Punishment severe, but Georgia Tech made its own mess
Georgia Tech's athletic director Dan Radakovich (right) and president G.P."Bud" Peterson were upset with NCAA's findings and language, but admitted errors. (Johnny Crawford/AJC)
There are a number of disturbing words that can be found in an NCAA news release. Booster. Agent. Academic fraud. The dreaded string: Lack of institutional control.
But this one ranks as one of the most troublesome: Manipulate.
If you believe the NCAA, Georgia Tech officials not only failed to cooperate with an investigation into possible impermissible benefits, they impeded, obstructed and tossed up road blocks.
The public infractions report reads like it was crafted by a performance-enhanced novelist. Claims that Tech attempted to “manipulate the information surrounding potential violations.” Claims that the school “hindered efforts to get to the truth.” Claims that former general counsel Randy Nordin, “adopted an obstructionist approach” to the investigation and referred to an NCAA staff member as “demonstratively untruthful.”
Maybe some of that is blather. But too much of it is truth.
Tech and its athletic department were slapped Thursday. They deserved to be.
While a case certainly can be made that the punishment is excessive – the Yellow Jackets effectively were stripped of their only ACC football championship in 2009 because one player received $312 worth of merchandise more than 20 months ago – a better case can be made that they had it coming.
Sorry. But a school whose title includes the words “Institute of Technology” should know how to read a manual.
Jackets coach Paul Johnson lost his ACC title. (Johnny Crawford/AJC)
In 2005, Tech went on two years’ probation because it used 17 athletes in four sports (11 in football) that it should have ruled academically ineligible. It lost scholarships and was forced to vacate rules. Now it has been hit with four years’ probation in football and basketball, fined $100,000 and must vacate records from the last three games of the 2009 football season (including the ACC title-game win over Clemson) because it acted stupidly when confronted with charges of using an ineligible player (Demaryius Thomas) and having a former basketball grad assistant involved with an on-campus AAU tournament.
Tech president G.P. “Bud” Peterson and athletic director Dan Radakovich both largely disputed the findings of the NCAA. (Tech had an official 53-page response to a 26-page infractions report.) But they were remorseful and Radakovich even apologized to the football team for the lost ACC title.
Paul Parker, the Jackets’ compliance officer at the time of the infractions, left the school in April to take a job at (ironically) Auburn. Radakovich did not publicly place any blame on Parker. But neither he nor Peterson were as kind to the school’s former counsel, Nordin, who has since retired.
“Perhaps we should’ve done some things differently,” Peterson said. “He didn’t have a great deal of experience in issues like this, and I believe if we had to do this all over again we would’ve hired an outside consultant to advise us and serve as legal counsel.”
He also cited the NCAA report saying that Nordin failed to inform the players of the consequences for lying. “Someone who had the experience working with the NCAA would know that’s their expectation,” Peterson said.
Actually, that seems more like common sense.
So is this: When the NCAA told Peterson and Radakovich not to inform anybody in the football program that an investigation was coming, that wasn’t merely a suggestion. But Radakovich told coach Paul Johnson. It trickled down from there. Radakovich said he never intended to influence the investigation, but he admitted it was a mistake.
Tech’s hearing took place at the worst possible time: the off week before the Georgia game, two weeks before the ACC championship. Thomas, a wide receiver, and safety Morgan Burnett both were the focus of the investigation into the football team. The Jackets rolled the dice. That was a mistake. (Georgia, in a similar situation last year, held out A.J. Green in the season opener before the NCAA suspended him four games for “Jerseygate.”)
Peterson was led to believe the players were innocent. He now says the school should have at least declared Thomas ineligible and then appeal for his immediate reinstatement. (Thomas denied the clothes were given to him by former Tech player Calvin Booker, whom the NCAA considers a runner for an agent. There were no findings with Burnett, but the NCAA blames Tech for letting the players know that investigators were going to ask them questions.)
It all may seem way too convoluted and the punishment too severe for what the NCAA admits ultimately could be a secondary infraction. But the mess is Tech’s doing.
“We could’ve done better,” Peterson said.
A tough lesson to learn.
