Jun 11, 2009 3:59 pm US/Eastern
NCAA Places Alabama On Three Years Probation
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (CBS4) ―
The NCAA placed the University of Alabama's football program and 15 other athletic teams at the school on three years probation for major infractions related to the misuse of free textbooks. The football team will have to vacate wins in which any of the seven players implicated in the textbook scandal played from 2005-2007.
The NCAA indicated that 201 athletes in 16 sports received "impermissible benefits" by using their athletic scholarships to obtain free textbooks which were given to other students. The university was also found the university guilty of "failure to monitor."
This is not Alabama's first run-in with the NCAA Infractions Committee. The school was placed on probation in the wake of a scandal featuring former player Antonio Langham in the 1990's. Most recently, the University was placed on probation for allegedly paying defensive tackle Albert Means to come to the school to play football.
When the NCAA ruled on the Albert Means scandal, the committee reported the school was close to being given the "death penalty," by the NCAA. The death penalty, in collegiate terms, is when the NCAA suspends a program for a set amount of time and then slowly lets the program come back after a season or two. The only major school to receive the death penalty in college football was SMU in the 1980's.
Alabama identified 22 of the athletes as "intentional wrongdoers," who knew they were receiving improper benefits. Fifteen of those athletes were on the women's track and field team. Other sports placed on probation included: softball, baseball, gymnastics, women's basketball, soccer, volleyball, men's and women's golf, swimming, tennis and track and field.
The NCAA respected the university for self-reporting the issues, but was still concerned about the overall problems continuing at the University of Alabama.
"Although the committee commends the institution for self-discovering, investigating and reporting the textbook violations, it remains troubled, nonetheless, by the scope of the violations in this instance and by the institution's recent history of infractions cases," the NCAA said.
Nick Saban replaced Mike Shula as coach after the 2006 football season and suspended five players -- Antoine Caldwell, Glen Coffee, Marquis Johnson, Chris Rogers and Marlon Davis -- for four games when the university uncovered the violations in 2007. The Tide was 5-2 at that point and its only wins in the next six games came against Tennessee and Colorado in the Independence Bowl.
The sanctions come at a time when Alabama fans were celebrating the program's return to national prominence after Saban led the Tide to a 12-0 regular-season record and a No. 1 ranking last season.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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