Oregon Missed Out on Favorable Ruling
Oregon Missed Out on Favorable Ruling
First things first, the document drop which Oregon released yesterday is not huge news. The documents mostly add additional detail to Charles Robinson’s report from December that the Committee on Infractions refused to accept the summary disposition agreement between Oregon and the NCAA enforcement staff. Robinson had reported that UO and the NCAA had agreed that most of the violations had occurred and were major, but there was disagreement about the recruiting service violations.
But what those details reveal is just how good of a deal Oregon almost got. The enforcement staff was very complimentary of Oregon, and agreed that most of the violations were the result of poor monitoring and misunderstanding of rules. Much of the blame was placed on Willie Lyles. And this passage shows the enforcement staff was not going to turn the $25,000 charge for Lyles’ recruiting service into a payment for a recruit:
It should be noted that while the media sensationalized the $25,000 figure, during the enforcement staff’s investigation it was learned that some scouting/recruiting services offer package that cost well in excess of $25,000. Regardless, the dollar figure is not the issue.
This despite the fact that the recruiting/scouting service legislation makes the dollar figure an issue. Here are two elements of 13.4.3.1, which include the requirements for permissible football recruiting/scouting services:
(a) Is made available to all institutions desiring to subscribe and at the same fee rate for all subscribers;
(b) Publicly identifies all applicable rates.
Even if the $25,000 payment was “sensationalized,” it deserves a more thorough treatment. Explaining why the $25,000 charge was permissible when no other school paid Lyles a similar figure would have been helpful.
All these documents are just a look into the history of the case since the Committee on Infractions refused to accept the agreement. What this means is hard to know. It could mean the Committee on Infractions things the violations are worse. It could mean that the COI simply wants to discuss a violation of a new rule. But what is for certain is that Oregon is unlikely to get a better outcome than the one the Ducks thought they had last October.