An embarrassing day for Tech, which hates embarrassment
"See this? Not any longer." (AJC photo by Johnny Crawford)
It’s an embarrassing day for Georgia Tech, and Tech alums don’t like being embarrassed.
The Jackets have been forced to vacate the 2009 ACC title, have been placed on NCAA probation through 2015 and have been fined $100,000 — what is this, the NFL? — to boot. We can extrapolate from this that the NCAA likewise doesn’t take kindly to embarrassment.
The NCAA has found that “staff members” not only failed to contribute to an investigation but also sought to cast enough doubt on the allegations that they couldn’t be proved. In plain English, the NCAA believed Tech tried to cover up. And the NCAA hates cover-ups way worse than it hates violations.
Update: In offering Tech’s response to the NCAA’s findings, both president Bud Peterson and AD Dan Radakovich insisted there was no intent to influence anyone’s testimony to the NCAA. Indeed, Radakovich admitted it was he who had spoken to coach Paul Johnson about the NCAA’s interest in a particular student-athlete.
I’ll have more at greater length soon, but for now I leave you with this: Until today, Georgia Tech fans had great confidence their athletic department was under sound management. I’m not sure they still do. The school that prides itself on knowing how to run things managed to take a molehill of a violation and turn it into a mountain range’s worth of sanctions. Yikes.
By Mark Bradley
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474 comments Add your comment
Big Ten Champs Nebraska
July 14th, 2011
3:52 pm
@ Steve. This is NOT a Tech blog. It is a Mark Bradley blog. Complain to him if you are unhappy with the truth.
I don’t get you southerners. You have such narrow vision.
T3
July 14th, 2011
3:52 pm
NCAA = The TSA of College Athletics.
As for all you moron UGAG fans,
you’ll always have JAN KEMP as your legacy. ALWAYS.
GoldenRod
July 14th, 2011
3:52 pm
The Dawgs cheat worse than us and that’s a known fact. Soon they will probably have even bigger sanctions come down for all their cheating ways.
CPJ runs a much tighter ship than the Missionary Man.
Paul in RDU
July 14th, 2011
3:52 pm
Certainly a bad day for GT – and some people in the Edge building have some serious explaining to do.
One thing that I don’t understand is how this problem “came out of nowhere” and the NCAA has issued their sanctions already. There is another ACC school that has been all over the news where the tutor of the HC’s son was paying $1000 parking fines for star players and nothing has happened yet.
Techie7
July 14th, 2011
3:52 pm
not smart – i don’t think unc lied – from what i read they self reported stuff the ncaa didnt ask for. i do think a couple of their players tried to mislead the ncaa but not the institution like we did
Big Ten Champs Nebraska
July 14th, 2011
3:54 pm
Techie7 makes the most valid point. Trying to mislead the NCAA.
Carlton
July 14th, 2011
3:54 pm
Wow, so many haters to my post..where to begin..?
atler8: No need to say anything. It’s sad that you as Tech fan have to bring up other UGA rivals to make a point.
JB: I’d rather be a UGA fan with under-achieving 5 star players than a Tech fan who never have 5 star players and consistently lose to UGA’s “under achievers”.
Thanks. And sorry for posting my original comment twice. Computer messed up.
Reggie Ball
July 14th, 2011
3:54 pm
Why does the NCAA come so hard after GT and not Ohio State or Auburn?
gtfanfrom1951
July 14th, 2011
3:54 pm
I would hate to OSU and UNC if this is done over $312 it will be off with their heads. With all the things going on at UNC how is Davis keeping his job? The difference between GT and UGA scandal is that UGA players go to jail do not pass go or collect $200 they have to pay it.
GT BBall
July 14th, 2011
3:55 pm
Yes Mark, any day you’re writing a blog is an embarrassing day.
MJC
July 14th, 2011
3:55 pm
Care to explain how this was cheating, rawdawg? It may have been against the NCAA rules, but it doesn’t actually fit the definition of cheating.
JB
July 14th, 2011
3:55 pm
Key phrase ” We had given Tech enough information as to said player as to question his eligibility”…….. Johnson knew, Johnson played him……worse, Johnson gave him a heads up.
Me thinks Johnson ain’t what ya’ll thinks he is.
Big Ten Champs Nebraska
July 14th, 2011
3:56 pm
@ Reggie Ball
Uhhh…..Ohio State lost the head coach and the starting QB……That’s pretty hard.
Auburn – They were unable to prove the allegations against Cam Newton.
Richt`s Hammer
July 14th, 2011
3:56 pm
Does this mean I can win three games and nobody will care?
VJacket
July 14th, 2011
3:56 pm
This is freaking ridiculous. Auburn BUYS A QB, and the NCAA comes after Tech for a $315 t-shirt???? Talk about a scapegoat…
Bama Tide
July 14th, 2011
3:56 pm
when will auburn have to give up their title they cheated to get by paying newton $180,000???
JB
July 14th, 2011
3:56 pm
MJC…………You must be a Democrat…LOL…. That’s priceless…..
really?
