NCAA investigating Vols basketball

This is not surprising. First, this kind of thing goes by conference. With Alabama, South Carolina, and Florida under the gun for major violations relative to agents and the like, and with the UT football program being looked at because of little Lanie's transgressions, nothing should surprise anyone. The folks that need to be worried are KY, because there was already blood in the water in Lexington even before the Kanter thing surfaced.

Second, there have been questions about phone usage over on the Hill before because of what constitutes campus and what doesn't, so this is not anything new (nothing ever comes of it). There has been no LOI or thought that there might be one, so I'd say this is a blip at this point.

Third, when you have success, you get looked at. Every BCS champion since its inception has had an investigation or prelims after winning. Most come of nothing. Now, if more comes of it, we'll see. Tennessee has far bigger fish on the hook, thanks to Mr. Kiffin and Hamiton's inability to control little Lanie.

I think your OP is a little misleading. They are looking into whether or not a violation occurred. That's entirely different than an investigation where there is evidence one occurred and the NCAA is examining the evidence for it's LOI. Again, no LOI has occurred or expected for the bball program. One for FBall will come any day now. And "Show Cause" could follow Lanie out to LA. And should, imho.

BTW, just looked up three other sites. This all stems from the football investigation. These questions were done as part of that investigation. I think the baseball team got a peek too. So it's not like Pearl kicked up dust or something. Again, though, if we broke the rules, we should have to pay the price.

 

http://www.govolsxtra.com/news/2010/sep/10/pearl-penalized-ut-misleading-ncaa-investigation/

Pearl is being hit with severe internal penalties after Pearl admitted providing inaccurate info to the NCAA. He will lose 1.5 million, have $500k delayed in bonuses, and will be barred from off-campus recruiting. 3 assistants will have similar penalties. I'm shocked and disappointed.

 

This is a real disappointment. As I liked Pearl and he seems like a nice guy. But he has lost a lot of points with UT fans IMHO.

 

I dunno. I think the fact that he self-reported will carry a lot of weight. (then again, admitting you lied is a real quandry). Fans I have heard from are glad he's falling on the sword financially. And remember, most still blame Lane Kiffin since his antics brought about the investigation.

 

What, exactly, did Little Lanie have to do with the basketball program? When the NCAA came to Knoxville, did Lanie tell Pearl to lie to the NCAA? UT fans can be ticked at Lanie because he's a jerk and sold out the program at the first opportunity, but I don't see how he had anything to do with this.

Pearl self-reported because he knew he was going to get busted anyway. He's more sorry that he got caught than he is that he did anything wrong.

 

Take off the Illinois glasses ole buddy. You don't know about the whole "sorry he got caught." maybe he was. Or maybe he was trying to right a wrong. No one, not certainly you nor I, can say so with absolute veracity. (Please know I said the above with levity - I don't intend to offend)

I think it's always spurious when you admit you lied after the fact. Pearl has nothing to be proud of. That said, the NCAA always prefers that they find out about misinformation (and there's not a lot of detail about what exactly was false) from self-reporting rather than their own discovery.

And the NCAA itself said (as well as media outlets) that they found this as a result of the initial inquiry into the atheltic dept due to the investigation into the football program. Remember that the baseball program got a peek about recruitment of Kentrail Davis during all of this, too. When the NCAA comes calling, they don't just limit themselves to one sport. Ask Southern Cal. They go investigate Reggie Bush and four sports got slapped if memory serves me correctly. Oklahoma's bball penalties that followed Sampson to IU started as an investigation into the football program.

Here are the self imposed penalties:
http://www.govolsxtra.com/news/2010/sep/11/ut-self-imposed-penalties/

http://www.govolsxtra.com/news/2010/sep/11/ut-penalizes-pearl-staff/?partner=popular

 

Update: The baseball inquiry ended up centering more on an asst coach who wasn't really authorized to do coaching doing coaching during a dead period.

