It's Take out the Trash Day in Eugene. And the Oregon Ducks are happy to put out the compost.
UO released documents this afternoon suggesting the AD and NCAA are in agreement Ducks violated recruiting regulations between 2008-11.
— Rob Moseley (@DuckFootball) February 24, 2012
Bulk of agreed-to violations relate to receiving oral reports from scouting services, in violation of NCAA regulations.
— Rob Moseley (@DuckFootball) February 24, 2012
Regarding Will Lyles, UO both received oral reports from his service, but also did not receive frequent enough reports to meet NCAA rules.
— Rob Moseley (@DuckFootball) February 24, 2012
In addition, Oregon exceeded limits on number of coaches allowed to recruit at any one time, during the years 2009-11.
— Rob Moseley (@DuckFootball) February 24, 2012
2 drafts of "proposed findings of violations" from NCAA indicate UO cooperating. In end, UO will agree to some version of these violations.
— George Schroeder (@GeorgeSchroeder) February 24, 2012
One-half of proposed findings of violations completely redacted citing federal privacy law; no way to know (YET) what those are.
— George Schroeder (@GeorgeSchroeder) February 24, 2012
In NCAA's "proposed findings of violations" to Oregon, 7 proposed violations. 4 completely or almost completely redacted citing privacy law.
— George Schroeder (@GeorgeSchroeder) February 25, 2012
In total, Oregon paid $45,245 to "at least three" recruiting services from 2008-11 "that did not conform to NCAA legislation."
— Adam Jude (@AdamJude_RG) February 24, 2012
The "proposed findings of violations" from NCAA also note that Oregon athletic dept. "failed to adequately monitor" football recruiting.
— Adam Jude (@AdamJude_RG) February 24, 2012
Oregon AD Mullens sent a letter to supporters on "the NCAA matter" today. Says UO cooperating w/ NCAA but no specific timetable on findings.
— Adam Jude (@AdamJude_RG) February 24, 2012
Mullens wrote that the proposed findings drafts released today were redacted b/c they contained "student information protected by law."
— Adam Jude (@AdamJude_RG) February 24, 2012
In addition to Will Lyles, Charles Fishbein of Elite Scouting and Baron Flenory of New Level are listed in the drafts as scouts paid by UO.
— Adam Jude (@AdamJude_RG) February 25, 2012
At first glance, this might seem like bad news. However, the more you think about it, the more it feels like Oregon is rushing out to meet the real story, i.e. the official Notice of Allegations from the NCAA. The fact that the Ducks don't seem too concerned about this has to be a good sign. Oregon has yet to receive the Notice, so the Ducks have to feel this will either (a) help their case or (b) clear up the air about the Ducks being in serious danger of punishment
Punishment for using extra scouting services is not well-charted, so I'm not sure what the precedent for punishment would be. I'd imagine Oregon would suffer some blowback with a reduction in hours they can spend on the recruiting trail, or number of in-home visits/recruiting calls they can make, maybe even a loss of a scholarship or two.
There's only one charge that could be a serious issue to Oregon fans, and that's the "failure to monitor" football recruiting services by the compliance department. This could just be Oregon being extra cautious or the compliance department falling on its sword, but if the NCAA upholds the failure to monitor charge, then there could be more serious repercussions then a few docks on the recruiting trail. However, it's better than "lack of institutional control".
However, if you're an Oregon fan and you're unhappy with the violations your school committed, you have to be fairly happy with the way the Ducks handled the process. They've been upfront, they've conceded documents to the NCAA, they haven't been defiant, and now they've acknowledged that they made mistakes. When it comes to battling the NCAA, it's like dealing with any unit of law enforcement: Get all haughty and defensive and they will mess you up, but roll over for them and they're more likely to let things slide.
The Ducks might still get punished, but it won't be for the way they treated this investigation. A lot of it might depend on what wasn't reported, and whether there are further violations coming.