Georgia Tech NCAA appeal denied
Georgia Tech’s appeal to the NCAA over sanctions handed out last July has been denied. The school will be required to return its 2009 ACC football championship trophy to the league office, one of the penalties for NCAA findings of failure to cooperate and failure to meet the conditions and obligations of membership in an investigation into possible impermissible benefits violations to former football players Demaryius Thomas and Morgan Burnett.
“In its appeal, Georgia Tech asserted the vacation of records penalty was not warranted based on its contention that it did not gain a competitive advantage, among other factors,” the NCAA wrote in a release. “After a comprehensive review of the case, the Infractions Appeals Committee found the facts of the case did support the findings of violations. The Infractions Appeals Committee also found it speculative to state a competitive advantage was not gained and the penalty was appropriate in this case.”
The verdict of the infractions appeals committee is final. The school has no other legal recourse on the appeal. The investigation began in November 2009 when an NCAA investigator learned of possible impermissible benefits, which turned out to be $312 worth of clothes given to Thomas by his cousin’s roommate. Burnett was not found to have violated NCAA rules.
The school faced significant odds for an overturn of any of the two findings or the revocation of the football championship. Since the NCAA toughened standards for appeal in 2008, only one out of at least 14 appeals has been granted.
“We are disappointed with the ruling of the NCAA appeals committee, but respect the process and the NCAA’s decision,” Georgia Tech president G.P. “Bud” Peterson said in a statement. “We felt we owed it to the Georgia Tech community and to our student-athletes to exercise the appeals process provided by the NCAA in order to defend the integrity of Georgia Tech and to reaffirm our commitment to the principles and obligations of the NCAA.”
Peterson was out of the country and unavailable for comment, according to a school spokeswoman. Athletic director Dan Radakovich declined comment.
In its appeal, the school conceded it had made mistakes during the investigation, but argued that the indiscretions didn’t want warrant a finding of improper conduct or the removal of the ACC title. Tech argued that the title removal was inappropriate and an abuse of discretion, one criterion for an overturn of an appeal. The school claimed that none of the factors typically associated with a penalty of vacated wins, including academic fraud and serious intentional violations, were met.
“The vacation penalty punishes an entire team of student-athletes by taking away a championship because of decisions made in good faith by institutional staff members,” the school contended in a written appeal filed last September.
To lodge the appeal, the school retained the services of the Birmingham-based law firm of Lightfoot, Franklin & White, including Gene Marsh, the former chair of the NCAA’s infractions committee. As of December, the school had paid $93,000, nearly all of it to Lightfoot, Franklin & White, for counsel.
A school statement released last July noted Tech’s “unwavering commitment to the integrity of its athletics program” and that “we feel that we owe it to the institution” and the football team to appeal.
In addition to the return of the trophy, Tech must vacate the win from coach Paul Johnson’s records and remove any public references to the ACC title.
More updates to come
Ken Sugiura, Georgia Tech blog
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518 comments Add your comment
FL Jacket
March 9th, 2012
12:39 pm
George…You need Unions when the playing field isn’t fair.
UGADawg83
March 9th, 2012
12:40 pm
Resumegate
Mutliple elgibility infractions
A forfeited championship
Talk about lack of institutional control……
George Stein
March 9th, 2012
12:41 pm
Agreed, FLJ.
Keep trolling, UGADawg83.
Hoopster
March 9th, 2012
12:41 pm
Thomas was never ruled ineligible. Tech asked the ACC and the NCAA and both said he wasn’t ineligible and saw no reason for him not to play. The NCAA is a joke!
D
March 9th, 2012
12:43 pm
It would only be fair for Miami to Vacate ALL Wins between 2002 and 2010 then… Plus billion plus dollar fines… Plus Death Penalty…
That would be about square… But we all know that Miami’s penalty will be less than our’s. Nuck the FCAA!
George Stein
March 9th, 2012
12:46 pm
None of these things should even be infractions, D. Who really cares if Miami’s players were getting strippers and booze all the time. It’s none of the NCAA’s business.
Lee
March 9th, 2012
12:46 pm
to FLORIDA JACKET–the miami situation is an ongoing investigation and the canes had 8 players suspended for 8 or more games this past season. try to get your facts straight
BillS
March 9th, 2012
12:46 pm
I’m a UGA fan, but this ruling is just plain wrong. It seems prejudicial and overly harsh, and the NCAA itself is in need of reevaluation and higher judgment. Whatever is said, GT won the 2009 title. I’d even feel the same way if it was FLA.
To Paraphrase Bill Curry
March 9th, 2012
12:47 pm
Whatsamatter Georgie, shorts too tight today? The arrogance of your own administration brought you to your knees. The absolute funniest thing about this is that you did this to yourselves. Obviously you are humor impaired but surely you recognize irony. Funny thing about irony, its pretty ironic sometimes.
And the trolling begins....
