UCF hit with one year bowl ban

[Ghost]

Is he going into his last year of eligibility this November?

[footnfan1]

Yes

[Mama_Bull]

UCF's fast track to the doghouse

Knights' punishment isn't about the NCAA, but of a department that cut corners

By Dana O'Neil | ESPN.com

Central Florida Postseason Ban

And so here we are, barely a week after the NCAA dropped its entire toolbox on Penn State, with yet another hammer blow delivered to another institution.

Central Florida will slink out of its final season in Conference USA ineligible for the postseason in its two premier sports -- football and basketball

-- its basketball coach slapped with a show-cause penalty, scholarship reductions in football and men's basketball, monetary fines and vacated seasons. All serious punishments meted out by a clearly more serious NCAA.

Except this isn't about the NCAA and it shouldn't be yet another narrative on how the group in Indianapolis is doing business.

This is about the Knights, blinded by ambition, receiving their due punishment.

They cheated. They got caught. And now they are paying for it.

UCF not only broke rules, the folks in charge there thumbed their noses at the rulebooks, kowtowing and catering to the thorniest of NCAA thorns -- third-party influencers, in this case two wanna-be wheelers and dealers named Ken Caldwell and Brandon Bender.

[+] Enlarge

AP PhotoDonnie Jones was suspended three league games and also faces recruiting restrictions.

The NCAA Committee on Infractions report details phone calls and emails, lump sum payments, job placement for a mother and even a wink-wink out-of-state tuition waiver set up for Caldwell's son.

It is equal parts alarming and pathetic, a detailed look at how would-be hangers-on are empowered because of their connections to kids and how grown-ups, desperate to keep up in the high-stakes game of college athletics, demean themselves, their position and ultimately their school by playing along to move along.At one point, former athletic director Keith Tribble exchanged emails with Caldwell about a prospect Caldwell promised would be the "next John Wall." Tribble ended his correspondence with, "You da man!"

Yes, that would be the rule-bending man who pushed Tribble out of employment, into disgrace, and the university into the NCAA frying pan.

But this is the deal with the devil UCF chose to make -- Tribble, a lifelong college administrator who has a spot in the University of Florida's hall of fame as a distinguished letterwinner, falling under the sway and heeding the advice of a convicted felon. He allowed Caldwell into the university's inner sanctum so deeply that when Caldwell, according to the COI report, bragged to one prospect, "I run sh** over there," he really wasn't wrong.

He had Tribble's ear, and Tribble had his coaches' ears, and no one chose to block out the noise.

Tribble and head coach Donnie Jones tried to argue that they weren't aware of what Caldwell and Bender were up to, that they weren't nuanced enough in NCAA rules to recognize the worms dangling right under their noses.

Which is akin to saying they didn't smell the stench in the pigsty. If the NCAA has a hot button issue right now, it is third-party influences -- and the organization has gone so far as to reconstruct its definition to cast a wider net.

Administrators and coaches are never naive to either NCAA rules or the ways of their world. They know how business should be done and can be done in the world of college athletics. They just have to decide how they want to play ball, within the lines or outside of the foul poles.

UCF knowingly, willingly and desperately decided to go beyond the boundaries in the hopes of fast-tracking themselves to the big time.

To an extent, it even worked. Once a sort of sleeping giant waiting to pounce on the fertile recruiting grounds of Florida, UCF became a player. The Knights parlayed football success and prime real estate into an invitation to the Big East, ditching the Ellis Island of Conference USA for a brand-name league.

But fast tracks can be slippery, especially when oiled by people who are looking to have their hands greased, and UCF now is sliding back into the mire.

The university will limp into the more competitive Big East with fewer scholarships and coaching staffs handcuffed by recruiting restrictions.

Worse, a program and a university that actively courted a place among college sports' players finally arives to its spotlight with a shiner under each eye and under the scathing glare of its new conference, whichdoesn't welcome new members with NCAA violations warmly.

