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
GT Lee
March 9th, 2012
2:30 pm
HT, in all fairness, they’re kinda handicapped with the OC DUI……
NCAA
March 9th, 2012
2:30 pm
Hmm… I’ll consider the appeal. Nah… DENIED!!!
Supersize that order, mutt
March 9th, 2012
2:30 pm
OK, this time I am really out of here. Have fun, guys
George Stein
March 9th, 2012
2:32 pm
Here ya go, NCAA:
http://filmdrunk.uproxx.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dismissivewank.gif
wolfman
March 9th, 2012
2:33 pm
What a joke the NCAA is….
techie
March 9th, 2012
2:34 pm
lets see if i have this right, BYU cheats on the field at the end of game that changed the outcome of the game in 2010 and put them in a bowl game that year..NCAA does nothing to them at all but gets another school for off the field problems..NCAA is second worse organization in the world, 2nd only to al quieda.
GT Lee
March 9th, 2012
2:34 pm
wassa matter NCAA? Can’t get the creative juices flowing and had to use the same blog twice?
Tokyo jacket
March 9th, 2012
2:34 pm
Ken, you state that the appeal was Georgia Tech’s last legal recourse. I would love to know if GT could file a class action suit for arbitrary and capricious behavior with other member institutions that have been on the wrong end of the NCAA stick. FL jacket said it all when you compare all the recent publicly advertised indiscretions, GT is damn near the bottom of the list.
HighTech
March 9th, 2012
2:35 pm
Good suggestions! So far we have:
The Weejina Monologues
The Weenie Monologues
The Weenie Diatribes
Just WnE Baby
A Day in the Life of a Psycho
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Any other suggestions? All are invited to contribute.
Just asking...
March 9th, 2012
2:35 pm
Does anyone on this blog have a bootleg copy of the entire series of Battlestar Galactica I can get?
George Stein
March 9th, 2012
2:35 pm
Unlikely, Tokyo Jacket.
NCAA
March 9th, 2012
2:36 pm
NAHGONAHGONAGONNAHAPPEN
GIVE ME A BREAK
March 9th, 2012
2:36 pm
The appeal committee should be outside of the NCAA.
GT numba won!
March 9th, 2012
2:37 pm
I go to GT and not happy about this. We run state of Ga. I make this video in my dorm room at GT, i hope you like.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzk6wJ43o5U
Just the facts, maam
March 9th, 2012
2:39 pm
How about “Confessions of a useless mind” HT?
George Stein
March 9th, 2012
2:39 pm
I just wanna know what you did, HT, to incite him.
GTBob
March 9th, 2012
2:40 pm
I would love to know if GT could file a class action suit for arbitrary and capricious behavior with other member institutions that have been on the wrong end of the NCAA stick
We are a voluntary member of the NCAA and agree to abide by whatever nonsense they make up. There is nothing legally we could do about it. The worst we could do is leave the NCAA which would crush pretty much all of our athletic programs. As someone said above, the NCAA is one of the worst organizations in the United States and there is little that could be done to change them.
GT Lee
March 9th, 2012
2:41 pm
NCAA- I think your caps lock is stuck and your space bar isn’t working…..
Stinger 2
March 9th, 2012
2:41 pm
Can anyone who knows tell us what happens now in the official records of the ACC. Does the record show a blank with explanation that GT forfited the title? Or does Clemson get it?
George Stein
March 9th, 2012
2:41 pm
That’s not entirely accurate, GTBob, but it’s pretty close.
George Stein
March 9th, 2012
2:42 pm
It’ll be empty, Stinger. Clemson will not get it.
WnE
March 9th, 2012
2:44 pm
I haven’t stopped posting the harsh truth about Coach Kung Fu Panda from DEC. 2007 and pulling up 15 month old twitter messages won’t change that.
BTW High Text (Coach Spencer Pun) those messages you posted in this Blog were NOT sent to Vad, they were posted on MY twitter account for anyone to view.
You don’t KNOW HOW twitter works!
To send a tweet TO someone you have to put this “@” in front of their twitter account name, those messages you pulled up were my OPINIONS but were NOT sent to anyone unless they CHOSE to visit my Twitter page.
