Is Richt on a slippery slope when it comes to secondary violations?
Did Mark Richt forget UGA has a guy on staff whose job is to make sure the rules are followed? (Associated Press)
So what did you think of Mark Richt being tagged for an NCAA rules violation in the recruiting of Isaiah Crowell?
It’s a given that the violation, considered “secondary” by UGA and unlikely to draw any further punishment from the NCAA, is pretty picayune compared with some of the stuff going on these days in college recruiting.
The vast majority of UGA fans appear to feel it was definitely worth Richt crossing the line in order to land a must-have recruit like Crowell. A lot of folks admire his gumption in pushing the envelope.
But it’s worth noting that the true “missing man” in Richt’s recruiting stunt was Assistant Athletic Director for Compliance Eric Baumgartner, who’s there to advise coaches what’s a violation and what isn’t.
The problem is that Richt didn’t bother to check whether his little skit was allowed. According to Athletic Director Greg McGarity’s letter to the NCAA about the case, “Coach Richt knew that the team could not use equipment or run a play to create a tryout activity but did not not check with the Compliance Office beforehand about the offensive alignment. … Coach Richt knew that the activity could not occur in the stadium, for the public to view, equipment to be used or for an actual play to be run and did not believe this constituted a game-day simulation.”
The SEC disagreed and ruled that Crowell donning a Georgia jersey and joining an offensive formation was indeed a “game-day simulation,” even in an indoor practice facility. A quick call to Birmingham before Crowell’s visit to Athens could have ascertained that.
This situation was different from the five secondary violations UGA reported earlier when former players Randall Godfrey and David Pollack attended Ray Drew’s signing ceremony at the recruit’s invitation. UGA had nothing to do with that but had to take the blame under the NCAA’s peculiar rules about what it takes to constitute a representative of a school’s athletic interests.
In the Crowell case, however, the wound (admitted a very minor nick to UGA’s image) was self-inflicted, a result of Richt getting sloppy while caught up in his pursuit of the Dream Team. It also was probably unnecessary if McGarity was correct when he told the NCAA that “UGA does not believe a recruiting advantage was gained as [Crowell's] mother has stated that her son knew he was going to attend UGA since he was a young child.”
A few years back when Richt had his players deliberately draw a celebration penalty against Florida, most fans applauded the gutsy motivational ploy. “Evil” Richt was hailed as a welcome facet to the coach’s generally straight-arrow image.
Is the Crowell violation a similar situation? Should that letter of admonishment in his file be accompanied by a private “attaboy” pat on the back? Or should we remember that when Lane Kiffin was crossing the line at Tennessee, some of us weren’t quite as dismissive of secondary violations by a head coach.
I guess the question is, where should we draw the line? Is it ever acceptable for the coach to break NCAA rules, even minor ones? Would we be quite so accepting if it had been Nick Saban handing an Alabama jersey to Crowell?
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390 comments Add your comment
boots
March 15th, 2011
11:48 am
Seriously? First, the NCAA is a bunch of thugs with rules that the Pope could not follow. Second, what CMR did we not intentional, and we reported it, unlike other schools whose coaches cover things up from the NCAA. Thirdly, we had guys in a jersey get in a mock formation and asked the kid if he wanted to be a part of it. Big freaking deal. Stop trying to stir up trouble…
Throw the book at him
March 15th, 2011
11:52 am
This is outrageous!!! The NCAA should throw the book at him! I suggest a two game suspension, and a $250,000 fine.
Coachdawg 2000
March 15th, 2011
11:52 am
Nick Saban,Houston Nutt,and Spurrier run kids off with”medical disqualifications” and pulling schollys from less heralded recruits is waaaay more immoral than some staged recruiting ploy. As long as Jim Tressel has a job and Ohio State stays off probation then I have no concern for NCAA secondary violations.
MoDawg
March 15th, 2011
11:55 am
Move along….nothing to see here.
I actually happy to see a little “edge”, even if it is of the “butter knife” variety.
Coachdawg 2000
March 15th, 2011
11:56 am
alot of you fools ,bill king included, went to great lengths to say Mark Richt is too nice, too vanilla and yet now you questions his morals. B.K. please go do a blog for the lifetsyle section or quit being so provocative. Bill King you are truly an embarrassment!
schmeckdawg
March 15th, 2011
11:56 am
I personally think CMR should be hanged, shot, drawn and quartered, put back together, drawn and quartered again, have his head chopped off and then put in a wood chipper. That sure would teach him! Oh and by the way Bill I saw a picture of Crowell and other recruits in Tuscaloosa with Alabama jersey’s. Wonder where or from whom they got them. HMMMMMMM! Bill, are you really a DAWG fan?
