BREAKING: Committee on Infractions: LSU “should be commended.“

It’s a pleasure to see an SEC program complimented by the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions. Following the April 14-17 meetings and an extensive investigation by the school and the league’s enforcement staff, the Committee concluded that in the 2009 case surrounding former Assistant Football Coach D.J. McCarthy and a Junior College transfer, Akiem Hicks, the school would get only one year of probation and accepted the school’s self-imposed sanctions.

LSU had self-imposed a loss of two scholarships in the 2011 class and also limited recruiting visits and expected no further sanctions from the case. You can read the Committee’s full report here.

In September 2009, the school discovered potential violations in the recruitment of Hicks by the  McCarthy in four areas:  Impermissible transportation; impermissible lodging during an unofficial visit; discounted lodging in a former student-athlete’s apartment; and impermissible telephone calls.  The fifth allegation involved impermissible phone calls made by non-coaching football staff members. Two other allegations involved unethical conduct on the part of McCarthy and Hicks, and both have since left the school. McCarthy was “grounded” by Head Coach Les Miles for the remainder of the 2009 season and left in December 2010. Hicks never played a down at LSU and left before the start of the 2010 spring semester.

In a separate matter, LSU is currently involved in the NCAA’s investigation into the recruiting service owned by Willie Lyles, the figure connected to the Oregon NCAA investigation. Lyles was paid $6,000.00 by LSU for recruiting services including printed information, DVDs of game film and highlights of 32 JUCO prospects eligible to sign national letters of intent. LSU also was also sold film of players it hadn't requested information about and almost 100 pages of uselessly outdated information from junior colleges in California and Kansas. That case continues, but it doesn’t look like there’s much fire there, either.

UPDATE: The repeat violator window starts today. People have asked if the Lyles issue does produce violations at LSU, would that mean harsher penalties under the repeat violator statute? The answer is “no.” LSU is no longer dealing with Lyles so any violations uncovered would have occurred before the start of the repeat violator window.

So, Les Miles’ clock management style strikes again.

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