Oregon Gets Slapped on the Wrist from NCAA

Oregon Ducks fans can breath a sigh of relief this morning.

The NCAA released its sanctions against the program, and although the Ducks were found to have committed several recruiting violations, the school was not hit hard.

The big hit was reserved for former head coach Chip Kelly.

Conveniently and currently the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, Kelly was slapped with an 18-month show-cause from the NCAA, basically meaning he has been banned to coach college football for the next two years and if a school is interested in him, they'd have to jump through hoops to get him reinstated.

The NCAA said that Kelly failed to monitor the situation. Left unsaid, of course, is whether he cared to monitor what was occurring to funnel Texan recruits into his program. Fingerprints on a smoking gun, you know.

I'm sure Kelly is just devastated by the whole deal, now that he beat the posse to the safe haven of the NFL and is making more money in the process. Yes, he won't be able to coach college football for almost two years, but he'll have at least that long to prove his worth to the Eagles and his system to the NFL. 

Being as how college football saves the NFL kajillions by serving as its de facto minor league, you'd think the pros would work out a compliance policy with the NCAA to extend sanctions to renegade coaches who flee to their teams. Instead, look for an ironic set of sly smiles the next time Pete Carroll and his Seattle Seahawks meet up wtih Kelly and the Eagles.

For the record, here is the list of sanctions the NCAA laid on the Quackers:

1. Public reprimand and censure.

2. Three years of probation from June 26, 2013, through June 25, 2016.

3. The number of initial athletically related financial aid awards in football that are countable under Bylaw 15.02.3 shall be reduced by one from the maximum allowed (25) during both the 2012-13 and 2013-14 academic years. This limits the institution to 24 initial grants those two years under current rules. (Institution imposed)

4. The number of total athletically related financial aid awards in football shall be reduced by one from the maximum allowed (85) during the 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 academic years. This limits the institution to 84 total scholarships those three years under current rules. (Institution imposed)

5. Official paid [recruiting] visits in the sport of football shall be limited to 37 for each of the 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-6 academic years. The institution will not be allowed to retain unused visits for the following year [...]

6. The permissible number of football [recruiting] evaluation days shall be limited to 36 (of 42) in the fall of 2013, 2014 and 2015. The permissible number of football evaluation days shall be limited to 144 (of 168) in the spring of 2014, 2015 and 2016.

7. A ban on the subscription to recruiting services during the period of probation.

8. The recruiting service provider [Willie Lyles] will be disassociated by the institution's athletics program upon release of this report. (Institution imposed

9. The committee concluded that the former head coach [Kelly] failed in his duty to monitor his program as it related to the recruiting service provider's impermissible contact with prospective student-athletes, the football program's use of the recruiting service provider's business which did not comply with NCAA legislation, and the impermissible telephone calls placed by the former assistant director of operations. The former head coach agreed with these determinations. Therefore, pursuant to NCAA Bylaw 19.5, the committee imposes an 18-month show-cause order upon the former head coach. During this period, which begins on June 26, 2013, and runs through December 25, 2014, if any member institution seeks to hire the former head coach in an athletically related capacity, it and the former head coach shall appear before the Committee on Infractions to consider which, if any, of the show-cause procedures of Bylaw 19.5.2.2 (l) should be imposed upon him.

10. The committee concluded that the former assistant director of operations violated NCAA recruiting legislation.

Don't know if Santa's elves were taking note, but Nike poobah and Duck alum Phil Knight probably was and simply wrote it all off as the cost of doing business.