July 14th, 2011
3:57 pm
Self imposing, admitting, and trying to cover up…what’s the difference in how you judge the criminal? So a rapist admits he raped someone…then another rapist tried to cover his crime up…who you judge one rapist from the other b/c he admitted? No. Now I understand we aren’t talking about a crime as serious as rape, but it’s a point I’m trying to make. NCAA took emotions into this ruling and were already in a “testy mood”. But the final crime was no different than if they would have admitted in the first place.
VJacket
July 14th, 2011
3:57 pm
What a joke the NCAA is.
Wally Butts
July 14th, 2011
3:58 pm
The hammer’s going to fall on UGAg soon enough, and Tech’s penalties will pale in comparison. Slimeball Mark Richt will then be tarred and feathered and run out out of town on a rail, soon to be followed by all of the phony “student-athletes” he recruited.
tdm
July 14th, 2011
3:58 pm
TECH LIES & CHEATS
Techie7
July 14th, 2011
3:58 pm
not smart – unc held out practically their whole defense last year until the issues were resolved. their admin bent over backwards for the ncaa – unlike what we did. it’s funny – i remember many tech fans yelling ‘cheaters’ at the unc bball game last winter, and I also remember Coach Johnson saying something like – ‘cheaters never win” in reference to unc. gosh, it makes us look so bad. Is Paul’s job in jeopardy???
Scott
July 14th, 2011
3:58 pm
The other headline should be “Embarrassing day for the AJC”. I guess we should be impressed they didn’t find some way to blame coach Richt for this. “Atlanta Journal Constitution Sports: The Pinnacle of High School Journalism”.
gpat
July 14th, 2011
4:00 pm
Who likes to be embarrassed?
Heath
July 14th, 2011
4:00 pm
NCAA: “There are reports of impropriety.”
Tech Staffer: “Georgia fans have mullets!”
NCAA: “There cannot be a coverup.”
Tech: “They live in singlewides!”
NCAA: “These are serious allegations. We need answers.”
Tech: “You’re an illiterate UGA fan…go back to your pickup!”
NCAA: “Your program is facing serious trouble.”
Tech: “Red panties!”
NCAA: “We’ll get back with you.”
Big Ten Champs Nebraska
July 14th, 2011
4:00 pm
@ JB……I’m a Democrat……How is MJC’s distortion of reality a political issue?
@ MJC – The definition of cheating is breaking rules. Some are more serious than others. The BIG problem here was Tech’s response.
OldSchoolTechFanatic
July 14th, 2011
4:00 pm
Thanks Mark you can go back to writing your UGA articles now. WE messed up and don’t need some THUGA lover over here telling us about it !!!
JB
July 14th, 2011
4:01 pm
Wally, today is not the day smart Tech people should make that comparison. As your screaming out of the back of the police car yelling ” they do it to”.
ToccoaDawg
July 14th, 2011
4:01 pm
Agreed Scott, Where was Bradley on this story?
phil
July 14th, 2011
4:01 pm
Look on the bright side
July 14th, 2011
3:51 pm
“When you look at the whole picture, Georgia Tech runs a very clean program, with athletes who are real students.
On the other hand, the athletic history of UGA is full of so many sordid, sleazy incidents – dating back to Vince Dooley and continuing through Mark Richt – that it’s impossible to overlook. The school has come to stand for drunkenness and lawlessness, coddling of illiterate athletes who should never have been admitted to college, and rampant cheating by coaches.
UGA has made the state a laughingstock with its reputation as one big party school with copious job opportunities for bail bondsman, and decent people are fed up with this. Get rid of the illiterate, undisciplined drunks and felons that Mark Richt recruits, and get rid of Richt too. Even with these illiterate low class morons, he can’t even win the division, much less the SEC, so what’s the point.
I’ll take Tech over the sleazy program in Athens.”
You can have your sorry, no count program, bonehead….keep your head in the sand and pretend all is well, when it clearly isn’t, and go right on your merry way toward oblivion….
ha ha, he he….
The only school I can remember that actually REDUCED the size of its football stadium due to lack of interest….
Yeah, enjoy your jackets….pathetic.
Larry Munson
July 14th, 2011
4:02 pm
I can’t find my pants.
T3
July 14th, 2011
4:02 pm
@JB:
And of course, Vince Dooley had NO IDEA, that from 1975 – 1986, he was playing players that couldnt read, whose grades were intentionally faked, and whose teacher, Jan Kemp, was threatend by the UGA Administration, UGA fans, UGA alumni, UGA POLITICIANS, and UGA students?
Even the UGA President was forced to resign in disgrace before the Governor fired him.
But, oh no, good ole Vince never knew anythng, right?
Yeah. Thats what I thought.
Kevin
July 14th, 2011
4:02 pm
Paul Johnson is one smug jerk. It appears the NCAA doesn’t like smug jerks.
Dagny
July 14th, 2011
4:02 pm
In time, this will go away. For the party school in Athens, the shame of Jan Kemp, Jim Harrick, and Damon Evans will live on forever.
ramblwrk68
July 14th, 2011
4:03 pm
ADDR has some ’splainin’ to do, for sure! The NCAA is in a really foul mood what with OSU, USC, and the Cam Newton thing going on. At least there were no post-season penalties, right?