By Jeff Schultz
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431 comments Add your comment
Who's To Blame
July 15th, 2011
8:56 am
See slide 21 of 28
Melinda
July 15th, 2011
8:58 am
Tech should have been smarter about this, but the NCAA is a joke.
Terrelle Pryor and other Ohio State athletes were under investigation for the tattoo parlor thingy (impermissible benefits) and the NCAA let them play in a bowl game! Thomas and Burnett were NOT declared ineligible (and from everything I can read in that report, were never, to this day, proven to be ineligible), so how can the NCAA make us vacate the ACC championship? How is this fair? I’ve been frustrated with the way they arbitrarily enforce rules, but this is ridiculous. They CLAIM the players were coached on their interviews, when they cannot prove it to be so. Yet it took them how many years to figure out the Reggie Bush money trail?
juvenal
July 15th, 2011
8:59 am
gtgrad, my thoughts initially-then i slept on it…….so why do pryor and newton get to play? innocent till proven guilty, let’s get all the facts, which may have to come out in an appeal…in the meantime, not planning on supporting statues to braine & drad outside dodd….
Who's To Blame
July 15th, 2011
9:03 am
Not only Randy Nordin,,,,you have wonder which attorney was providing advice to Nordin also.
http://www.legalaffairs.gatech.edu/about-ola
NCAA = Pro Wrestling
July 15th, 2011
9:05 am
College football is no longer the game it used to be.
Bottom line: The NCAA found them a non-cash-cow football program to pick on. Won’t cost them a dime to throw the book at Georgia Tech.
They drug their feet on the Scam Newton investigation so he could play. Why? Because it would have cost big $$$ if he couldn’t.
They let Ohio State players suit up despite CERTAINTY they were inelligible.
What a joke CFB has become. Sad.
Ben
July 15th, 2011
9:06 am
The mess is the result of silly, nitpicky NCAA rules.
icallbs
July 15th, 2011
9:07 am
The enemy here is not TECH or Georgia, good grief, people. It is the capricious, hypocritical, out of control bloated bureaucracy that refers to itself as the NCAA. I agree with the strain of thought that suggests if this is what TECH gets let’s see how OState is handled. Can’t wait for that one.
A lot of this reminds me of what is going on in this country politically, but that is a different blog
.
Smarter than Tech
July 15th, 2011
9:08 am
“Stupid is as Stupid does” It means that an (so called) intelligent person who does stupid things is still stupid. You are what you do.
CPJ and the all of the Ga Tech administrators, are really stupid
MarkA
July 15th, 2011
9:11 am
From a UGA fan: Crap like this makes me want to root for GT. OK, here it is: I’m hoping you bounce back from this, Teckies. You got a very raw deal.
Good thing the NCAA does not control our country’s nuclear arsenal.
Atlanta's Original Team
July 15th, 2011
9:13 am
I have not read all of the comments but those I read did not suggest what an appropriate penalty for Tech should have been. Whether or not Tech actually did anything wrong is a point we could argue endlessly and it would only prove the bias of those arguing. Given the fact that regardless of your feelings about Tech’s guilt or innocence no one seems to think the NCAA is consistent or credible in their enforcement policies, how should the NCAA have handled this?
Reality Stinks
July 15th, 2011
9:14 am
GT grad and Hal
Get used to it. Dont you realize that GT is a southern school. And what has the Northern run NCAA done for so many years, I’ll tell you, they spend most of their time trying to bring down the southern schools.
What schools are always being investigated, what schools recieve the most punishment, yea the southern schools
Yet the pious northern schools never get investigated and your going to tell me there has been no corruption going on up there for the past 50+ yrs come on. Chicago is a corrupt city, Detroit is loaded with corruption, most of the north is still Union run business that have always been known for corruption,
but amazingly these same people who you know attend these games do no wrong and take no bribes
Just watch and see the slap on the wrist Ohio state gets just like ND with their little TV timeout deal
Im a UGA fan but I know whats going on, the South has won something like 22 national championships in the last 30 yrs and they cannot stand it, and neither can the Northern run biased media aka ESPN. Just look at the lineup on ESPN and where each commentator graduated or coached at
Its time for southern schools to tell the NCAA where to go
Freddy
July 15th, 2011
9:14 am
Not because of GT but any school…I don’t believe anything from the NCAA…mafia
J
July 15th, 2011
9:17 am
If this is the GT punishment, O-Lie-O State may not have a team for a year or two.
