30 biggest college basketball scandals of all time

10. Syracuse finds itself in hot water over Bernie Fine

One of the biggest scandals in the college football world occurred at Penn State, where longtime assistant coach Jerry Sandusky sexually abused young boys. There was a similar scandal at Syracuse earlier this decade involving one of Jim Boeheim’s longtime assistants, Bernie Fine.

Fine, who had been the associate head coach at Syracuse since 1976, was accused by two stepbrothers who were former Syracuse ball boys of molesting them from 1979 until the 1990s. Two more people came forward with accusations against Fine, leading the school to place him on academic leave.

Fine was eventually fired in 2011 after a tape surfaced of Fine’s wife speaking to one of the former ball boys claiming she was aware of her husband’s behavior but felt powerless to stop it. The statute of limitations had passed on potential criminal charges, but the allegations led the Secret Service to search Fine’s house for evidence of potential crimes.

Both Fine and Boeheim vehemently disputed the charges, and they were eventually proven right when several of the accusers admitted they made up their claims. It appears that the men involved were trying to take advantage of the media firestorm following the Penn State scandal to make a quick cash grab.

Fine’s name ended up being cleared, but the scandal made him too toxic for any program to hire, effectively ending his coaching career. In a society where we are far too quick to label someone as guilty as soon as accusations are leveled against them, the saga of Bernie Fine should serve as a cautionary tale.