Not Smart
July 14th, 2011
4:03 pm
Techie 7- UNC hired a former NCAA investigator to handle their mess. I would find it hard to believe that you would make such a hire if you were being so honest w/ the NCAA. Marvin Austin made a tweet yesterday that he was going to “spill the beans” about the mess at UNC in response to McAdoo’s reinstatement. The “spill the beans” is in reference to the UNC institution coaching the kids on what to say to the NCAA per the hiring of the former NCAA investigator. I’m don’t buy that UNC was honest at all. Then again, I’m crying over spilled milk. The verdict hasn’t come down the pipe for UNC and GT was wrong for their cover up. I’m just saying…..
Dennis Miller
July 14th, 2011
4:03 pm
“Pardon my Schadenfreude, but Tech is so self righteous they make Barry
Bonds look like Dale Murphy. My how the Mini have fallen.”
JB
July 14th, 2011
4:04 pm
Dagny. We are better off today because of all those people. Your big problem is still employed as of this afternoon. Get it.
Damon Evans
July 14th, 2011
4:05 pm
I’m from Nebraska you know. They teach you how to drive with panties in your lap in drivers ed.
cattledawg
July 14th, 2011
4:05 pm
Wheres all the cpj lovers? Did Giff Smith leave after 2009? Always heard stories aboput him and recruiting.
KeithB
July 14th, 2011
4:05 pm
Only UGA could have that much talent and still not win anything.
WhereWasMB?
July 14th, 2011
4:06 pm
Georgia Tech got an NOI on 9/13/10, NOA on 12/11/10, a hearing on 4/15/11. All under the radar.
Where were you Mark – why couldn’t you sniff the GT scandal out?
PMC
July 14th, 2011
4:06 pm
John, the previous offender status, is because they committed an infraction before the date laid out in the last investigation.
Essentially they committed infractions while still on probation so they are now a repeat offender
phil
July 14th, 2011
4:06 pm
ha ha, he he…
bunch of sore cheaters and liars…
enjoy taking down the ole banner!!
Karl Haywood
July 14th, 2011
4:07 pm
Georgia Tech may be guilty of certain molehill infractions that are now mountains in the eyes of the NCAA, but it is amazing at what eyes the NCAA uses in specific situations involving certain specific institutions — supposed to be of higher learning and not just football factories. UGA has had more NCAA investigations and infractions that just somehow disappear because they “self-impose” sanctions and promise not to do it again — but, look at their record of “fine student-athletes who go to Georgia to get an education first and play football because they just love the sport”. What the NCAA is doing to Georgia Tech is an out-right injustice compared to what they allowed Ohio (Olieo) State to do last year by allowing Tressell to Coach and the other players to play in the Sugar Bowl game and only force them to sit out for five games of the next season (give me a break) and look what a cluster that has turned into. Now, it’s going to be Auburn’s and Oregon’s turn to “self-impose” sanctions. Whatever Georgia Tech did wrong deserves punishment, but let’s go get them all if we’re gonna vacate wins and titles — try Odell Thurman playing as an underage alcohol and drug offender and UGA winning an SEC Title — no problems from the NCAA there? And, why don’t we check into how often Knowshon Moreno attended classes during his last football season semester at UGA. For you RawDawg and Mark Bradley – Tech ain’t the only team in Georgia that can “cheat” and still lose — UGA’s record is outstanding! — You lost to Central Florida in your last bowl game with criminals playing on both sides of the ball — did ya forget that?
Flatulent Old Dawg
July 14th, 2011
4:07 pm
kinda stinks and I don’t mean me Techies!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Virginian
July 14th, 2011
4:08 pm
Curious if the AJC is embarrassed it missed this story? And disappointed in the Jackets.
phil
July 14th, 2011
4:08 pm
You Tech lovers best start tearing down even more grandstand seating to account for those smaller crowds you’ll be seeing at your increasingly irrelevant football games as time goes on….
what a pathetic joke of a program…
Speaking of pathetic programs, how’s the work on the basketball arena going?
Big Ol Stinger
July 14th, 2011
4:08 pm
Embarrassing.
Where do I go to pick up my refund check for the 2009 Championship game?
I want reimbursement for four tickets, two hotel rooms, meals, and travel expenses. I also think I should be compensated for sitting outside on the coldest night I’ve ever spent in Florida. All in, $2,000 oughta cover it. Let me know when my check is ready to be picked up Drad.
And Congratulations to Clemson! That was a hell of a game you guys won that night, and an exciting team to watch.
Heath
July 14th, 2011
4:08 pm
NCAA: “There are reports of improprieties”
Tech: “Georgia fans have mullets!”
NCAA: “These are serious allegations.”
Tech: “They live in singlewides!”
NCAA: “Oookay. Anyway, we will not tolerate a coverup.”
Tech: “You’re a thUGA fan aren’t you? Do back to your pickup, redneck!”
NCAA: “Your school is facing fines and probations. Just answer the questions.”
Tech: “Red panties!”
NCAA: “Good day. We’ll get back with you.”