AltamahaDawg
March 15th, 2011
11:58 am
Well, at least Fran will appreciate it. We landed a player from Georgia, which we never do according to him, and certainly he can’t blame this on the those Christian values that he find so unacceptable.
Don
March 15th, 2011
12:02 pm
Really? Talk about a no ba11$ organization…Control what you can, I guess. So Cam Newton can be shopped by his Dad, and he’s eligible, it’s all good. The NCAA is a joke. They have been neutered since the BCS took control of college football. Does anyone disagree? And while I’m at it, Mike Slive (AKA Mike Slime) is as bad, if not worse. Maybe we should make Steve Spurrier commissioner. Pretty sure he would be plain and clear as a button hook in the well water.
Baddawg1
March 15th, 2011
12:02 pm
Loved this comment I saw on another blog “If the NCAA was a woman I wouldn’t touch her with a 10 foot pole”. I’m sure Richt is like every one in America where we now feel like every thought or decision we make has to be confirmed through some kind of compliance officer and it is getting annoying. Richt has to compete with all these other schools committing major violations and getting away with it so a few secondary violations are going to happen.
ryan
March 15th, 2011
12:06 pm
Its funny how slow the AJC was on the Auburn players arrest which is more serious than this with Crowell and Ray Drew i am really thinking of not coming on the AJC any more .
ryan
March 15th, 2011
12:11 pm
I don’t care about these infractions because Bama , Aurburn, Tenn , and Florida do the same thing .
Jim
March 15th, 2011
12:13 pm
Coach Richt would not knowingly break NCAA rules. The only reason I could see for this to be an issue is that McGarity could be starting a paper trail to justify replaceing Coach Richt after this coming season even if the Dawgs have a winning season.
RCB
March 15th, 2011
12:18 pm
You mean we are supposed to get concerned about talking to players and not get concerned about offering them $100,000s. Get serious. the SEC and NCAA better look in the mirror. I recommend Richt offer a couple of $100,000 to the parents next time.
woebegong
March 15th, 2011
12:18 pm
The rule concerning giving a recruit a jersey, is he may wear it in the locker room, if he received it, there but can not leave the locker room with it on. However, if the recruit is given that shirt outside the locker room, it is permissable for him to put the jersey on and wear it around. (How Saban got away with it).
Now doesn’t that seem like a clear cut rule for you. Good lord, can you imagine what would have happened if the 10 other people on the practice field had been female. The headlines would read, “UGA arranges for recruit to play with 10 ladies of the night”. More to follow on the AJC blog, once it is determined if the Ladies in question were from the State of Tenn. or Atlanta. The AJC has asked for a public disclosure under the freedom of information act.
GOOOOOO DAWGSSSSSSSSS
Outsider
March 15th, 2011
12:20 pm
CMR knew what is there were doing was wrong. That is why he did not ask anyone else. He did not care. If he says differently then he is not being truthful. CMR is not as honest as advertised.
schmeckdawg
March 15th, 2011
12:23 pm
@woebegong, If that really is the rule, no wonder what a cluster f*&k the NCAA is!
richtfan
March 15th, 2011
12:24 pm
these things are beyond stupid. the ncaa needs to be focused on Oregon, AUBURN, Tennessee, North Carolina, Ohio State etc.
woebegong
March 15th, 2011
12:24 pm
Yeah, I guess he just liked the red jersey color more than any others he had received. He made it public knowledge, two weeks before the SEC, notified him that it was not permissable. The AD at UGA handed out the penalty for this major grievance. The NCAA probably wants the death penalty.
GOOOOOO DAWGSSSSSSSS
Sharon Massey
March 15th, 2011
12:26 pm
I have to agree that when you must employ a person whose title is Director of Compliance it generally means the rules are so convoluted and unfathomable as to be impossible to follow on a day to day basis. The David Pollack incident with Drew is a perfect example. Mr. Pollack is employed by ESPN and an Atlanta area sports oriented radio station yet his attendance at the Drew signing is a potentially punishable “offense” as a representative of the university??????? So does that mean that when Favre goes to a local Mississippi high school and works out with the team all these kids are no longer eligible because of “contact” with an NFL player????? How about a former pro athlete who coaches his kid’s Pop Warner or Little League team? How about if the NCAA makes and enforces clearly stated rules and annually sends out lists of all the people in the world with whom college athletes are not allowed to associate and we go from there.
