North Carolina Tar Heels: What Notre Dame Decision Means
The North Carolina Tar Heels are still awaiting final punishment from the NCAA. What information can we lean from a more minor academic scandal?
The North Carolina Tar Heels have quietly had their academic scandal being dealt with by the NCAA. Outside of the institution rejecting the school’s response to its letter of allegations, things have been calm on that front. After the notice of allegations came out way back in May, it seemed clear that the two major revenue sports, football and basketball, had missed the hangman’s noose while things looked bad for women’s basketball.
What punishment could look like was provided today by the Notre Dame football program. The team was told to vacate their wins from 2012 and 2013. The reasoning was simple, a former trainer had completed coursework for several of the players to keep them eligible. This is an academic scandal on a smaller scale even if it is Notre Dame.
The Fighting Irish are also under a year of probation and the trainer is under a two year show cause penalty until he can be hired again.
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If the year 2012 sticks out to you, that was the year that Notre Dame most recently made it to the National Championship Game. They were stomped by Alabama (who hasn’t?) in that game. Ironically the only results that are safe are the ones where the affected players did not play and the two bowl appearances. Those appearances are not technically NCAA games.
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The Irish are appealing the wins being struck from the record. However the idea that a team can cheat its way to a national title is exactly what the NCAA is concerned about. Fortunately the Tar Heels notice of allegations is fairly focused on the more modern era (post-2009) but there is a 1994 Women’s Basketball Title that falls in the time that the silly stuff started.
Therefore I think it is safe to say that Sylvia Hatchell’s record is going to take a hit from the same kind of vacated wins. It could be a really really big hit too.