had graduated.^[6]

As a result:

• The 1987 season was canceled; only conditioning drills (without pads) were permitted until the spring of 1988.
• All home games in 1988 were canceled. SMU was allowed to play their seven regularly scheduled away games so that other institutions would not be financially affected. The university ultimately chose to cancel the away games as well.
• The team's existing probation was extended to 1990. Its existing ban from bowl games and live television was extended to 1989.
• SMU lost 55 new scholarship positions over 4 years.
• The team was allowed to hire only five full-time assistant coaches instead of the typical nine.
• No off-campus recruiting was permitted until August 1988, and no paid visits could be made to campus by potential recruits until the start of the 1988–89 school year.

The infractions committee cited the need to "eliminate a program that was built on a legacy of wrongdoing, deceit and rule violations" as a factor in what is still the harshest penalty ever meted out to any major collegiate program. It also cited SMU's past history of violations and the "great competitive advantage" the Mustangs had gained as a result of cheating. However, it praised SMU for cooperating fully with the investigation, as well as its stated intent to run a clean program. Had SMU not fully cooperated, it would have had its football program shut down until 1989 and would have lost its right to vote at NCAA conventions until 1990.^[7]

All recruits and players were allowed to transfer without losing eligibility, and most did. On April 11, 1987, SMU announced its football team would stay shuttered for 1988 as well, citing the near-certainty that it would not have enough experienced players left to field a competitive team.^[8] Their concerns proved valid, as new coach Forrest Gregg was left with a severely undersized and underweight roster composed mostly of freshmen.

Before the "death penalty" was instituted, SMU was a storied program in college football, with a Heisman Trophy winner (Doak Walker in 1949), one national championship (from the Dickinson System in 1935) and 10 Southwest Conference titles. The Mustangs compiled a 52–19–1 record from 1980 until 1986, including an undefeated season in 1982 led by the Pony Express backfield of future Pro Football Hall of Fame member Eric Dickerson, who set the NFL single-season rushing record by gaining 2,105 yards in 1984 for the Los Angeles Rams, and Craig James, who played with the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XX. The only blemish on that team's record was a tie against Arkansas, which denied the Mustangs a shot at the national championship despite being the only undefeated team in the nation.

Afterwards, players were reluctant to attend a school with a history of such major recruiting violations. In addition, the loss of 55 scholarships meant that it would be 1992 before the Mustangs were able to field a team with a full complement of scholarship players; it would be another year before it fielded a team consisting entirely of players unaffected by the scandal.

Since 1989 SMU has defeated only 2 ranked teams, has had only 3 winning seasons, and is 64–158–3.^[9] The Mustangs did not return to a bowl game until 2009; they won the 2009 Hawaiʻi Bowl on December 24, 2009 over Nevada by a score of 45–10. The death penalty decimated the Southwest Conference's reputation and finances, contributing to the collapse of the entire conference in 1996.

Years later, members of the committee that imposed the "death penalty" said that they had never anticipated a situation where they would ever have to impose it, but their investigation at SMU revealed a program completely out of control.^[10] Still, the crippling effects the penalty had on SMU has reportedly made the NCAA skittish about imposing another one. Former University of Florida President John V. Lombardi, now president of the Louisiana State University System, said in 2002: "SMU taught the committee that the death penalty is too much like the nuclear bomb. It's like what happened after we dropped the (atom) bomb in World War II. The results were so catastrophic that now we'll do anything to avoid dropping another one.”^[11]

Despite the NCAA's apparent wariness about imposing a death penalty, it has indicated that the SMU case is its standard for imposing such an extreme sanction. For example, in its 2005 investigation of Baylor Bears men's basketball, the NCAA determined that the Bears had committed violations as egregious as those found at SMU 18 years earlier. However, it praised Baylor for taking swift corrective action once the violations came to light, including forcing out head coach Dave Bliss. According to the NCAA, this stood in marked contrast to SMU, where school officials knew violations had occurred and did nothing.^[12]

Morehouse College soccer

In 2000, Morehouse's part-time soccer coach, Augustine Konneh (who had lobbied to get soccer elevated to varsity status two years earlier) signed two Nigerian-born players to play for the Maroon Tigers even though they had played professionally for the Atlanta Ruckus of the A-League two years earlier. They also played a few games for Morehouse before they actually enrolled at the school. Even though the school's athletic director received word that the two players might have been ineligible, they were allowed to play in 2001 as well. Although Konneh was replaced as coach in 2001, numerous other violations—including a player being allowed to compete without proper paperwork—led Morehouse to cancel the 2003 season. In November 2003, the NCAA barred Morehouse from fielding a soccer team again until 2006. It also slapped Morehouse with five years' probation—tied for the longest probation ever. USA Today called it the harshest penalty ever handed down to a collegiate program. The NCAA came down particularly hard on Morehouse because of a lack of institutional control; for a time the athletic department did not know the soccer program even existed. While this was Morehouse's first major infractions case, the NCAA felt compelled to impose the death penalty because of what it called "a complete failure" to keep the program in compliance.^[13] Soccer at Morehouse has since reverted to intramural status; school officials had planned to shutter varsity soccer for an indefinite period even before the NCAA acted.

MacMurray College tennis

MacMurray College's men's tennis team had its 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons canceled after coach Neal Hart and his father arranged to obtain scholarships for 10 players from foreign countries. Division III schools are not allowed to offer scholarships. The team had played only one match in 2004 when school officials learned about the violations. MacMurray canceled the rest of the 2004–05 season and forfeited the one match it played that year. In addition to having two seasons canceled, MacMurray was barred from postseason play in 2008 and 2009. The NCAA said that while Hart's intentions were good, he had nonetheless committed blatant violations.^[14] As with Morehouse two years earlier, while this was MacMurray's first major infractions case, the NCAA felt compelled to impose the "death penalty" because of the nature of the violations.

References

1. ^ http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/NCAA/Issues/Enforcement/Rules+Enforcement+glossary+of+terms
2. ^ 1989 Kentucky infractions report
3. ^ ^{a b} Account of canceled 1952–53 season at Big Blue History
4. ^ 1973 USL infraction report
5. ^ SMU 1985 probation report
6. ^ Wangrin, Mark. 20 years after SMU's football scandal. San Antonio Express-News, 2007-03-03.
7. ^ SMU 1987 probation report
8. ^ Frank, Peter. "'88 football season canceled by SMU." New York Times, 1987-04-11.
9. ^ "ESPN.COM". http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3184370. Retrieved 2008-01-07. 
10. ^ 30 for 30: Pony Excess. ESPN, 2010-12-11.
11. ^ Ferrey, Tom. NCAA's once-rabid watchdog loses its bite. ESPN, 2002-11-28.
12. ^ Baylor infractions report
13. ^ Wieberg, Steve. A small school gets a big punishment. USA Today, 2003-11-14.
14. ^ Unlikely 'Death Penalty' for a Tennis Team Inside Higher Ed, By Doug Lederman May 5, 2005

External links

• Dallas Morning News Death Penalty Account
• Boise State vs. SMU 2003
• Death Penalty Feared
• Rebuilding a Shattered Team
• 20 Year Anniversary Piece
• Turning the Corner: SMU Athletic Director