The 12 tweets that Stein pulled up were the ones that I did send to VL.
The ones that I posted for anyone to see WITHOUT sending them to VL came AFTER Vad Lee himself criticized Stephon Tuitt’s MOTHER on his Twitter account after Tuitt changed “his mind” and flipped back to ND.
If you can live by the sword, you can die by the sword, if you can take CHEAP SHOTS at Tuitt’s Mom for trying to “control her son’s life” (VL’s own words), then you can’t get mad when otehr voice their opinions in the same medium.
But you are wrong High Text, Stein had the correct 12 tweets that I SENT to VL, what you pulled up weren’t “sent” to anyone.
I don’t back off from anything that I have done, and I won’t be silenced about Coach Kung Fu Panda and GT FB just like I was back in Dec. 2007 & before.
techie
March 9th, 2012
2:44 pm
the moral of this decison is you should only cheat on the field of play like BYU. NCAA has no problem cheating on the field of play affecting the outcome of the game, just dont cheat off the field.
NCAA
March 9th, 2012
2:45 pm
EMPTY STINGER…EMPTY!!! (note all caps and no spacing)
George Stein
March 9th, 2012
2:46 pm
I didn’t pull a singe tweet off your account, WnE. Which brings me to this:
WnE
March 8th, 2011
1:44 pm
re:
GTBob
March 8th, 2011
1:38 pm
________________
Please point out one FALSE statement that I have made in this Blog, just one.
Thought so!
Weasels like you focus on the messenger rather than the MESSAGE!
Simply prove me wrong and I’ll write a written retraction and never post another comment in any AJC blog.
I await your response.
GTBob
March 9th, 2012
2:48 pm
I don’t back off from anything that I have done
You publicly harassed an 18 year old just because you don’t like GT. Congrats for not backing down. It just makes you look insane.
GT Lee
March 9th, 2012
2:48 pm
George- based on weenie’s blogs and the contents of his twitter page, it almost looks like he was either denied admission to GT, or was kicked out of GT(that’s assuming he somehow got in-I know that’s a stretch). But SOMETHING pushed him over the edge-everything he does is filled with hate towards GT in an unhealthy obsessive form. And I wonder why CPJ is the ‘lightning rod’ for all of it? What do you think?
Jason to the Marcus
March 9th, 2012
2:49 pm
It has been a while my friends.
Ga Text
March 9th, 2012
2:49 pm
If you read all the reports, it wasn’t just Radakovich telling his head football coach. He also — despite multiple warnings from his compliance director about not telling others– called in other members of his staff to begin mapping out a plan for dealing with the situation. Too bad he didn’t resign. Tech might have had a chance with its appeal then.
Jason to the Marcus
March 9th, 2012
2:49 pm
Glad to see my butt effing friend Wrexie is still on here. When I get through lawyering today we’re going to get together to play hide the football. Can you guess where?
GTBob
March 9th, 2012
2:49 pm
Does the record show a blank with explanation that GT forfited the title? Or does Clemson get it?
The game was never played and there is no 2009 champion. Silly huh? Retroactive punishments are one of the dumbest things ever conceived.
Jason to the Marcus
March 9th, 2012
2:51 pm
Was it rough to call an 18 year old on the carpet like WnE did? Sure it was. But Wrexie is hard core. You should see the things he likes inserted into his mangina.
George Stein
March 9th, 2012
2:51 pm
It’s a good question, Lee.
You seem to have backed off this, WnE:
WnE
March 8th, 2011
1:44 pm
re:
GTBob
March 8th, 2011
1:38 pm
________________
Please point out one FALSE statement that I have made in this Blog, just one.
Thought so!
Weasels like you focus on the messenger rather than the MESSAGE!
Simply prove me wrong and I’ll write a written retraction and never post another comment in any AJC blog.
I await your response.
Jason to the Marcus
March 9th, 2012
2:53 pm
Jason you stupid effing f@ggot….what did I tell you about spewing your filth on the internet? Don’t you have some lawyering to do today? I can not WAIT to meet up with WnE so we can tease each other with various objects. My bu ng hole is quivering with excitement.