gadawgs
March 15th, 2011
12:28 pm
I have no problem with it at all. That is MINOR compared to what many schools do and do NOT self report. If that’s what it took to get a player such as Crowell (even though his mother said it was a forgone conlusion) so be it. Great job coach for stepping outside the box a little. I applaud you.
schmeckdawg
March 15th, 2011
12:28 pm
@woebegong, please read my post from 11:56 this morning. I mean this heinous, immoral, vile act that CMR committed deserves NOTHING short of the NCAA Death Penalty. I mean since this story broke, I can’t believe that Allied Van Lines has not already come in and cleared out his office. As a DAWG fan, I am totally disgusted.
Shrimp N Grits
March 15th, 2011
12:30 pm
Get off your butt and find a story, Bill. Is Schultz and Bradley going to do an article on this non-story too?
Good grief man. Did you major in journalism or stirring the pot?
heyberto
March 15th, 2011
12:30 pm
Whoa… comparing Richt’s one improper ’stunt’ to Kiffin’s elevation of secondary violations to art form is bad form here. I expected this column from Bradley or Shultz, but not from Bill King. This is one event. Nothing to see here, move along.
schmeckdawg
March 15th, 2011
12:31 pm
Off with Richt’s head, and more mead for all of my men!!!!
woebegong
March 15th, 2011
12:32 pm
SCHMECKDAWG,
It appears it is. Otherwise they would have gotten Saban and Chizak for a minor violation. CMR was just too honest about it, and did it in the open, because he thought he was truely not violating the rule book as far as that being a formation with players in uniform. Dang, I hope they wear the rest of their equipment when they take the field next year.
The rule book does say that if the jersey is given in the locker room though, it can not be worn outside of the locker room. I haven’t read the whole book yet, because it is about as interesting as reading the history of a flies life cycle, but I am trying to get through it. Should be done in time for the new edition, or at least before the revised one comes out I hope. The next one will be twice as thick though, so at 62, I may not make it through that one, before I depart this earth.
GOOOOO DAWGSSSSSSSS
Desperation on the Ave
March 15th, 2011
12:35 pm
We at Tech are ABSOLUTELY OBSESSED with Mark Richt (our Daddy), and everything else having to do with the UGA football program (our God whom we worship).
Check out our obsessive thread about these violations on our SUPER-COOL website, Sting Talk.
http://www.stingtalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52873
Long-Live Mark Richt!!!!
Harry the Hat
March 15th, 2011
12:35 pm
Here we go again: Bill King needing something to write about, so he goes Dawg-negative again. What a stupid question again!. Is there not something else??? Your creativity is non-existent.
DawgLover
March 15th, 2011
12:36 pm
Bill King, sounds like you have nothing to write about and need to keep making stories out of nothing essentially. You need to either change your picture at the top of your article to another one that is not wearing UGA logos, or stop turning irrelevant articles just to rile people up. It is obvious that you have begun(? or did you ever write fully informed articles? – i.e. “OH MY GOD, AARON MURRAY IS A QUADRIPLEGIC FROM A SOCCER INJURY, OH WAIT I SPOKE TOO SOON HE IS FINE”). It is one thing if you write this for a small group of people who want to follow you, but this article right now is on the front page of the AJC when you go to the website, not the sports section, but the FRONT PAGE……really? There MUST be something better going on in the state of georgia as opposed to this crap….
schmeckdawg
March 15th, 2011
12:37 pm
I call on all DAWG fans to join me with lit torches as we descend upon the office of the evil emperor Marcus Von Richtus and dispatch of him with a swift and brutal violence because of the shame and embarrassment that he has heaped upon the fair village that is known as The Classic City!
Robin Hood watcher
March 15th, 2011
12:38 pm
mead = honey liquor.
GT is a 4th rate high school team
March 15th, 2011
12:38 pm
Those who claims Richt is on a slippery slop are the same folks who would feast on UGA losses and would like for UGA to remain mediocre or even worse. Do we really think UGA was clean during those championship years of the 1980’s? NCAA just did not have enough vague rules on the books during those times. Secondary violations are nothing compared to those suspected violations by some of our neighboring SEC schools.
schmeckdawg
March 15th, 2011
12:42 pm
woebegong, Does the NCAA have any rules on whether or not you can wear a jock strap inside or outside with or without pants? I mean if IC was wearing a jersey, this is a rule that I feel needs to be vigorously investigated down to the smallest detail. This is horrible, I just received my season ticket application yesterday, and if this is the kind of man that is going to represent THE UGA, I just don’t think I can support him. OHHHHHHHH the horror!!!!!