March 9th, 2012
12:47 pm
Thanks for checking in, UGADawg83, and yet this is still not the most embarrassing local college football story today.
George Stein
March 9th, 2012
12:48 pm
You’re just not funny, Paraphrase. Get better material and I might laugh.
It hasn’t brought anyone to any knees. Get your head out of your ass.
William Satterwhite
March 9th, 2012
12:48 pm
It’s funny the NCAA says its speculative Tech didn’t gain a competitive edge playing ineligible player- the team lost two out of the three games Thomas was supposedly ineligible.
Paul in NH
March 9th, 2012
12:48 pm
No surprise here. The surprise would have been if one part of the NCAA had overruled another part.
Let’s move on.
FL Jacket
March 9th, 2012
12:48 pm
If it gets Trolled up in here, I’m going to leave.
Ga Tech Old Timer
March 9th, 2012
12:49 pm
The NCAA has become an prime example of how to abuse the power invested in them by the membership of institutions they represent. Clearly – the rules by which they govern are applied in such an inconsistant way – not to fairly punish the guilty based on the severity of the infraction – but as to allow those administrators in the penality process to make decisions on personal feelings rather than facts, strike fear in all institutions, give lessor punishment for more severe infractions – and above all maintain the “power” invested in them at all costs – without question and without meaningful recourse beyond the token appeal which has been reversed only once in fourteen times. The NFL, MLB and other professional sports authorities have recognized to importance for independent arbritration to remove any doubt of partiality in the decision making process used by the commissioners of these professional sports. It’s time to bring back the honor which was once unquestioned within the NCAA – but is now questioned with each decision and compared to offenses of the past. Little consistancy between penalties for similar offenses – and endless explainations to the the public why that difference exists – while an edict is delivered to the institution is reason enough to demand accountability of all NCAA administrators – not just those who sit on the rules / infractions committee – as well as adapt a position of openess with regards to an independant counsel as a “last resort” appeal – outside the NCAA – a decision by which all would abide.
Bilbo
March 9th, 2012
12:49 pm
This kind of punishment for such trivial garbage proves once again that it’s way past time to blow up the NCAA and their minions. I predict the major schools and conferences will do just that in the not too distant future.
FL Jacket
March 9th, 2012
12:51 pm
Lee…fine.
The players from 2002-2008 who might not be on the current roster, by definition of the NCAA, gained the school a competitive advantage during those years.
Supersize that order, mutt
March 9th, 2012
12:52 pm
This was not unexpected, but it’s still B S!!! To the majority of the UGA posters on here today, kudos and thanks for your willingness to recognize the truth. To the few ignorant trolls who are so obsessed with Georgia Tech that they REFUSE to recognize (or at least admit) the truth, and ESPECIALLY TO BGA, buk you, you worthless POS.
swarmi
March 9th, 2012
12:52 pm
My t-shirt does not lie.
George, evidently you were a closet demo all along!
George Stein
March 9th, 2012
12:53 pm
I hope you’re right, Bilbo.
HighTech
March 9th, 2012
12:53 pm
George Stein…Is there anyway we can sue the NCAA? Perhaps for Fraud, because I saw the Jackets win the ACC Title on the field? Or violation of the constitutional right to pursuit of happiness? Damages could range from what we spent on t-shirts and game tickets to punitive damages.
I know I’m grasping at straws here in a comical way, but I wish there was some way to make the NCAA pay for this travesty.
Maybe I’ll wear my 2009 ACC Championship t-shirt to the games with FUNCAA taped to the back of it. The Jumbotron will love it.
Jacket Man
March 9th, 2012
12:54 pm
A class action lawsuit should be filed against the NCAA by the players who have been impacted due to the ruling and this should become a test case in the court system. The players have now had an ACCChampionship stripped because their AD and Coaches followed the advice of their attorneys when they allowed the players in question to participate in the game(s) and have the meetings with the players, and the NCAA investigator took offense to the actions as a personal affront (a UNC alum no less, who had his own personal agenda).
The NCAA arbitrarily hands out punishments and is failing to monitor its own personnel from following its own rules as they conduct investigations, and has no governing body to regulate it; this is the only way to reel them in.
George Stein
March 9th, 2012
12:54 pm
Ha. What did I say that was so left? The union thing?
Supersize that order, mutt
March 9th, 2012
12:54 pm
Bilbo, I hope you’re right too. The NZAA is a joke (deliberate misspelling)
To Paraphrase Bill Curry
March 9th, 2012
12:54 pm
I’m not trying to be funny George, I just find YOUR situation funny. I am proving how thin your skin is. FL Jacket, don’t let the door hit your spanked behind on the way out.
FL Jacket
March 9th, 2012
12:55 pm
George…
Nothing wrong with being a little progressive, but that’s just me.
George Stein
March 9th, 2012
12:55 pm
There are some causes of action that could be brought against the NCAA, but none of us has standing to bring them.
