The Probation Story Gets Worse

Talk about perceptions taking a hit. Mike Knobler of the AJC is reporting that the series of events that led to the embarrasing academic lack-of-oversight was not actually "self-reported", but only brought to light after a January 5, 2004 telephone call to the NCAA by a "confidential source".


While both the school and the NCAA agree that nobody deliberately violated NCAA rules, these are considered "major" violations. Now that everyone agrees on that, school officials made the decision to increase the number of lost scholarships in the 2005 / 2006 classes by 6 instead of the original 4. That's a total of 12 scholarships lost.


Don't get me started on this whole thing. It's just plain embarrasing. Because of the poor oversight on their watch, a reputation that has been built on character and ethics and high standards over more than a century takes a hit. I know nothing was done willfully, but it's still disappointing, to say the least. All we can do is assume that this issue is taken care of and there isn't something hiding in our closet ready to pop out in the future. That's what happens when situations like this happen - doubt creeps in.


Having said all that, we must support the teams, and I still personally support Dave Braine, even though trust levels have taken a hit.