The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Wednesday, February 24, 2010 - 7A
NCAA probe far from over for the University, experts say
From Page 1A
enough evidence for the Infractions
Committee to make the finding that
there was a violation," Potuto said.
' Potuto - who said she couldn't
comment on the NCAA allegations
specifically brought against the
Michigan football team, but rather
only on the general allegation and
penalty process - said that typi-
cally, a university will agree with
the alleged violations brought forth
by the NCAA.
"There isn't going to be an argu-
ment about did it occur, or did it not
occur," Potuto said. "The argument
will be about how much responsi-
bility should be taken here, how big
* was the violation and what kinds of
penalties should happen."
But until the hearing, Potuto, who
is now a law professor at the Univer-
sity of Nebraska and represents that
school on NCAA committees, said
a university faced with NCAA alle-
gations must put a lot of time into
responding to the allegations.
"Between now and the Com-
mittee on Infractions hearing and
any findings by the Committee on
Infractions, it's a major distraction
for a university, for anybody else
who's involved," Potuto said. "It's
going to take a lot of person hours
to get together, write the response,
to get together all the exhibits, and
that's also true if there's anybody at
risk."
Potuto said if allegations are
made against specific individuals,
a university not only has to deal
with the repercussions for the insti-
tution, but also probable internal
problems.
"It's not a happy place to be in
terms of negative publicity that just
the allegations bring," Potuto said.
Potuto said NCAA allegations
allow an institution the opportunity
to reassess its conduct and to make
revisions when necessary.
"If the university is doing things
right, it's a time to really take a look
at how it was doing things in the
past and to consider whether there
are different ways of doing things or
better ways of doing things," Potuto
said. "To the extent that there are
individuals who have been alleged
to commit violations, the univer-
sity also has personnel issues, so all
that's going on."
The five allegations brought
against the Michigan football team
include exceeding the amount of
permissible practice time during
the on- and off-seasons and exceed-
ing the number of coaches allowed
to be present at certain activities by
five coaches.
Another violation is that Alex
Herron, a graduate assistant foot-
ball coach, "(provided) false and
misleading information to the insti-
tution and enforcement staff when
questioned about his involvement
in and knowledge of possible NCAA
violations," according to the NCAA's
Notice of Allegations sent to Univer-
sity President Mary Sue Coleman.
Michigan Football coach Rich
Rodriguez's and the University's
Athletic Department's alleged fail-
ure to monitor the football team's
compliance with the NCAA bylaws
are also under review.
Though Potuto said individuals
may be involved in NCAA cases like
this, allegations brought against a
university always "involve institu-
tional responsibility."
"So anything any of those people
do that's a violation of a bylaw is also
the university'sviolation of a bylaw,
so that's the way it works," Potuto
said.
Potuto said the allegation thatthe
football team exceeded the number
of coaches allowed to be present
when "quality control staff mem-
bers...engaged in on- and off-field
activities" applies to the NCAA's
defining coaches not by their title,
but rather by what they do.
Michael Buckner, a lawyer with
Florida-based Michael L. Buckner
Law Firm who provides consult-
ing to universities on NCAA cases,
said he is "surprised" at the football
program's alleged non-compliance
with NCAA bylaws.
"With such a large program, and
important program and prestigious
program such as Michigan, when
out-of-season workouts still garner
attention from people across the
region, I was just surprised that no
one in the institution caught the fact
that there were coaches, assistant
coaches that were conducting sev-
eral practices," Buckner said.
Buckner said he's surprised
that the University's compliance
staff, which works to make sure
the University's athletic programs
are abiding by NCAA rules, didn't,
according to the recent allegations,
monitor the football team closely
enough.
"Every NCAA member institu-
tion has to have a compliance offi-
cer, and in this institution because
of the significant resources of the
JAKE FROMM/Daily
University President Mary Sue Coleman and head football coach Rich Rodriguez look on at a press conference yesterday announcing the NCAA investigation's findings.
institution Michigan has, it's impor-
tant to have a large compliance
staff," Buckner said.
Buckner said he thinks the Uni-
versity could face penalties like pro-
bation for a two to three year period,
a reduction in practice time and a.
decrease in the number of coaches
who can participate at practices.
In addition, Buckner said he thinks
the University will be mandated to
report to the NCAA's Committee on
infractions on a more frequent basis.
"I think there will be some signif-
icant penalties comingup," Buckner
said.
Attorney Mark Jones worked on
the NCAA's enforcement staff for
18 years and worked as the NCAA
Managing Director of Enforcement
before moving to the Indianapolis-
based Ice Miller Law Firm, accord-
ing to the firm's website.
Jones said in an interview yester-
day that while the charges brought
against the Michigan football team
are a "serious matter," it is reassur-
ing that the allegations don't involve
student-athletes, which often result
in more severe penalties for a uni-
versity.
Jones - who has consulted with
universities regarding NCAA alle-
gations - said the penalties the
infractions committee decides on
will be based on the "competitive
advantage" deduced.
