Lane Kiffin and David Reaves might not be the only coaches who need to worry about the potential fallout of their time at Tennessee and the resulting NCAA investigation. ESPN is now reporting that Ed Orgeron, recruiter extraordinaire and a member of Kiffin’s Southern Cal staff, is being investigated for allegedly directing a workout for a recruit.
Tennessee Investigation: Ed Orgeron Drawn Into NCAA Probe Of Volunteers
ESPN reports the workout could have technically violated two rules — a “no-tryout” rule and one barring in-person contact during the time period in question — and that neither is a “gray area” in the NCAA rule book.
The NCAA likely would consider the case a secondary violation rather than a major one, with penalties that may include a reduction in off-campus recruiting days by the coaching staff and a reduction in official visits by high school prospects. Among the mitigating factors in determining the severity of the violation would be whether the NCAA finds a pattern of behavior and how much of a recruiting advantage the university gained from the violation.
Of course, the entire nature of the NCAA investigation seems to be the idea that Kiffin’s well-known secondary violations were something more — a pattern of stepping close to and over the lines in the organization’s rules. Whether that will make a difference in who gets punished for this and how hard remains to be seen.
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