Football employment scandal: OU sapped of 8 wins

NORMAN — The University of Oklahoma plans to appeal the NCAA's decision to force the school to "vacate” — or erase — eight wins from the record book as a result of major rules violations.

The penalty was among several announced Wednesday by the NCAA's Committee on Infractions in the case of former football players Rhett Bomar and J.D. Quinn, who were dismissed from the program last August after an investigation determined they had been paid for work they did not perform at Big Red Sports and Imports.

The NCAA also found OU guilty of "failure to monitor” the players' employment at the Norman car dealership. The school plans to appeal that finding, as well.

In its report, the NCAA called the violations "significant and serious” because of the amount of money involved, the duration of the violations and OU's appearance a year earlier for major violations in the men's basketball program.

OU officials declined interview requests Wednesday. In a statement, OU President David Boren said he was glad the NCAA's ruling "does not limit the ability of our football team to succeed in the upcoming or future seasons,” but added the school would appeal "as a matter of principle.”

The appeal could add six months to a process that began more than a year ago with an anonymous e-mail.

But OU did not appeal other sanctions.

In addition to public reprimand and censure, OU's current probation was extended by two years through May 2010.

OU will lose two football scholarships during the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons — extending a penalty already self-imposed by the university. OU is subject to "re- peat violator” status if more major violations are found in the next five years. Such a finding could trigger accelerated penalties including the "death penalty” for an offending sport — although the NCAA has been hesitant to levy that punishment.

Bomar and Quinn were dismissed from the program in August. OU's subsequent report to the NCAA, obtained by The Oklahoman through open-records requests, revealed that during the 2005 football season, the players had sometimes been clocked in for work while participating in practices and other team activities.

After an investigation — with much of the legwork done by OU officials — the NCAA determined Bomar, Quinn and former walk-on receiver Jermaine Hardison had been overpaid more than $17,000.

Bomar and Quinn transferred to Sam Houston State and Montana, respectively; after they agreed to make restitution, their eligibility was reinstated for the 2007 season.

Former Big Red general manager Brad McRae and Bomar did not return phone calls Wednesday. Bomar's father, Jerry Bomar, declined comment. Quinn told The Associated Press the ruling was "dumb.”

"I have no idea,” Quinn said. "I don't care.”

OU's self-imposed penalties included:

•A reduction of two scholarships — Bomar's and Quinn's scholarships were left vacant — for 2006-07 and 2007-08.

•Limiting by one the number of football coaches allowed to recruit this fall.

•Formal disassociation of McRae from the athletic department for at least five years.

•Prohibiting athletes from working at Big Red through at least the 2008-09 school year.

In a hearing before the Committee on Infractions April 14 in Indianapolis, OU officials contested only the charge of failure to monitor. They emerged hopeful the panel would not tack on significantly more punishment. Boren said he thought the committee had "a good understanding of the penalties that we've assessed on ourselves.”

Miami athletic director Paul Dee, the acting chairman of the Committee on Infractions, said Wednesday OU "should be commended” for its quick action, especially in dismissing the players, and said it "was very influential on the committee.”

But Dee said the committee determined the wins in 2005 should be vacated "because the two student-athletes participated for an entire season.”

OU went 8-4 in 2005, including a win in the Holiday Bowl over Oregon. The school can keep bowl revenue because the NCAA doesn't regulate bowl games. But the school's record — and Bob Stoops' coaching record – must be changed to 0-4. Individual accomplishments of Bomar and Quinn also must be erased.

Although the ruling is a step short of forfeiture — Dee said OU's opponents aren't able to retroactively claim victory — the penalty stung OU officials.

"We do not believe that erasing the 2005 season from the record books is fair to the over 100 student athletes and coaches who played by the rules and worked their hearts out for a successful season that year,” Boren said in the statement.

During the hearing, OU officials argued the school's compliance monitoring system "met, if not exceeded, industry standards” and could not have been expected to catch players determined to break the rules.

"It's very hard to devise any system that will catch deliberate violations,” Boren said after the hearing.

But the NCAA charged OU didn't follow its established procedures "when it did not timely collect gross earnings statements for 12” players who worked at Big Red during the summer of 2005, and noted OU didn't detect some football players were employed at the dealership at other times. The Committee on Infractions also found Big Red's status as "the apparent largest employer” of athletes necessitated closer monitoring by OU.

The infractions report stated "several mistakes in a narrow, but significant area… resulted in a breakdown of (OU's) monitoring. When such mistakes result in significant violations of NCAA legislation … a finding of failure to monitor is appropriate and justified.”

In a statement, OU head coach Stoops indicated support for Boren's position and said the Sooners were "focused on the upcoming season.”

"The university is dealing with a matter that relates to the 2005 season,” Stoops said. "This group of players and those that will join our program later have no reason to be concerned about our goals or the direction of our program. Those things remain un