Not so much an update as a clarification: the whole inquiry started in Dec of '09 over the hostess issue and how Lanie used his brother in law in the deal. The LOI was not limited to one program, and at some point over the following months, many from each program were questioned.

The bball program inquiry centered around extra contacts, making somewhere around 100 extra phone calls over a three yr period. For contrast, UConn recently had a situation where they made over 1,000 in a lesser period. Kelvin Sampson did around 550.

A full conclusion is expected between Dec of '10 and Mar of '11. It is expected at this point that there will be sanctions against the football program and we'll see if the NCAA adds to the self-imposed sanctions on the Bball program. The baseball program will likely see no further action.

Mike Hamilton's job may have finally hit the wall. Phil Fulmer could be the new AD by Memorial Day '11/

 

Oh no, they're staying firmly on. :smilewinkgrin:

Perhaps. But, with so many phony-baloney apologies we've seen, it's hard to be anything but cynical.

 

That's fair.

One thing I am glad to see: the offenders are having to pay a literal price. I know, I know....Pearl has a nice salary outside of the 2 million he's giving up or deferring. But still, would you or I want to take a 25% reduction in pay? And the assistants have a similar reduction percentage wise. Again, no one's going on food stamps because of this, but still, it's a welcome change to see coaches have to give up something personally. Don't know how the NCAA will feel about it though.

 

Don't know what you mean. I just know that it came out today that the baseball part of the investigation I mentioned is now public, and that the bball investigation likely will run into early 2011.

This all centers on the fact that a photo surfaced of a couple of recruits with Coach Pearl at his home during an unofficial visit. Coach Pearl initially told investigators he wasn't sure where the photo was taken and didn't think the photo was at his home. When asked if he felt they were gaining a recruiting advantage, Pearl said no since two of the three men did not sign with UT but signed instead with Ohio St and Kansas (Josh Selby). Pearl was not comfortable with this and realized the photo was at his home, and called the NCAA back and then AD Hamilton.

The fact that the recruits ended up elsewhere will help Pearl with NCAA penalties but do not negate the fact that rules were broken.

 

Congratulations on the win. :thumbsup:

Truthfully, I think you're right. I think pound for pound, Dooley got a lot of miles out of what we had. Take out the fake punt (which UF executes flawlessly) and Simms's bad pass in the end zone, and we have a much different ball game. Two plays. No way those two teams are two plays apart talent wise right now. The good news for FL is GA is terrible (I think Richt's seat is HOT) and I still think LSU is beatable. Bama is just...well....I can't bring myself to compliment those &^%#*^#&%@#@.

As for Pearl, no way his job is in jeopardy (unless more comes out, which will not happen according to what I'm hearing. All that's left is details of what happened and those started coming out last week). Pearl fires Hamilton and Hamilton has to admit he's failed in every move as AD (firing Fulmer and hiring Kiffin; firing Delmonico and hiring Raleigh in baseball). Pearl's hiring is Hamilton's lone crowning achievement. And that took a hit with these infractions. That said, with Pearl and with the sanctions, UT is still a favorite to compete for the SEC title. So unless much more comes out, Pearl's job is safe.....and so is Hamilton's (If the backlash against him over Kiffin doesn't settle down). Hamilton is on much thinner ice than Pearl, by the way.

 

No. I reported this earlier last week. From the story's own admission:

Remember that UConn did ten times that many during one investigation. UT has self-reported 97 calls.

One other issue is the violation of the 48 hour rule for prospective recruits to visit campus. This too has been self reported and restitution made.
Torrell Harris, father of prized recruit Tobias Harris, said this today:

Incidentally, rumor has it that Harris will comply with NCAA investigations of other schools in their recruitment of his son. He is virtually itching to report other big name school that recruited him, implying that anything UT did was nothing compared to the likes of some other schools.

Still, I maintain this: while Pearl as of yet has not done anything to warrant a firing, he has paid a price that he should have paid and let's get on with it. If something else comes out, let's address it. Nothing new here.