Syracuse basketball hammered by NCAA for ‘failure to monitor’

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim has been suspended for nine games and the basketball team has been docked 12 scholarships over the next four years as part of sanctions for a failure to “exercise proper control over the administration of its athletics program,” the NCAA has announced.

Syracuse had already given itself a one-year self-imposed postseason ban covering this season. The Syracuse football program also received five years of probation. The football team will vacate wins from 2004-06 as part of the punishment.

The violations occurred between a 10-year period from 2001-02 to 2011-12. The report states that the infractions include academic impropriety, a failure to comply with the school’s own drug testing policy and relationships between athletes and boosters that went against NCAA rules.

Boeheim is specifically named throughout the report. According to the report, Boeheim “did not promote an atmosphere of compliance within his program and did not monitor the activities of those who reported to him.”

The report details an improper relationship between a Syracuse booster and members of the football and basketball program. The booster reportedly provided over $8,000 in cash to three football players and two basketball players at the school for volunteering at a local YMCA. Certain staff members also received monetary compensation for appearances and assistance at the YMCA and the payments were not reported as outside income, as the NCAA requires.

A relationship between a tutor and three members of the football program that resulted in academic misconduct is also stated in the report. The tutor attested that the students had completed a certain level of work and received academic credit for it. The report says the tutor had limited knowledge of what work the students had actually finished.

Another violation occurred when the director of men’s basketball operations and a receptionist violated ethical conduct code to help an ineligible basketball player get back on the court in 2012. Coursework was reportedly completed for the student while the program was already under investigation for previous infractions.

The sanction put Boeheim’s career win total in jeopardy. Boeheim is currently No. 2 all-time in wins with 966 behind only Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski. That official number is set to drastically decline. The investigation will cost Boeheim 108 career victories, according to Syracuse.com. That would drop him to No. 6 all-time in wins. According to the NCAA’s report, Syracuse used ineligible players during the 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07, 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons.

Syracuse has issued a response to the NCAA:

We believe the NCAA’s investigation of Syracuse University has taken longer than any other investigation in NCAA history. The entire process has taken close to eight years and involved a review of conduct dating back to 2001. By comparison, the investigation into the fixing of the 1919 World Series took two months and the 2007 investigation of steroid use in baseball took 21 months.

The University and the NCAA devoted massive resources to this process. Hundreds of thousands of documents were reviewed, hundreds of interviews were conducted, and thousands of hours of human capital were expended.

Syracuse University cooperated throughout the investigation, and its length is a product of decisions we made separately and together