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A day after the news broke of the parting ways between Baylor and Art Briles, just as the Memorial Day weekend was starting, Ole Miss thought they would be sneaky and release a 52-page document detailing the breadth and nature of violations committed by the Rebels’ football program. And Hotty Toddy is it a DOOZY!
Despite what Hugh Freeze tried to tell the world, most of the 13 violations pertaining to football occurred under his four-year watch at Ole Miss. Among the violations, eight are considered level 1. There are 28 in total.
Current assistant coaches Chris Kiffin (defensive line), Derrick Nix (running backs), Maurice Harris (tight ends), and Matt Luke (offensive line) were named in the report. Two unnamed assistants have been suspended from recruiting. Most of the violations come in the forms of paid cell phone bills, comped hotel stays, paid ACT prep courses and free loaner vehicles.
Love college sports. Who hasn't brought car in for repairs, chose not to get work done yet gets loaner for 10 weeks? pic.twitter.com/BWDAVA7hXe
— Dan Wetzel (@DanWetzel) May 27, 2016
One big allegation comes from the Houston Nutt era, when an assistant coach and the operations assistant arranged for three future Rebels to commit ACT fraud. The names of the players have been redacted from the report.
Ole Miss has self-imposed 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. Ouch. In addition, the school fined itself $159,352 and required current staff to go through additional training on NCAA rules and policy.
The NCAA can choose to accept Ole Miss' self-imposed sanctions as its penalty or add sanctions of its own, which could include a number of different punitive measures.
#OleMiss’ self-imposed recruiting sanctions. pic.twitter.com/kIOGhbJPDB
— Chase Parham (@RivalsChase) May 27, 2016
If this is not bad enough, the university has excluded the Laremy Tunsil scandal from the report since those allegations are still being investigated.
Have a great Memorial Day weekend!