NCAA Football: How to describe the trouble Ole Miss is in?
By Ronald Evans
At the big programs in NCAA football, the money pours in. How the money is used can lead to big trouble. The kind of trouble now residing in Oxford, MS.
NCAA football is big business in Power Five conferences. So much so that for most SEC schools and other top programs among the Power Five, the money just pours in.
The sources of the money are varied. Most of the attention is given to conference television contracts and post-season revenue. Fans contribute significant dollars as well through tickets and premiums. Influential boosters donate huge dollars to their favored schools.
The money bonanza is warranted, reaped from the entertainment value of the product. Most of the money is spent in legitimate and worthwhile fashion.
Sometimes, the spending part goes awry. Benefits impermissible under NCAA rules are used to ratchet up program success. Rules violations are uncovered. The blaming begins. Passions equivalent to those released on the playing field are used to deflect and diminish inevitable consequences.
Such is life in Oxford MS today, in the besieged world of Ole Miss football. It will not end well for Ole Miss. It will get worse before it is over.
Since the fall of 2012, the NCAA has been investigating the Ole Miss athletic department. Sometime this month Ole Miss has said it will respond to NCAA charges as reported by Yahoo Sports.
"As a whole, the school stands charged with 30 violations across three sports: football, women’s basketball and track and field. Twenty-one are tied to football, including an allegation that head coach Hugh Freeze violated his responsibility to create and enforce an atmosphere of compliance within his program."
In the saga that has evolved since 2012, Ole Miss tried to blame almost all of its football violations on former head coach, Houston Nutt. The attempt to transfer blame gained little for Ole Miss. Nutt is considering taking Ole Miss to court, alleging his professional reputation has been damaged by the attempted transfer of blame.
Another former staffer, Barney Farrar appears to be at the center of the Ole Miss defense. Farrar’s attorney has charged Ole Miss is attempting to use Farrar as a scapegoat to reduce institutional punishment.
Again, reported by Pat Forde of Yahoo Sports, Farrar’s attorney, Bruse Loyd said:
"“It was apparent to me that the narrative coming out of Oxford was that Barney was being portrayed as the lone, rogue actor and everyone else was above reproach,” Loyd said, naming head coach Hugh Freeze as one of those considered “above reproach.”“It’s not right,” Loyd added. “It is a betrayal of him. Do I think Barney’s been made a scapegoat? Yes. Based on what I’ve seen and know, they set him up.”"
Farrar was the former Assistant Athletic Director for high school and junior college relations. There is little doubt Farrar broke NCAA rules. The question is who directed Farrar to do so.
Beyond what we have reported above, there lies rumor and conjecture. Not completely random sources believe one or more powerful Ole Miss boosters are pressuring the school to not go public with its response to the NCAA football allegations. This particular rumor elaborates that those boosters were the source of funds for illegal payments to Ole Miss athletes.
Another rumor, broadly disseminated on Tide faithful message boards is that Ole Miss offered Bo Scarborough cash to sign with Ole Miss. This rumor claims, Bo later disclosed this issue to Alabama, who informed the NCAA and led to Bo’s four-game suspension in 2015.
We cannot vouch for or disprove these rumors. We can offer our own conjecture. The storm over Ole Miss will not hit early enough to harm the 2017 season. Ole Miss recruiting has taken an ominous fall, but the impact of it will not hurt before the 2018 season.
The Ole Miss strategy to deny, deflect and delay is unlikely to succeed. The NCAA football compliance arm will not spend five years on an investigation without imposing severe penalties. Until then, Ole Miss appears to be fighting for one more year of relevance before an almost guaranteed demise.
Next: 7 Tide Players who were Zero-Star recruits and went on to football greatness
Cheering for another school to suffer the pain of transgression is common. Cheating should be punished. Opposing fans seek vindication. Both the violations and the penalties damage a game we love.