The NCAA has ordered Notre Dame football to forfeit all wins from both the 2012 and 2013 seasons.
According to reports, the NCAA confirmed that a former trainer wrote papers for two football players during a span of three years, and those players were found to have committed academic misconduct on their own.
Here are details from 247Sports:
“It’s never happened before, in the history of the NCAA,” Kelly said. “A penalty has never been issued in this fashion before. I think that qualifies for being — first of all, it was discretionary. This was a discretionary action by the committee. That’s number one. Number two, it was student on student cheating. There was nobody implicated. The NCAA agreed across the board with that finding. And it was clearly excessive.
“So as you know, we’re going to 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 obviously grounds there.”
The NCAA’s examination of the case confirmed the details of ND’s internal investigation, which stem from August 2014 when the university said it became “concerned about potential academic misconduct by one student-athlete and the former student.” ND launched an investigation at the time and suspended four players.
The former trainer wrote papers for two football players during a span of three years, and those two players in addition to a teammate were found to have committed academic misconduct on their own. The misconduct involving the first two players took place One of the aforementioned players played during the 2012 season, while the other two participated in the 2013 season.
The NCAA discovered that the former trainer also provided impermissible academic assistance to six additional football players in 18 classes, the release said. The violations were committed while she attended Notre Dame and continued a year after she graduated.
Two of the players violated ND’s academic integrity policies; the other four weren’t enrolled at the time the violations were discovered and therefore weren’t subject to penalties, the release said. ND retroactively lowered the grades of three players after discovering the misconduct.
The document did not mention and ND would not reveal the names of the players involved; however, the release noted the university suspended four players on Aug. 15, 2014. Those players were wide receiver DaVaris Daniels, cornerback KeiVarae Russell, linebacker Kendall Moore and defensive end Ishaq Williams. Safety Eilar Hardy, who returned to the team late in the season, was suspended on Aug. 28, 2014.
Meanwhile…North Carolina is enjoying football and basketball season.