Jones said the allegation regard-
ing exceeding off-season practice
times has become a commonly
found violation in recent years, add-
ing that he believes the NCAA has
increased its efforts to find univer-
sity infractions in this area.
"They don't want the athletes
to have the training all the time,"
Jones said. "They want them to
experience the student-athlete life,
so to speak, and so I think there's
more attention brought to this area
over the past few years."
Jones said he's "not shocked" by
the allegations brought against the
football program, though he can't
predict what the end result of the
process will be.
He added that the outcome will
be greatly affected by the testimo-
nies of those who spoke with the
Detroit Free Press last August for
the report in which concerns over
possible violations first surfaced.
"It certainly depends upon the
reliability of the witnesses...," Jones
said. "If those same individuals
report the same information then
you conduct more inquiry and maybe
it's a basis to confirm whether the
violations occurred. The individu-
als who talk to the media, often they
don't want to cooperate...you never
know what's going to happen."
Student-athletes also often think
they're exceeding permissible prac-
tice time limits when in actuality
this may not be the case, Jones said.
"It's not unusual for an athlete,
to believe that they're practicing or
working out more than they're sup-
pose to under the rules," Jones said.
"Then you go and investigate it and
you find out that maybe they were
mistaken about how the rules were
applied or maybe they didn't really
know, or maybe you talk to other
athletes and they don't cooperate,
so it's often sometimes difficult to
know how to assess the evidence in
those types of cases to have enough
to make an allegation."
Jones said the fates of coaches
who face NCAA violations var-
ies, so the fact that fodriguez will
remain the football coach isn't-alto
gether surprising, though universi-
ties sometimes follow through with
"disciplinary action against coach-
ing staff."
"It varies.from case to case and a
lot of times I think it varies on the
institution's position on the viola-
tion and also the coach staff member
and also the institution's view as to
whether or not there was an intent
to try to get an advantage or to try
and circumvent their compliance
program or things of that nature,"
Jones said. "There's a lot of different
factors you have to evaluate before
you decide to terminate a coach. It's
a big decision and obviously Michi-
gan didn't think it was the appropri-
ate thing to do this time."
Along those same lines, Buckner
said he thinks multiple University
of Michigan officials should be held
responsible for the alleged viola-
tions including the University's
compliance staff, Coleman, Rodri-
guez and the other football coaches.
"Michigan should, as any NCAA
institution should, be practicing
what's called 'sheer responsibility,'
" Buckner said. "...Everyone shares
responsibility in these violations."
- Daily News Editor Stephanie
Steinberg contributed to this report.
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For Thursday, Feb. 25, 2010
ARIES
(March 21 to April 19)
This is a goofy day. Don't go shopping
or make important decisions. Instead,
focus on home, family and domestic
issues. Keep a low profile.
TAURUS
(April 20 to May 20)
This is a wonderful day to goof off and
enjoy the company of others. Meetings
and groups can be fun and good pleas-
ure. However, do not volunteer for any-
thing. Just coast.
GEMINI
(May 21 to June 20)
Avoid making important financial
decisions today. Postpone important pur-
chases. Whatever you initiate today will
tend NOT to fulfill its purpose.
Forewarned is forearmed!
CANCER
(June 21 to July 22)
Everything is sort of on pause today..
Avoid important decisions, Similarly,
avoid major purchases. (Postpone these
until tomorrow.) In the meantime, just
coast and enjoy yourself!
LEO
(July 23 to Aug. 22)
Work behind the scenes or alone if you
can today. Actually, you just want to
hide. Sneak away to a movie, read a
book, do a puzzle in this newspaper. Let
the day slip by. (Of course, you might be
taking care of four kids!)
VIRGO
(Aug. 23 to Sept. 22)
Confidential conversations with
friends and groups will be surprisingly
candid today. People are willing to drop
their masks and tell it like it is. (Oh, ioy.)
LIBRA
(Sept. 23 to Oct. 22)
Some aspect of your private life defi-
nitely will be made public today. This
probably also will be completely beyond
your control. Just grin and bear it.
SCORPIO
(Oct. 23 to Nov. 21)
Travel plans are unreliable today.
Similarly, anything having to do with
schooling, children, sports or romance
will be unpredictable.
SAGITTARIUS
(Nov. 22to Dec. 21)
You can't count on anything from oth-
ers today. Even if something was pron-
ised to you, there is no guarantee you
will get it today. Wait until tomorrow.
CAPRICORN
(Dec. 22 to Jan. 19)
You'll have to go more than halfway
when dealing with others today. That's
because today, the Moon is opposite
your sign. Don't worry. In two weeks,
everyone has to go more than halfway
when dealing with you. Ha!
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Shortages and delays are likely at
work today. Just grin and bear it. Don't
make a big deal about anything. So
what?
(Feb. 19 to March 20)
This is a wonderfully creative day. Tap
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Birthdate of: Nancy O'Dell, TV per-
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