Two things about this report that Oregon and the NCAA are in agreement that the Ducks have committed a bunch of major violations. First, the obvious: no wonder Chip Kelly was ready to take his act to the NFL.
Finding 6 – Did the school promote an atmosphere of compliance?
This section is difficult to decipher because of redactions, but centers on an NCAA bylaw that says the head coach much promote an “atmosphere of compliance.”
In the report, the school and NCAA agree a violation happened, although the NCAA cautions that the report does not include a finding that [redacted] failed “to promote an atmosphere of compliance.” It does not state if that person is Chip Kelly.
Hmm… maybe there was a Coach Redacted on the Oregon staff.
Second, the surprising. Somehow the NCAA has managed to look at a program that (1) let Will Lyles run amok with recruits; (2) paid money to Lyles for services that were questionable; (3) allowed somebody to make hundreds of impermissible phone calls over a four-year period; (4) exceeded the limit on the number of coaches allowed to recruit, again over a multi-year period; (5) was essentially left to do as it pleased with regard to “…the use of recruiting and scouting services, giving out school apparel and telephone calls between high school athletes and coaches” and reached this rather startling conclusion:
“There were underlying major violations coupled with failure to monitor violations involving the head coach (2009 through 2011) and the athletics department (2008-2011),” NCAA enforcement staff wrote in the report. “While the violations were not intentional in nature, coaches and administrators of a sports program at an NCAA member institution have an obligation to ensure that the activities being engaged in comply with NCAA legislation.”
The report also outlines two crucial points for the Ducks. First, NCAA enforcement staff said they had “no finding of lack of institutional control and no finding of unethical conduct.”
Can anybody explain how the first sentence and the last sentence there have any logical consistency? Or should I just skip straight to conspiracy theory and wonder if the NCAA is being deferential to Nike?
Get The Picture 
I’m with you on the conspiracy theory. Failure to monitor by athletics department does not equal lack of institutional control!? Good grief.
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Ron Zook was the HC at Oregon? Wow.
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I love the smell of conspiracy in the morning. I’ll take Nike for the win Alex.
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“Lack of institutional control”… NCAA, I don’t think that term means whatever you think it means. Failure by the institution to monitor the department does not equate to lack of institutional control? Mark Richt has lost control of the NCAA’s semantics.
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S N A F U !!
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There is no “Lack of Institutional Control” when the school’s administration supports and controls these activities as part of its winning strategy.
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Could you maybe go back over why A.J. Green was forced to sit out the first four games of the 2010 season?
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He took $1000 for the sale of a jersey from somebody the NCAA deemed to be an agent.
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So, let me get this straight. He violated an NCAA rule regarding amateurism; he was forthright and honest with investigators; he was determined to have run afoul of said NCAA; he was assessed a punishment for said afoulment; he served his punishment.
Is that about right? So, the takeaway is never, ever under any circumstances tell the truth?
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More like the NCAA has ZERO problem punishing student-athletes, but it gets a lot more heartburn punishing its member institutions, even if the crimes are not proportionate.
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Or this…
http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2013/04/director_of_enforcement_leaves.html
Selling your own jersey is a problem. Accepting $180K+ as payment to play is not.
The only thing that matters is who is sitting in the enforcement chair.
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…and who is sitting in the president’s chair.
http://blog.al.com/bamabeat/2010/04/mark_emmert_–_a_friend_of_nic.html
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So, the takeaway is that we need a mole on the NCAA enforcement committee. Got it.
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I really like watching Oregon play late on Saturday night, exciting energy on the field, great atmosphere in the stadium, and the best looking cheerleaders in CFB….I just have to get past some of the uniform combinations. That said, the way they burst onto the scene and been dominant in so many games you had to wonder how they accomplished that within the rules. USC was pulling all the talent they chose to take West of the Rockies so why all of a sudden did recruits from far away Texas, Florida, etc. began choosing to pack up and take their skills to Eugene? It seemed questionable then so finding some sleaze isn’t a shock. I hate it because I love CFB so much, but it seemed inevitable.
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Yes, and several of us agreed with you that UGA could have faced them for the NC last year. It was nip and tuck ; we got nipped , they got tucked.
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Where are the SI or Yahoo investigations? Do they swing in sequence with the NCAA or are they independent ? If so, where is the final acquitting for the agent who influenced their best players to go there several yrs ago?
Frustration is really setting in among UGA fans concerning unequal experience before the NCAA. Not just an agent, but a paid agent; not just illegal contact, but illegal gifts of athletic equipment as well; not butt dialing, but years of illegal phone contact by several sports depts at O; no record of sequential yrs of contact being investigated as this went forward after paid agent contact was confirmed earlier……Oh!?….”lack of institutional control” IS being investigated, but only as it applies to the NCAA.
Are we watching the buildup to a possible conclusion of Julie Roe Lack’s hiring as Compliance Officer at Oregon? Now that will fit the simile of “turd in a punch bowl” perfectly.
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“Just Do It” says Phil Knight and they did.
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