Somebody asked me the other day what to make of the Jack Bauerle situation and my answer was that I didn’t have much of an answer. But John Infante points out that it’s an interesting test case for the new NCAA enforcement regime and that Georgia appears to be following the proper protocols.
Taking this information and looking at the NCAA’s penalty matrix, we can see how the penalties faced by the institution and coach differ based on the mitigating and aggravating factors. For Georgia, a Level I violation with mitigation puts most penalties in a range that includes no penalty. The only penalty required for a Level I violation with mitigation is a $5,000 fine. Bauerle on the other hand could be facing a Level I violation with aggravation. That would include a minimum show-cause order of five years and a minimum suspension of 50% of the season. The show-cause order could also restrict him from all athletically related duties, effectively banning him from coaching. Without aggravation, he would be facing a minimum two year show-cause order with partial restrictions of athletically related duties and suspension for 30% of a season.
So far the early indications are that the system is working as intented. A serious violation occurred, was reported promptly, and will be resolved relatively quickly after it was discovered. Georgia is getting credit for having a strong recent history of rule compliance and for detecting, reporting, and acknowledging the violation. Meanwhile the coach, who is alleged to be almost entirely responsible as an individual, is facing the more serious sanctions.
Which, in a situation in which the coach is the bad actor, seems like the proper distribution of punishment. A shocking thought, I know, but could it be that, for once, the NCAA is getting its act together?
Get The Picture 
Of course, they get their act together when we’re involved.
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I don’t see how 40+ years of a clean record is undone by a single act of breaking a rule of fair play. Yes it was wrong but what happens when a player is abused or a human being is injured – death? It seems excessive. Also it encourages not coming forward and not cooperating.
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Different level of NCAA enforcement for non-revenue sports.
No real risk of lawsuits.
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What I read about this indicates that the instructor made the mistake by giving the swimmer a grade rather than an incomplete–not Coach Bauerle. Is this another case of UGA rolling over and playing dead for the NCAA at the expense of a relatively innocent member of the UGA family?
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Can somebody explain to me if Bauerle is suspended or given a 5 year show cause letter does it keep him from just going into AAU coaching at one of the many Olympic training facilities. He is a former Olympic coach and my guess the NCAA and AAU hate each other enough to get in a pissing contest on this.
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Once again, the vaunted UGA athletics department is throwing someone to the wolves. This Bauerle business was all a screw-up by an instructor. The problem got fixed immediately upon discovery with the swimmer in question not getting any undeserved academic credit. So, what’s the big deal? No harm-no foul, right? Unless it’s the University of Georgia, that is. Then the NCAA makes it into the biggest possible thing that it can be, and throws the book at the individual–but not UGA as an institution. Is the real reason why the UGA athletics department is such a consistent sell-out? To protect itself and the school, at the expense of coaches and/or players? Gutless wimp that McGarity has become, couldn’t that spineless empty suit at least have the common decency to stand up for arguably the most successful coach in the history of the school–a coach who had an impeccable reputation up to this point in almost 40 years of service to the University. Instead, by allowing the NCAA to make what should be a minor violation into a major violation against the individual, B-M is letting the NCAA turn an outstanding career into excrement. Shame on the NCAA for, once again, making a mountain out of a molehill while ignoring real major violations (see Newton, Cam). But bigger shame should be heaped on the University of Georgia for not standing up for a person who by all accounts is a great guy who just made a mistake, and a minor mistake at that. When will those idiots at B-M learn that this policy of appeasement they have going with the NCAA only emboldens that worthless entity to bitch-slap the school more? If it was up to me we’d see the NCAA in court–then lead the SEC schools and every other major institution in the big 5 conferences out the door to form a new organization. Mayor to McGarity: Read my lips–GFY.
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Minor mistake? A coach finds out, after the quarter is over except for finals, that one of his top athletes won’t be eligible for the meat of the season. So he instigates contact with a professor — a huge no-no — and conspires to get the athlete fraudulently enrolled in the class retroactively in an attempt to preserve his eligibility. Sounds more like textbook (pardon the pun) academic fraud to me. I’d send the coach and prof packing.
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Correction: “might not be eligible” … Apparently the swimmer didn’t even need any of these shenanigans.
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Great explanation Greg, if you like the party line. I think I hear Allie calling you. You need to re-enter her.
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Mayor, you keep saying it’s no big deal, but it’s a flat-out major violation for any coach to have direct contact with a professor about a S-A. No grey area at all.
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I think my frustration is with the heavy handedness and uneven treatment by the NCAA. They catch a guy red-handed shopping his kid around for many thousands of dollars (the Cam Newton situation) and do nothing. Auburn is paying players and everybody in the world knows it except the NCAA which appears to be willfully ignorant when it comes to the Barners, who stonewall with impunity every time they are caught–and always get away with it. UGA, on the other hand, cooperates to the EXTREME, yet our people get clobbered repeatedly beyond what one would think is appropriate. I’m not condoning what the coach did, I just don’t think it is “academic fraud” to get a kid into a course before the course is finalized with the idea that he will complete the course work before getting a grade–which is what happened from the coach’s perspective. That does not rise, IMHO, to the level of infraction to warrant a “show cause” letter which will effectively end the coach’s career. I agree with South FL Dawg. The punishment being talked about doesn’t fit the “crime.”
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