So, is everyone sick of realignment talk yet? Well no need to worry, as there are some good old-fashioned NCAA violations just popped up for us to discuss instead!
All joking aside, the University of South Carolina was sent a pretty lengthy Notice of Allegations today, and quite frankly, things aren’t looking very good. The allegations center around discounted hotel room rates (where football players and other athletes lived), as well as impermissible benefits provided to recruits from a service known as the “Student-Athlete Mentoring Foundation.” The hotel discounts went on from May 2009 to October 2010 and the recruiting violations from the spring of 2009 through February 2011.
Of the two violations, the more serious one seems to be the hotel rooms. In total, 12 athletes received over $47,000 in discounts on the rooms, in large part thanks to the fact that some were given a rate of just $14.29 per night, which we can say with most certainty wasn’t the correct room rate. Some of the athletes received the rate longer than others, with the most egregious violators getting it for around 14 months (In total, the worst offender received over $19,000 in impermissible benefits in discounted room rates alone).
Im addition to all that, it should also be noted that of the 12 athletes, nine were allowed to defer their rent payment, which is of course, a violation in its own right. According to the Twitter account of South Carolina beat writer Josh Kendall, the manager of the Whitney Hotel, Jamie Blevins has been disassociated with the athletics program. So too were Kevin Lahn and Steve Gordon, who provided the impermissible recruiting benefits.
As for the University of South Carolina itself, well Athletic Director Eric Hyman released a statement this evening, which said the following:
“The University will review the notice and respond accordingly. I assure you that we will continue to take all aspects of this investigation very seriously,” Pastides said. “We are prepared to continue to work with the NCAA to resolve any issues.”
“We have and will continue to cooperate fully with the NCAA in all aspects of their review. Any pertinent information from the NCAA that can help us strengthen our athletics program will be used as an opportunity to make positive change.”
Now the question of course, is what comes next. South Carolina has until the beginning of December to respond to the allegations, and from there will go in front of the NCAA Committee on Infractions in February.
And when they do get in front of the Committee on Infractions, they’re going to have a lot of explaining to do.
As things now, the NCAA has hit South Carolina with one of their most serious charges, “Failure To Monitor,” in light of both sets of allegations. According to the NCAA report, the school didn’t do its due diligence in comparing the price of the player’s hotel rooms to that of the rate of other guests, and more importantly didn’t compare the player’s rates to the rate that athletes had previously received at the hotel, dating back to the 2004 season. That last little nugget may be the most important of all, if only because the department won’t be able to plead ignorance on the issue. You know, since there doesn’t seem to be any tangible reason why the rates would dip over time, and certainly not that precipitously.
Simply put, this is bad news for a South Carolina football program that is just now reaching their full potential under Steve Spurrier. And for a program that can’t seem to keep themselves out of the headlines for off the field problems, this is the last thing they need right now.
To read the full NCAA Notice of Allegations, click here.