As I said earlier, the players should form – or threaten to form – a union.
FL Jacket
March 9th, 2012
12:56 pm
Bill Curry…
KEYBOARD WARRIOR
RedandBlackDAWG
March 9th, 2012
12:56 pm
George Stein,
If the NCAA as you say, got into business that didn’t concern them, then you haven’t thought of the implications of what unchecked wholesale giving of special treatment to players involves. How would you feel, if one school had enough donors to buy any athlete it wanted. Come to our university and you will geta nice new SUV and be part of the championship team we are buying to attend school. That’s what you would end up with, if giving gifts is none of the NCAA’s business. The Competitive edge should not be able to be bought. Miami would have had the number one team in the country if this were the accepted way to lure athletes to a school, and was not considered wrong by the NCAA.
Supersize that order, mutt
March 9th, 2012
12:57 pm
If paraphrase had a dong, she might be a dangerous girl
George Stein
March 9th, 2012
12:57 pm
You haven’t proven a damned thing, Paraphrase. I can take some heat if it’s legit but I haven’t seen anything in this case that makes much sense.
I agree, FLJ. I tend to vote right, but I have definite libertarian tendencies.
George Stein
March 9th, 2012
12:59 pm
I’d be just fine with that, RedandBlackDawg. Isn’t that what we all do with our lives everyday?
Don’t all the best players already go to the schools that would pay the most for them?
Supersize that order, mutt
March 9th, 2012
12:59 pm
@ George, thanks for your last post. I have wondered, but I couldn’t think of a good way to ask, and I certainly didn’t want to offend you. I like your stance
Supersize that order, mutt
March 9th, 2012
1:01 pm
Didn’t Herschell get a brand new TransAm when he went to UGA? Long past history, since a lot of that went on back then everywhere, but $312,00 is pocket change.
yellow britches
March 9th, 2012
1:01 pm
Look, the NCAA vacated GT’s ACC title. The NCAA, GT and the ACC also vacated my Master Card for the price of four tickets to the champion game in Tampa. I want my money back. Now who do I contact?
George Stein
March 9th, 2012
1:01 pm
The alternative, RedandBlackDawg, would be ban the schools from buying players but allow them to do endorsements and such. That might be more palatable for some folks, and I’d be okay with that, too.
zgoldatl
March 9th, 2012
1:01 pm
I was there. They can’t take that memory away from us . Ask Clemson who the 2009 ACC champ is. Ask Va Tech. That’s our title, even if it doesn’t say it in the history books
HighTech
March 9th, 2012
1:02 pm
Thanks, George. What about emontional distress? I mean, if someone can get millions from McDonald’s for spilling hot coffee on herself, WTH? Sometimes it seems there is no issue too frivolous for litigation.
Supersize that order, mutt
March 9th, 2012
1:02 pm
good one, yellow britches. How about the cost of my hotel and the FF points I used to fly to Tampa too?
George Stein
March 9th, 2012
1:02 pm
No issue, Supersize. Don’t worry about offending me. You’d have to work a lot harder than that!
joke
March 9th, 2012
1:02 pm
Now watch Auburn, UNCheat, and Ohio State walk away with slaps on the wrist
To Paraphrase Bill Curry
March 9th, 2012
1:03 pm
Yellow, I would start with Paul’s Johnson. His arrogance toward the investigators is where you ladies should direct your anger.
George Stein
March 9th, 2012
1:03 pm
Don’t get me started on damages for emotional distress. Crap like that is why I don’t litigate. How, exactly, does one quantify the damages for that? Ugh.
Supersize that order, mutt
March 9th, 2012
1:03 pm
@ joke, I fully expect that to happen, and that’s just going to make us more PO’d
old dog
March 9th, 2012
1:03 pm
ok techies…..we go back and forth but y’all got a raw deal on this. Once agian the NCAA which is the biggest joke in the history of ANY organizations has been allowed to act like the idiots they are. Time for a change in the whole structure.
FL Jacket
March 9th, 2012
1:04 pm
HT…
I hate when people bring up that lawsuit. The size of the lawsuit had nothing to do with her frivolity…it everything to do with forcing McDonald’s to put a label on their coffee because it was a burn hazard.
George Stein
March 9th, 2012
1:04 pm
Paraphrase should read the report. He’d find out really quickly that Johnson came out looking pretty good in it.
Supersize that order, mutt
March 9th, 2012
1:04 pm
Paraphrase where the hell was Johnson arrogant with anybody. DRad was the one in contact with the investigators, NOT Johnson
HighTech
March 9th, 2012
1:05 pm
Emotional not emontional. I’m too emotional about the Yellow Jackets. lol.
Burdell
March 9th, 2012
1:06 pm
I was at Raymond James that chilly night in December 2009…Tech beat Clemson…end of story.
THWTNCAA
GO JACKETS!!!