Max
Member
For nearly four years, NCAA Case No. 189693 trudged on without much notice outside of the state of Mississippi and college football circles. The NCAA's investigation into the University of Mississippi's athletic department includes allegations of academic fraud, illicit booster involvement and significant extra benefits in its football program. As the school shielded NCAA documents from public record and consistently downplayed the severity of the investigation, a veil of mystery hung over the case.
It remained that way until April 28, a day that should have been a celebratory one for the Ole Miss football program. Three Rebel players were projected to go in first round of the NFL Draft that night, a triumphant coda to a successful recruiting class three years before. Instead, two stunning twists cast a shadow over the program and thrust the NCAA investigation of Ole Miss into the public conversation.
The first came 10 minutes before the draft. A now-infamous video of star left tackle Laremy Tunsil smoking marijuana out of a gas mask bong leaked out on his Twitter account (Tunsil later admitted it was him in the video but said it had been taken years earlier). Tunsil, the top tackle prospect and once a candidate to be the No. 1 pick, lost millions as he slid to Miami at No. 13 in the wake of the video going viral.
Later that night, a screenshot was leaked from Tunsil's Instagram account showing a text message exchange between him and an Ole Miss football official asking for $305 to pay his mother's electric and water bill. During a televised press conference that evening, when he was asked if he had taken money from an Ole Miss coach, Tunsil stunningly said: "I'd have to say, yeah."
Tunsil's interview distilled the expansive and complex case against Ole Miss into one compelling sound bite. It also amplified a question buzzing around the SEC and college football since the Rebels improbably recruited the nation's No. 8 class, headlined by Tunsil, back in February 2013: Where there's smoke, is there fire?
The fate of the ascendant Ole Miss programāfresh off a 10-win season and Sugar Bowl victoryāhinges on that question. The NCAA's ongoing investigation began with the women's basketball program in 2012 and has spanned four years, three sports and 28 NCAA allegations. Thirteen of those are in the football program, including fixing ACT tests, significant booster involvement and nearly $15,000 in extra benefits for 11 football players, recruits and their families. The Notice of Allegations was released and the university responded to it. Both documents were released publicly on May 27.
The case will ultimately be decided (likely sometime in 2017) after the conclusion of the NCAA's investigation and a hearing before the Committee on Infractions. It's impossible to predict the level of sanctions the school will face, but independent experts consider the scope of the allegations severe. As the Ole Miss case slogs toward its fifth year, it highlights a process that's unpredictable, flawed and inherently reliant on people who have turned against a school, or in this case, their own family.
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There's a lot more of Thamel's piece here at the jump
The Case Against Ole Miss: How will the NCAA decide to treat the Rebels?
It remained that way until April 28, a day that should have been a celebratory one for the Ole Miss football program. Three Rebel players were projected to go in first round of the NFL Draft that night, a triumphant coda to a successful recruiting class three years before. Instead, two stunning twists cast a shadow over the program and thrust the NCAA investigation of Ole Miss into the public conversation.
The first came 10 minutes before the draft. A now-infamous video of star left tackle Laremy Tunsil smoking marijuana out of a gas mask bong leaked out on his Twitter account (Tunsil later admitted it was him in the video but said it had been taken years earlier). Tunsil, the top tackle prospect and once a candidate to be the No. 1 pick, lost millions as he slid to Miami at No. 13 in the wake of the video going viral.
Later that night, a screenshot was leaked from Tunsil's Instagram account showing a text message exchange between him and an Ole Miss football official asking for $305 to pay his mother's electric and water bill. During a televised press conference that evening, when he was asked if he had taken money from an Ole Miss coach, Tunsil stunningly said: "I'd have to say, yeah."
Tunsil's interview distilled the expansive and complex case against Ole Miss into one compelling sound bite. It also amplified a question buzzing around the SEC and college football since the Rebels improbably recruited the nation's No. 8 class, headlined by Tunsil, back in February 2013: Where there's smoke, is there fire?
The fate of the ascendant Ole Miss programāfresh off a 10-win season and Sugar Bowl victoryāhinges on that question. The NCAA's ongoing investigation began with the women's basketball program in 2012 and has spanned four years, three sports and 28 NCAA allegations. Thirteen of those are in the football program, including fixing ACT tests, significant booster involvement and nearly $15,000 in extra benefits for 11 football players, recruits and their families. The Notice of Allegations was released and the university responded to it. Both documents were released publicly on May 27.
The case will ultimately be decided (likely sometime in 2017) after the conclusion of the NCAA's investigation and a hearing before the Committee on Infractions. It's impossible to predict the level of sanctions the school will face, but independent experts consider the scope of the allegations severe. As the Ole Miss case slogs toward its fifth year, it highlights a process that's unpredictable, flawed and inherently reliant on people who have turned against a school, or in this case, their own family.
--------------------------
There's a lot more of Thamel's piece here at the jump
The Case Against Ole Miss: How will the NCAA decide to treat the Rebels?
