Nov 12, 2016; San Antonio, TX, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly waits to take the field for the game against the Army Black Knights at the Alamodome. Photo Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
The NCAA on Tuesday ordered the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team to vacate 21 wins from its 2012 and 2013 seasons in an academic misconduct case.
Football coach Brian Kelly said the university is appealing the ruling.
The Fighting Irish accumulated 12 wins before losing to Alabama in the 2012 BCS championship game. They had nine victories the following season.
The NCAA said that its investigation found a former student athletic trainer “violated NCAA ethical conduct rules when she committed academic misconduct for two football student-athletes and provided six other football student-athletes with impermissible academic extra benefits.”
The Committee on Infractions revealed that another football student-athlete committed academic misconduct as well.
None of the players were named by the NCAA, which also placed Notre Dame under probation for one year, fined the university $5,000 and gave the school an official public reprimand and censure.
“It’s never happened before in the history of the NCAA,” Kelly said Tuesday. “The penalty has never been issued in this fashion before. I think that qualifies for being, first of all, it was discretionary. This is a discretionary action by the committee. That’s No. 1. No. 2, student-on-student cheating, nobody implicated. The NCAA agreed across the board with that finding, and it was clearly excessive, so we’re gonna appeal this, and one of the options or clear reasons for appeal is that the penalty is excessive in its discretion and we believe we have obvious grounds there.”
Notre Dame also issued a statement noting that the three student-athletes who received improper assistance from another student were given no academic credit and saw their grades lowered retroactively.
“We are disappointed in the actions of students who engaged in dishonesty,” the statement said, “but we are gratified that the NCAA investigation confirmed the conclusions of our own internal investigation: Notre Dame acted honorably throughout. As soon as professional staff suspected academic dishonesty on the part of a student, the matter was reported promptly, investigated aggressively and thoroughly and adjudicated in accord with our Academic Code of Honor procedures and norms.”