Central Florida supporters will wonder why its self-inflicted punishments weren't enough. In response to that, COI chair Greg Sankey cited plenty of reasons in the report -- the school's status as a repeat offender, the fact that administrators allowed third-party people to ingratiate themselves with the university, that they misled (read: lied) to NCAA investigators, and that overall UCF rang four of the five bells the NCAA needs to mete out serious punishment.

So yes, this is a strong punishment from the NCAA and should be viewed as a strong deterrent for others who might like to skirt the rules going forward.

But this isn't about the NCAA.This is about UCF.

The Knights ditched their shining armor in favor of black hats. And now they're paying the price for it.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/8218610/ucf-knights-blame-college-basketball

[Mama_Bull]

Could we use anybody from UCF in FOOTBALL? LOL

People focusing on the bowl ban are missing the bigger picture. UCF will feel the effects from this for a long time, given the reductions in schollies in both sports and other restrictions placed on their coaching staffs.

...Seniors on the football team would also be able to leave immediately and transfer without having to sit out a year because of a longstanding NCAA rule.

The reason the school received a postseason ban was the COI decided UCF met four of the five factors under bylaw 19.5.2-(g): individual remains employed at institution, competitive advantage arose from violations, violations were a lack of institutional control and institution was a repeat violator.

UCF just ended two years of NCAA probation in February after football staff members were cited for placing impermissible calls to perspective recruits over an 18-month period from 2007 to 2009. Because of that previous major violation, the school is considered a repeat offender, the reason it faced stiffer penalties for these latest infractions.

A C-USA official told ESPN.com on Monday the Knights would be prohibited from playing in the C-USA men's basketball tournament in Tulsa if they had received a postseason ban. The NCAA report confirmed that fact. That means the Knights have played their last postseason tournament as members of C-USA since they are leaving for the Big East.

C-USA, which will have 11 teams eligible instead of 12 for the conference tournament, likely will eliminate the first-round game of the tournament and give the top five teams a bye instead of the top four. The league needs to vote on before it becomes official.

Central Florida (22-11, 10-6 C-USA) lost to Drexel in the first round of the NIT. The one-year ban could allow leading scorer Keith Clanton to leave immediately under NCAA rules. Clanton, who averaged 14.5 points per game, could transfer and play immediately if the postseason ban is equal to his remaining eligibility. This also would mean the team's second leading scorer, senior Marcus Jordan (13.7 ppg), could leave and play somewhere else immediately, too. Clanton would become a highly sought after "free agent" if he chooses to leave.

A C-USA official said Tuesday players can transfer within the conference as long as they notify the school of the recruitment.

Other penalties:

• Limit football to 20 scholarships a season and 80 total over the next three academic years. UCF had proposed a reduction of four from 85 to 81 or 25 to 21 in new scholarships.

• Reduce men's basketball scholarships from 13 to 11 for the next three years. UCF had proposed reducing it to 12.

• Accept men's head coach Donnie Jones' three-game penalty and assistant Darren Tillis that was imposed by UCF for the first three games of the C-USA season in 2011-12.

• A fine of $50,000 payable to the NCAA when the compliance report is due on Sept. 15, 2012.

• Vacate all men's basketball wins in which A.J. Rompza competed from 2008-09 to 2011-12. The penaltry was self-imposed, and the NCAA only listed Rompza as "Student A."

• Reduce from seven to five the maximum number of football coaches allowed to be off campus recruiting at any one time for 2012-13 and 2013-14. UCF offered up one year.

• Limit the men's basketball program to two coaches off campus at any one time in 2012-13 and 2013-14.

• Jones and Tillis are prohibited from any off-campus recruiting during two of the three July recruiting periods in 2012 and all three in 2013. But eyewitnesses told ESPN.com they saw both coaches out on the road in Las Vegas and at the Peach Jam in North Augusta, S.C., this past month. So there may be an issue. UCF said it will seek clarification in regards to these restrictions.

• Reduce the number of recruiting days by 25 (130 to 105) in men's basketball for each of the next two years.

• Drop down the same days in football from 42 to 33 in the fall and reduce it from 168 to 134 in the spring for the next two years.