JB
July 15th, 2011
9:18 am
Hopefully, As with us with Jan Kemp, Jim Harrick, Damon Evans, we learn and get better as an University. Tech will also get better because of this. Go Dawgs
Ray Easterlin
July 15th, 2011
9:19 am
I am as loyal a Tech alum as there is, but we are wrong. To the best of my knowledge Tech had never had an issue with the NCAA in football or basketball until O’Leary got us into big trouble. Now Radakovich has done his thing. Many Tech alumni wanted Radakovich fired for not firing Hewitt years ago and now we have a really good reason to fire him. He must be fired immediately.
MisterT
July 15th, 2011
9:24 am
I would love to know who the investigators were and who wrote this scathing report by the NCAA over what amounts to a clothing gift of $312 value. Way over the top! Sounds more like someone with an agenda.
THWg!
Hal
July 15th, 2011
9:30 am
“From the committee standpoint, there was enough evidence to warrant Georgia Tech to hold the student-athlete out of competition until the information could be complete and that the student-athlete’s eligibility could be verified or not.” I don’t think so and neither did Tech. That’s why the NCAA did find any guilt. Who is knows the players character more the school or the NCAA? In this country you are innocent until proven guilty. Then when you are found innocent penalize the institution anyway. Way to go NCAA.
Coach Hewitt...
July 15th, 2011
9:30 am
Paul Parker, who was the Jackets’ compliance officer at the time of the infractions, left the school in April to take a job at (ironically) Auburn. …
Jacket21
July 15th, 2011
9:31 am
$312 worth of clothes? Really? Thomas shoulda havd Cecil Newton as his daddy, better payoff and lame avoidance of violations. The NCAA is an absolute joke.
Dean
July 15th, 2011
9:32 am
I’m a Georgia fan and agree this is all so stupid. The NCAA has no respect whatsoever. And Auburn continues to get by with what everybody can plainly see was a pay for play scheme and if lying and covering up aren’t obstructions then I don’t know what is. However, they just made alot of money for the NCAA.
Coach Hewitt...
July 15th, 2011
9:33 am
Ray Easterlin
“I am as loyal a Tech alum as there is, but we are wrong. To the best of my knowledge Tech had never had an issue with the NCAA in football or basketball until O’Leary got us into big trouble. Now Radakovich has done his thing. Many Tech alumni wanted Radakovich fired for not firing Hewitt years ago and now we have a really good reason to fire him. He must be fired immediately.”
Ray…. bossRoss got you put on probation back in 1989 too…
Not impressed
July 15th, 2011
9:34 am
Let’s see. The head coach is responsible for trying to make sure the players follow the rules. But the NCAA says dont tell the head coach. The head coach is not the target of the investigation so how come not inform him. This is where the hindering the investigation charge comes from. Stupid. There is no evidence at all that the coach hindered anything. From all sources it appears the NCAA just wanted to prove a point. The investigator got his little feelings hurt. If you cant inform a coach that there might be a problem how is he or she supposed to watch out for these things. CPJ and CMR appear to have enough integrity to do what is right. If coaches cant be involved, then the NCAA has a big big problem. Look out for CFA to break away from NCAA.
Michael
July 15th, 2011
9:37 am
So I can’t buy an iphone from a player for $1,000?
David
July 15th, 2011
9:39 am
Jeff, I don’t know if you are right or wrong on your facts, but I sure appreciate the effort.
Tech fumbled the ball. They had 2 small violations and dug in their heels and ticked off the NCAA.
Damn Tech, show some common sence. You could have made those minor violations go away over night. Stupid, Stupid, Stupid
Big Macon DAWG
July 15th, 2011
9:43 am
You guys got it handed to you because the NCAA views you as being irrelevant to the ca$h flow that lines their pocket$.
Mark my words, Ohio State’s penalties will pale by comparison, as will All-Barn’s (if they even get penalized).
GT Grad
July 15th, 2011
9:43 am
This is the last straw… As a GT Grad I am relinquishing all my fan status of the athletic programs at GT. I’m going to remain proud of my degree in Mechanical Engineering and the academic standards for the non-athletes at Tech. What a joke the athletic department is!!! I grew up a Bulldog fan and went to Tech because they offered engineering. I have remained loyal to Tech for 20 years, but I am ready for a new team. Any suggestions?
