by Leprechaun Express & Steve Welsh
“… The agreed-upon violations in this case centered on multiple years of academic violations by a former student athletic trainer and football student-athletes …”
“We are deeply disappointed by and strongly disagree with the denial of the University’s appeal, announced today by the NCAA, of an earlier decision by the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions to vacate Notre Dame’s 2012 and 2013 football victories due to academic misconduct by several student-athletes. Our concerns go beyond the particulars of our case and the record of two football seasons to the academic autonomy of our institutions, the integrity of college athletics, and the ability of the NCAA to achieve its fundamental purpose. I write this letter so that you can understand the underlying facts, the reasons we believe that the NCAA is in error, and how we intend to move forward. …”
“Notre Dame must vacate all records in which football student-athletes participated while ineligible during the 2012-13 and 2013-14 football seasons, according to a decision issued by the NCAA Division I Infractions Appeals Committee. In the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions’ decision, the panel found a former Notre Dame athletic training student violated NCAA ethical conduct rules when she committed academic misconduct for two football student-athletes and provided six other football student-athletes with impermissible academic extra benefits. The panel prescribed the vacation of records, along with a probation period and a show-cause order for the former athletic training student. …”
… Texas safety DeShon Elliott delivered a blow to [Torii Hunter, Jr.’s] head as Hunter tried to haul in a DeShone Kizer pass in the end zone. … More stunning than the hit may have been the lack of replay from the officiating crew. Even though a targeting penalty wasn’t initially called on the field, the replay official could have overruled officials on the field. The NCAA rulebook … states the replay official ‘may create a targeting foul, but only in egregious instance in which a foul is not called by the officials on the field. Such a review may not be initiated by a coach’s challenge.’ … [Notre Dame Head Coach] Brian Kelly … described his discussions with the officials as ‘heated’ …. on-field officials never signaled that replay official Richard Jordan had called the play under review. ‘It wasn’t even reviewed, which just doesn’t make any sense to me,’ Kelly said. ‘I’ve been in this game a long time, and I know when somebody gets hit in the head. He certainly was hit in the head on that play in the end zone. It’s just unfortunate that it wasn’t officiated or reviewed in a manner that I thought it should have been.’
