Alabama softball placed on 3 years probation

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sluggers

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May 26, 2008
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Many, many athletic programs at Alabama, including the softball program, were placed on three years athletic probation by the NCAA.

As I understand the issue, Alabama was supplying textbooks to student athletes. The textbooks were supposed to be returned at the end of the semester, but the athletes sold them instead. The violations involving the most money were by football players. Athletes in several other sports were involved.
 

Ken Krause

Administrator
Admin
May 7, 2008
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Mundelein, IL
Hmm, a program gets in trouble for giving books to its athletes. I guess it sets a bad example for the rest of the NCAA.

No, they shouldn't have sold them. That was stupid. But it's not like they were getting cars.
 
May 7, 2008
8,506
48
Tucson
Used text books can't possibly be worth very much. This is bogus. I try to sell my kids text books and many times, there is a new addition out and the text book if worth zero.

I would think if you were given something, you could sell it.

I bet the NCAA is looking at the original cost of the books, which would be substantial.
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,132
113
Dallas, Texas
Here is a link to the story: Alabama put on probation

This article clarifies what was happening--there was no restrictions to the number of books that the athlete could get for free. So, athletes were getting books for their friends and probably also selling the books.

The athletes have to reimburse the university for the books. I'm wondering if U of A or the NCAA is going to turn over any of its revenue from the football games.
 
Mar 11, 2009
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ttt

I didn't see Alabama softball players listed in article as doing anything wrong, so thats good. So the probation for them is just fallout from what the football and track team did?
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,132
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Dallas, Texas
There were "intentional" and "non-intentional" abusers. The intentional abusers were on the football and track team. I assume that the softball players fell in the "non-intentional" category.

The NCAA News


Alabama will vacate football victories from 2005 through 2007 in which ineligible athletes competed as a result of penalties levied by the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions.

Other penalties include three years of probation and a $43,900 fine.

The committee cited major violations involving 16 sports in Alabama’s athletics program, including softball, baseball, women’s gymnastics, football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, men’s golf, women’s golf, men’s swimming, women’s swimming, men’s tennis, women’s tennis, men’s track and field, women’s track and field, women’s soccer, and women’s volleyball.

The violations include a failure to monitor by the university and impermissible benefits obtained by 201 student-athletes through misuse of the university’s textbook distribution program. The total retail value of these impermissible benefits is about $40,000. More than $21,000 was obtained by student-athletes who were aware they were receiving impermissible benefits

The university is a repeat violator, having appeared before the committee in 2002 for violations in football. At the time of the 2002 case, the university was also a repeat violator due to a 1999 case involving men's basketball. As stated in its report, “Although the committee commends the institution for self-discovering, investigating and reporting the textbook violations, it remains troubled, nonetheless, by the scope of the violations in this instance and by the institution’s recent history of infractions cases.”

Of the 201 student-athletes that received impermissible benefits, 22 were identified by the university as “intentional wrongdoers,” as they were aware they received improper benefits. These student-athletes – 14 of whom were members of the men’s and women’s track and field programs – exploited the university’s textbook distribution system for scholarship student-athletes to acquire textbooks and materials of value greater than $100 for girlfriends, friends and other student-athletes.

The value of the impermissible benefits obtained by these intentional wrongdoers ranged from a low of $32.30 by a women’s track student-athlete to a high of $3,947.19 by a football student-athlete. The committee noted that the four highest amounts, ranging from $2,714.62 to $3,947.19, were obtained by football student-athletes.

The second type of infraction involved student-athletes who unintentionally received the impermissible use of non-required textbooks and materials. Among the student-athletes who unintentionally violated NCAA rules, about 125 received benefits that totaled less than $100 each.
 

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