DAWG Sez Ridiculous
July 15th, 2011
9:44 am
What happened to our Dawgs and now the techies is so stupid – on the NCAA’s part.
When are they going to investigate some real issues and make a real difference?
A few clothes worth $300, a jersey – come on! My wife spends more than that on a pair of shoes.
The NCAA is trying so hard to prove themselves relevant.
All they achieve is fan hate for themselves.
NCAA = TSA
July 15th, 2011
9:44 am
Enforcement by the NCAA is like how theTSA gropes 6 and 7 year old childeren,
and wheel-chair bound 80 year old grandmothers trying to trvel by air.
NCAA = NAZIS
Georgia Tech’s Arrogance Cost Them « The Grit Tree
July 15th, 2011
9:46 am
[...] I don’t often do this, but I have to agree with Jeff Schultz on this one. Georgia Tech must take down their ACC Championship Banner and are fined $100K. Pretty harsh for $312, but if you think about it, it is not so bad. No loss of scholarships, no bowl bans or anything of that nature. [...]
Smarter than Tech
July 15th, 2011
9:46 am
Not impressed, It looks like CMR is smarter than CPJ. CMR did the right thing with his player and CPJ did not, …… CPJ is not very bright…. along with his coaching.
the dude
July 15th, 2011
9:47 am
DEAR FRIENDS AND COUNTRYMEN LEND ME YOUR EARS, WELL, WELL, WELL. FINALLY THE GREAT ncaa HAS FOUND ANOTHER MEMBER OF THE IM NOT GUILTY CLASS. EVERYONE KNOWS tech HAS NEVER DONE ANYTHING AGAINST THE LAWS OF THE ncaa. NOW OF COURSE ALL WE WILL HEAR IS HOW CORRUPT UGA IS, BECAUSE WHO ELSE WOULD ALL THE techies ATTACK BUT THE GREAT SCHOOL IN ATHENS. SO LET IT BE WRITTEN LET IT BE DONE, PUT ALL THE techies IN PRISION WHERE THEY TRULY BELONG.
BigTimeTECHFan
July 15th, 2011
9:48 am
Schultz your wrong:
1st Tech did not break any NCAA rules, NCAA never found the gifts of clothing illeagal.
2nd rather then being wrong and admitting to it, The NCAA says Tech talked to a player when it should not have. No facts that when Tech talked to him they coached him, just that the NCAA THINKS they did.
3rd a lot of teams have talked to players under investigation, example UGA talked to and suspended AJ Greene before NCAA finalized investigation.
4th player was allowed to play in bowl game because it was determined he never received illeagal gifts, same finding by team and NCAA
This is all wrong, Scotter Libby 2
Smarter than Tech
July 15th, 2011
9:48 am
Tech ! ACC Champs ??? I thing UGA should be the ACC Champs for 2009.
Smarter than Tech
July 15th, 2011
9:49 am
Tech ! ACC Champs ??? I think UGA should be the ACC Champs for 2009.
Craig Spinks
July 15th, 2011
9:50 am
Bobby Dodd and John Heisman are spinning in their graves.
Here comes Russ
July 15th, 2011
9:52 am
Tech fans stand up for your coach! Don’t fire PJ, I like the one guaranteed win every year.
Smarter than Tech
July 15th, 2011
9:52 am
BigTimeTECHFan ….. Stupid is as Stupid does….. Your wrong.
Homepage | MrSEC.com
July 15th, 2011
9:55 am
[...] for Tech’s AD is the fact that the NCAA specifically stated that Tech officials attempted “to manipulate the information surrounding potential violations” and “hindered eff…Radakovich has said that he did not mean to interfere with the NCAA’s investigation, but he [...]
juvenal
July 15th, 2011
9:56 am
not just random, but with caprice….time for the players to travel in fatigues, or orange jump suitsso pryor & newton get to play? still doesn’t mean the nzaa will act in a coherent fashion…athlon does agree with you, Jeff, about Tech being totally responsible for any mess involving the nzaa…would not use their inconsistent methods to discipline my dog, let alone my kids….
juvenal
July 15th, 2011
9:57 am
athlon does NOT…..
