Ole Miss released the NCAA’s Notice of Allegations, which the school received in late January, on Friday morning. Women’s basketball and track and field are also mentioned in the allegations.
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The school responded to the report and said they agreed with some of the allegations, but they do believe that some of the violations should be classified differently. “While discussed in more detail below, they collectively and generally include the termination of four coaches, including the only two involved head coaches still employed when the violations were discovered; the disassociation of every involved booster; a post-season ban in women’s basketball; a double-digit reduction of scholarships in the football program; a significant reduction in off-campus evaluation days and official and unofficial visits in football and track and field; violation-specific rules education across all involved sports; and a $159,325.00 financial penalty”.
In its response, the school said, “All but one of the 16 Level I violations arose from intentional misconduct committed by rogue former employees or boosters outside the University’s direct control acting in contravention of rules education provided to them by the University”.
Three other infractions are categorized as Level II violations, while the remaining two are Level III.
Of the 13 violations committed by Ole Miss football, eight were deemed to be Level I violations (the most serious kind), while 9 of the 13 violations occurred under the current tenure of coach Hugh Freeze.
Ole Miss athletic director Ross Bjork and chancellor Jeffrey Vitter wrote in the university’s response that “we agree that a violation of NCAA rules occurred; however, for several of those allegations we do not agree on all of the facts”.
As a response to the allegations, the school plans to self-impose an 11-scholarship reduction in football – one scholarship from the 2015 class, two from the 2016 class and four from each of the 2017 and 2018 classes. The booster, whose name was redacted in the NCAA notice, also provided a player, whose name also was redacted, with an impermissible, interest-free auto loan valued at $7,495.
In addition to coaching the team’s defensive backs, Vaughn was Ole Miss’ recruiting coordinator. 13 of the 28 allegations involved the football program. The NCAA valued these “inducements”, which included transportation and meals, at approximately $2,250.
Ole Miss has suspended two unnamed assistants from recruiting. Saunders also “knowingly provided false or misleading information regarding his knowledge of and/or involvement in violations of NCAA legislation”, the NCAA says. The fraudulent exam scores allowed the prospects to satisfy NCAA initial eligibility academic requirements.
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The letter said that the school and the NCAA began a joint review to determine whether bylaws were violated that same night. In light of that news, the university is asking the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions to postpone a hearing slated for sometime this summer so the university can finish an internal investigation into the Tunsil allegations.