George Stein
March 9th, 2012
2:53 pm
Looks be damned, GTBob. Dude IS insane.
indianman
March 9th, 2012
2:54 pm
i think that thet got what cheat should get ha ha ha ha
Lawyering is fun
March 9th, 2012
2:56 pm
Bothwell bothwell bracker vaughn,
I like to get my lawyerin on.
I jack off on the internet day and night
My friends think I may be bi.
WnE
March 9th, 2012
2:56 pm
re:
March 9th, 2012
2:46 pm
I didn’t pull a singe tweet off your account, WnE. Which brings me to this:
_____________________
An honest mistake on my part, someone did on another Blog in the last 2-3 days and I thought it was you.
Either way I’ll be posting for a LONG TIME!
You’re wasting your time with your cut & paste efforts, I’m NOT going anywhere.
But I do hope that Coach Fish Fry would go somewhere, else that is.
The Truth
March 9th, 2012
2:56 pm
GA Tech Lies & Cheats & Everyone knows it. Everyone! How much more proof does anyone need?
George Stein
March 9th, 2012
2:59 pm
So you do back off things, WnE?
WnE
March 8th, 2011
1:44 pm
re:
GTBob
March 8th, 2011
1:38 pm
________________
Please point out one FALSE statement that I have made in this Blog, just one.
Thought so!
Weasels like you focus on the messenger rather than the MESSAGE!
Simply prove me wrong and I’ll write a written retraction and never post another comment in any AJC blog.
I await your response.
GT Lee
March 9th, 2012
3:01 pm
weenie, who’s the weasel now?
GT Lee
March 9th, 2012
3:02 pm
troll hard, Truth and indianman….
George Stein
March 9th, 2012
3:03 pm
Bingo, Lee. He doesn’t know what his story is anymore. One day he’s saying to show him where he’s been wrong and he’ll never post again. The next he’s accusing me of doing things I haven’t done and saying he’ll be posting for a long time.
One thing’s for sure. Every single time he posts, he’s going to see the post where he committed not to. He’s not a (wo)man of his word.
GT Lee
March 9th, 2012
3:06 pm
George, LOL……seriously though, what do you really think set off his obsessive hatred towards GT?
George Stein
March 9th, 2012
3:08 pm
He’s a deranged UGA fan (though probably not a graduate). It’s why he shows a ring instead of a diploma from Tech.
Just the facts, maam
March 9th, 2012
3:08 pm
indianman, that was not even a real sentence. At least most were actual words. Good effort, keep trying.
GT Lee
March 9th, 2012
3:10 pm
definitely deranged-needs to be in a padded cell (Milledgeville, maybe?) somewhere….
GT Lee
March 9th, 2012
3:11 pm
LOL @ Just the facts
RedandBlackDAWG
March 9th, 2012
3:13 pm
George,
I have no problem with players endorsing a product, but the dumb NCAA thinks it robs the schools of revenue, even if the kid doesn’t wear his uniform and doesn’t say the name of his school. They say, he wouldn’t be in a position to do endorsements, if not for the team they played for. I guess they also might think that a one school could offer more endorsing deals in a big TV market or something, and this would give that school a competitive advantage. I believe since they are making millions out of these kid playing sports for them, then the kid needs to make some money as well. I know there are those, that say a free education is the pay check, but if that is all these kids have and they don’t have any pocket money, they get into trouble, and end up messing up their lives far too often. You can’t expect young folks to play a major sport, get some type of education, and stay in the dorm and out of mischief’s way, 365 days a year. I think the 2 grand for an athlete is a small price to pay, to insure these kids have a little cash and freedom. They might just find out that there would be a lot of trouble less for some of these kids.
headley lamar
March 9th, 2012
3:15 pm
A. An A She She title really isn’t worth anything anyway. If that’s your top accomplishment you really haven’t done anything.
B. I guess the NCAA just has it out for tech because as we all know Tech has never done anything wrong and is by nature incapable of fault.
CPJ Record against the three legit teams he has to play each year. ( Va Tech, UGA, Bowl Game )
2 – 10 ( 0 for last 6 )