Will Ole Miss Be Another Example Of Long Investigations Hurting Innocent Players?

Many of the fans who gather in The Grove every autumn to support Ole Miss football were likely shocked by the news that their athletic department is under investigation for allegations of rules violations. The news immediately brought speculation of an unearthed conspiracy theory from outsiders, especially those in the SEC who have been suspicious of the recent success of the Ole Miss football program from the outset. How could Ole Miss have knocked off mighty Alabama, now the reigning national champion again, two years running?  How, during the 2014 football season, was Ole Miss ranked Number One in college football polls? How could the mediocre team whose name has changed in recent years to satisfy political correctness have a recruiting class in the Top Ten? Not just in the Top Ten in the SEC, but in the entire Division I? Something was amiss in the Kingdom of Saban and now the NCAA apparently found the culprit(s).

But if fans and onlookers read past the headlines, they would discover that the football program is a small part of the overall investigation, and the allegations regarding the football program were not unexpected. And, perhaps, most importantly, for the most part, the allegations predate the takeover of the program by giant slayer Hugh Freeze.

According to one report, Ole Miss officials have known that the sky was falling and even urged expediency. In the latter case, they may now wish they had skipped that part as the news falls less than a week before college football’s National Signing Day with an expected class of recruits that would land the University of Mississippi in the Top Five nationally. The athletic department had even begun to punish itself in an attempt to mitigate any sanctions the governing body would hand down.

In the case of the football program, the most well-known target of the investigation is Laremy Tunsil, an All-SEC offensive tackle whose stepfather alleged that Ole Miss violated recruiting rules when trying to lure Tunsil to the school. Of course, the veracity of the allegations could be somewhat suspect as the stepfather had only days before been punched by Tunsil when he was allegedly assaulting the player’s mother. Tunsil was charged with domestic violence at the time.

Another distant memory that reportedly gave rise to the notice of allegations involves former assistant football coach David Saunders who was at Ole Miss in various roles during three different tenures at the school.  From 1998 to 2002 he was an assistant for recruiting and later the coordinator of high school and community college relations, obviously a first line of contact for recruits. In 2006, he was hired by Ed Orgeron as an assistant coach and in 2010 he was an administrative assistant working in the football program. He was hired by the University of Louisiana-Lafayette in January 2011 where he was an assistant coach until he was fired in October 2014 as a result of the investigation.

Officials in Louisiana are trying to pass some of blame back to Ole Miss saying that “a pattern of violations…trailed Saunders” to Louisiana-Lafayette. The violations allege Saunders’ involvement in helping recruits pass the ACT so they could meet academic requirements to enroll at Ole Miss and later at the Louisiana school. The transgressions allegedly took place at a high school testing site in Mississippi.

“…a lost opportunity for something I had nothing to do with. That’s hard to accept.”

But, whether football, women’s basketball, or track and field (the other programs targeted by the allegations), the punishment for the 30 alleged violations will likely affect current Rebels more than those involved in the alleged bad behavior.

This is the unfortunate fallout of NCAA investigations and subsequent punishment. Most of these investigations take not months, but years. By the time the pound of flesh is exacted, the bodies with the wounds are uninvolved players.

One of the best quotes about the effect on current players of penalties based on earlier behavior came from USC defensive end Devon Kennard, who played for the Trojans from 2009-2013 during the probation most associated with Reggie Bush (who was forced to return his Heisman trophy) and other USC athletes who received benefits in violation of NCAA rules. Kennard said that, even though the team finished 10-2 in 2011, it was ineligible to compete in the PAC-12 title game and possibly even a BCS game.

“Looking back, the NCAA took an opportunity from me that I’ll never be able to get back,” Kennard said. “An opportunity to play in a game, a lost opportunity for something I had nothing to do with. That’s hard to accept.”

USC brought in alumni Pat Haden in August 2010 after sanctions started in June of that year to try to straighten out the mess left behind by the dreaded “lack of institutional control” penalty meted out after Bush, O.J. Mayo and the Trojan hoops team violated NCAA rules. The probation ended in 2014 but USC’s recruiting classes are still not cracking the Top Ten, and barely the Top Twenty. As of this week’s news, its rankings are projected at 17th (ESPN) to 25th (Scout).

Haden may have the best advice for other ADs. When asked if a similar situation could happen again at USC, he said, “…the simple answer is yes,” adding “[t]here’s nothing you can do to prevent poor decisions”. Getting off probation he said is “not an end…but a continuation of a state of vigilance…in particular [for] those universities that have had major infractions, it never ends”.

Of course, there are always some exceptions to the rule. After Ohio State was penalized under Jim Tressel’s regime, Urban Meyer’s first team at OSU stayed home during bowl season in 2012 after going undefeated. But only three years later, Meyer took the team to the top, winning a national championship. Whether that speaks to Meyer’s prowess as a head coach or that the perennial strength of the OSU football program can withstand strong sanctions, it seems to be an anomaly among sanctioned schools.

Whether the announcement affects this year’s recruiting class at Ole Miss will be evident immediately. Whether the punishment that is ultimately handed down will affect the momentum that Hugh Freeze has started to build at the school may only be known when this year’s recruits are upperclassmen.