• Limit the number of paid visits in football to 30 (officially allowed 56) for next two years.

• Men's basketball drops down from 12 to seven during the same time frame.

• One finding of failure to monitor compliance for Jones.

• Three-year show cause for Jones but with specifics that he has to attend regional rules seminars in 2013 and '14. Any school that hires Jones in the next three years has to find out if he has done these things before hiring him, although there is no indication that Jones' job is in jeopardy.

• Former athletic director Keith Tribble received a three-year show cause penalty and cannot contact by phone or in person any prospective recruit. Tribble resigned in November.

• One-year show cause for David Kelly, who is not employed by a school at this time.

No sanctions were levied against football coach George O'Leary.

The initial report from the NCAA alleged that runners Ken Caldwell and Brandon Bender tried to help get players to UCF, including six men's basketball and five football prospects. Rompza was the only athlete to play a game at UCF. The allegations included Tribble's involvement of trying to land jobs for recruits.

"There needs to be constant vigilance in this area when caution flag arises," Sankey said.

Sankey added that Kelly and Tribble gave "false and misleading information."

C-USA commissioner Britton Banowsky, who is a member of the COI, was not involved in this case because of a conflict of interest. UCF went in front of the COI in April in Indianapolis.

"Our sanctions serve as a reminder of why we must remain vigilant about playing by the rules," athletic director Todd Stansbury said. "All of us -- administrators, coaches, staff members, student-athletes and fans -- have a responsibility to work together to set the standard for winning with integrity."

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/8217482/ncaa-hands-central-florida-knights-1-year-bowl-ban-1-year-basketball-tournament-ban

[Vega]

Jones and Tillis are prohibited from any off-campus recruiting during two of the three July recruiting periods in 2012 and all three in 2013. But eyewitnesses told ESPN.com they saw both coaches out on the road in Las Vegas and at the Peach Jam in North Augusta, S.C., this past month. So there may be an issue. UCF said it will seek clarification in regards to these restrictions.

I believe that will be proven true, which just makes me lmao at the knights. The pressure of them trying to "Fit In" has gotten to them. UCF needs to cut it's ties with Jones before something else happens.

[dabull80]

bet O'Leary is pissed

[Vega]

Jones and Tillis are prohibited from any off-campus recruiting during two of the three July recruiting periods in 2012 and all three in 2013. But eyewitnesses told ESPN.com they saw both coaches out on the road in Las Vegas and at the Peach Jam in North Augusta, S.C., this past month. So there may be an issue. UCF said it will seek clarification in regards to these restrictions.

I believe that will be proven true. The pressure of UCF trying to "Fit In" with the better programs has gotten to them. UCF needs to cut ties with Jones before he brings down even worse punishments. The NCAA doesn't like little people ignoring them

[Ghost]

**** they got hit pretty hard actually. Didnt think it was that bad.

[Dogma]

Jones and Tillis are prohibited from any off-campus recruiting during two of the three July recruiting periods in 2012 and all three in 2013. But eyewitnesses told ESPN.com they saw both coaches out on the road in Las Vegas and at the Peach Jam in North Augusta, S.C., this past month. So there may be an issue. UCF said it will seek clarification in regards to these restrictions.

I believe that will be proven true. The pressure of UCF trying to "Fit In" with the better programs has gotten to them. UCF needs to cut ties with Jones before he brings down even worse punishments. The NCAA doesn't like little people ignoring them

If true.. I wonder if it can lead to any further punishments

[Mama_Bull]

Jones and Tillis are prohibited from any off-campus recruiting during two of the three July recruiting periods in 2012 and all three in 2013. But eyewitnesses told ESPN.com they saw both coaches out on the road in Las Vegas and at the Peach Jam in North Augusta, S.C., this past month. So there may be an issue. UCF said it will seek clarification in regards to these restrictions.

I believe that will be proven true, which just makes me lmao at the knights. The pressure of them trying to "Fit In" has gotten to them. UCF needs to cut it's ties with Jones before something else happens.

I expect that they will continue to violate the restrictions placed on them. They just can't help themselves. LOL