Truth
July 15th, 2011
10:08 am
GT is now SMU
BankerDawg
July 15th, 2011
10:13 am
I don’t really get what Schultz, Bradley, etc. are talking about.
I have read the report, and the Tech response, and I think if/when Tech appeals this awful decision, they will ultimately have the ACC Title reinstated and have the probation term reduced.
I still don’t see anything that Tech did that would be constituted as a major violation that should result in any severe punishment.
The players involved have not been ruled to have been ineligible, that I can see. The NCAA simply states that Tech SHOULD have held them out to determine further to what degree they were eligible. However, I believe the ACC cleared the players in question to play.
The NCAA cannot prove D Thomas or M Burnett received anything from an agent or agent runner, or that Tech coached or advised players to do anything that would mislead NCAA investigators. Just supposition and conjecture.
All of this is based on the NCAA being ticked off that Tech did not bow down at the NCAA altar. This is why this makes me sick, be it Tech or otherwise…the NCAA has basically put a team on probation b/c they did not play nicely with the investigators and they had their feelings hurt.
That should scare anyone who is a fan or alum of a college team.
I would hope that some of the “journalists” at the AJC would feel the same way, but they seem to be more interested in talking about a Tech “scandal” or “cover up”.
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DAWGS! SIC ‘EM!
collegedude
July 15th, 2011
10:13 am
I find several things interesting here:
1. The AJC finally has to report on this story that has been out there and completely ignored until now. Is that because the AJC was trying to cover it up as much as they possibly could or are their reporters just completely incompetent?
2. The NATS fans sure seem willing to be “understanding” in these instances and they want to minimalize the violations committed. Oddly they had no problem with AJ’s suspension last year even though he told the school and gave the money he had made off selling an item to charity.
Here’s the difference bumblebee fans, at UGA we respect the NCAA. The UGA athletic program is not perfect and players make mistakes. They however don’t try to cover it up when it happens nor do they try to impede the investigation. Schools with integrity are like that. Schools without integrity and those who have superiority complexes think they can get away with not reporting violations and trying to impede investigations into wrong-doing. This is why Tech got hammered. They have no integrity in their program. It sucks when reality slaps you in the face, even when cheating Tech had a 2nd rate athletic program & now they have the NCAA probation to keep them down.
ToccoaBird
July 15th, 2011
10:13 am
A GT player just spit on the sidewalk in Atlanta, where’s the death penalty?
willie
July 15th, 2011
10:17 am
As a GT fan, the punishment seems about right to me. It was certainly not major enough to take away scholarships or bowl eligibility, so I think they got it right. Whether it was $300 worth or $30,000 worth of stuff doesn’t matter….they shouldn’t have tried to manipulate the investigation.
BankerDawg
July 15th, 2011
10:20 am
Collegedude- The NCAA is broken, and fankly, doesn’t deserve any respect at this point, imho.
Willie – the dollar amount always matters.
GOOOOOOOOOOOO DAWGS! SIC ‘EM!
Damage for Georgia Tech’s future should be limited | Jeff Schultz
July 15th, 2011
10:23 am
[...] when Tech returns the ACC championship trophy to the conference. But really, what does it mean? The problem with the NCAA forcing a team to vacate victories as a penalty is it’s just a symbolic gesture. The games have been played. The revenue has been generated (and [...]
juvenal
July 15th, 2011
10:23 am
collegedude, you put a statue for someone with a # of violations…..appreciate you Banker, for interjecting a note of rationality,cheat implies intent, incompetence implies stupidity, &, tho’ ignorance is no excuse, the jury usually cuts you slack-remember, this all antedates the recent even more bizarre and erratic actions of the nzaa(maybe if they had done this quicker, would that changed some of this later crap?),&, like king george, if we don’t hang together against these despots, we will all hang seperately…..
Zac
July 15th, 2011
10:26 am
http://www.ajc.com/sports/georgia-tech/tech-player-to-ncaa-1018244.html
Maybe you guys should hire this guy?
RambleOn84
July 15th, 2011
10:27 am
So that means we didn’t lose to UGA in 2009?