University of Oregon Receives Notice of Potential NCAA Violations

On Thursday, it was announced the University of Oregon received notice of potential NCAA violations committed by the school.

Those that live in glass houses, shouldn’t throw stones. As the Arizona Basketball team has the ongoing rumors regarding the FBI Investigation, Oregon Basketball may be in a little bit of a tough spot as well, as they were notified of potential NCAA Violations.

On Thursday, the school announced some self-imposed infractions committed by the Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams, along with their Track &Field team.

College athletics are a tough business, and regardless of who you are, there’s always going to be a microscope on you.

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The Ducks unfortunately got caught with a little of extracurricular activities. Although seemingly minor, who plays 100 percent by the rules anymore? This isn’t to give exception to the University of Arizona, sadly, this news shouldn’t be all that shocking, when stuff like this seems to happen at a lot of places.

Oregon announced that they acknowledged the violations and have taken proper steps in taking responsibility involving their staff.

The school has also intimated that they have and will address the issues at hand, and feel confidently that those violations will not take place in the future.

Here were the allegations according the article released by the school:

• Allegation 1 charges academic misconduct involving a former track and field student-athlete and a faculty member. The faculty member changed a grade from failing to passing for a student-athlete, contingent on that student completing coursework at a later date. The university’s faculty athletics representative discovered the grade change, the university determined it was a violation of the UO’s grading policy, the student was immediately removed from competition and it was reported to the NCAA. As recent Committee on Infractions rulings have made clear, the NCAA gives sole power to the university in determining what constitutes academic misconduct. In this case, the university’s internal controls worked; there was no academic misconduct. The violation should be charged as an impermissible academic benefit.
• Allegation 6 charges that head men’s basketball coach Dana Altman failed to properly monitor his program when it was discovered that noncoaching staff members had conducted prohibited workouts with a handful of student-athletes and improperly participated in on-court activities (outlined in allegations 2 and 3). While we acknowledge the impermissible workout violation — one of the noncoaching staff members was suspended — the charge of head coach responsibility is not justified.  We believe such a charge was intended for coaches who do not demonstrate a strong commitment to compliance and ethical stands, and this instance falls considerably short of the legislative intent and case precedent. The violation should be charged as an impermissible coaching activities infraction.
• Allegation 7 charges that head women’s basketball coach Kelly Graves failed to properly promote an atmosphere of compliance under the head coach responsibility bylaw. The charge stems from strength and conditioning staff members participating in on-court drills and assisting in voluntary workouts outside the presence of the coaching staff (outlined in allegation 4). The charge of head coach responsibility is, again, not justified and falls short of the legislation’s intent and case precedent. The violation also should be charged as an impermissible coaching activities infraction.

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It will be very interesting to see how things transpire following the infractions, but it just goes to show, not every school is 100 percent compliant, 100 percent of the time! Bear Down, Arizona!