D A DoubleU G
March 15th, 2011
12:42 pm
Bill King is an excellent UGA columnist.
He writes from a fan’s perspective, and this, unfortunately, is the only story going on he hasn’t written about yet out of UGA.
Bill is a heavy Football-fan lean, and writes about basketball just enough to meet a quota. I don’t blame him. I am FAR from excited about the Dawgs being in the Dance. Congrats to them, but I am not reaching into my wallet to buy a Hoop-Dawgs shirt or anything.
I thoroughly enjoy reading and feeling the enthusiasm Bill has for all-things Athens and the University. I can strongly relate to his feelings. If you don’t like reading things from his type of perspective, I would encourage you to not click his link. You chose to read it, it was not forced upon you.
Keep up the great work Bill! GO DAWGS!!!
GT is a 4th rate high school team
March 15th, 2011
12:43 pm
With the kind of classy fans GT football program has you will think they would change their coaches for every secondary violations that are reported by their cupcake program.
schmeckdawg
March 15th, 2011
12:43 pm
Very good call Robin Hood watcher! I would equate it in these times to Barenjaeger (spelling?)
No King
March 15th, 2011
12:43 pm
This King guy needs to go to The Flats or The Plains or The Swamp. He’s apparently more oomfortable than “Between the Hedges”. With ‘Dawgs like him, we’re worse off than better. I want read his joke-of-a-column anymore.
frannie mae
March 15th, 2011
12:44 pm
Dogs are in BIG BIG Trouble and UGA pays million to these clueless coaches.
Athens Tider
March 15th, 2011
12:44 pm
This is nothing. I don’t think the problem is giving him a jersey; everybody does that. I think the problem is lining him up in formation with the other players. Am I wrong? Regardless, the whole’s thing’s a joke.
CMR Titanic
March 15th, 2011
12:45 pm
Time to rearrange the chairs on the ship.
woebegong
March 15th, 2011
12:46 pm
Shrimp,
Tim Tucker already wrote another story about this terrible violation a day or so ago. This is big news for the AJC.
GOOOOO DAWGSSSSSSSSS
cmdawg99
March 15th, 2011
12:47 pm
Why should Richt or any coach even talk to the media as to what exactly was said during any visit. Why cant MR just say yeah he’s a great kid he really liked our facilities .If he chooses us we will be blessed. Are all visits video recorded and taped? What the ajc scout and whatever type of media dosnt now wont hurt them. GoDawgs . GoRicht Hunkerdown.
Bony Tarnhardt
March 15th, 2011
12:48 pm
Richt really needs to get his act together. Spring break is fast approaching and the fulmer cup is being polished.
anotherdawg
March 15th, 2011
12:49 pm
Slippery slope? Compared to what went on at Auburn, Ohio State, USC, Tenn. and a ton of other schools, Richt is an anchor! Like comparing a parking violation to a DUI.
GT is a 4th rate high school team
March 15th, 2011
12:50 pm
@schmeckdawg, the torches are ready.
Festus
March 15th, 2011
12:51 pm
Aw shucks thait thare kid was only warein a jersey and folks need to git over it.
EW
March 15th, 2011
12:52 pm
Oh so it would be better to have a federal investigation looming about a pay for play scheme or to have a helicopter land at a High School field or to have a couple busty coeds to entice kids to come to UGA. GIVE ME A BREAK.
GT is a 4th rate high school team
March 15th, 2011
12:52 pm
Fulmer cup will not prevent a BCSMNC
reebok
March 15th, 2011
12:52 pm
the infractions are exceedingly minor…anyone would concede that…but they represent an overall lack of judgment and knowledge of the rules that could lead to something major…put another way, the best way to not cross the line is to never get anywher near it…my 2 cents’.
EW
March 15th, 2011
12:54 pm
When you paint these guys into a corner with rules that don’t allow just about everything then you are going to have minor rule infractions. The biggest issue is..did the school know what it was doing was wrong and did it intentionally bypass rules or fail to create an environment of compliance (any UT fans listening?)
schmeckdawg
March 15th, 2011
12:56 pm
@GT is a 4th rate high school team, Thank you my leedge (hell I don’t how to spell that word) have your men and there horses assembled upon the breaking of the large fiery ball in the sky and we shall take down with a swift vengence the traitor know as Marcus Von Richtus!