Ole Miss football has handed down a self-imposed, one-year bowl ban on top of scholarship reductions after more findings of improprieties from the NCAA.
For over a year now, the athletics department at the University of Mississippi has been on edge based on findings from the NCAA regarding improper activities — including money being given from boosters and coaches to players — in several sports. Of course, most of the attention was paid to what was going on with the biggest fish, the Ole Miss Rebels football team.
Wednesday, the latest shoe dropped when the governing body of college sports handed down eight more violations against the program and the school. Included in the new findings was the NCAA handing down a four-word statement that can be considered a death sentence to some programs: lack of institutional control.
That phrase is what the NCAA uses before handing down their stiffest penalties, everything from bowl and postseason bans to scholarship and win forfeitures. The school released a lengthy video detailing the new allegations and announcing that they will impose a one-year ban on postseason play to go with current and future scholarship reductions:
On the surface, the move is seen as a preemptive strike from the Ole Miss program toward the NCAA, a move done by other schools of late such as the University of Miami during their lengthy investigation. The thought pattern is that if the school does it, the governing body will take it easy with their punishment if they think the school is playing ball.
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The school has been in the spotlight for alleged violations since former offensive lineman Laremy Tunsil said he received money to help his family out from a school official. That, along with today’s headline that thousands were paid to an athlete who went to another school, has many wondering if the NCAA is going to drop a major hammer in Oxford despite of what the school did to themselves.