Georgia Tech: NCAA Extends Probation on Athletic Program

The Georgia Tech Athletic Program has found out their punishment for their latest transgression which was “failure to monitor it’s sports programs” on Thursday.

The NCAA dropped the hammer by tacking on an additional two-years to the Yellow Jackets probation, meaning that the Georgia Tech Athletic Program will be on probation until June 13, 2017.

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Tech has been on probation since 2011 because of improper benefits that were given to Demaryius Thomas from a former player who was working for an agent. Thomas was allowed to play though he should have been tagged “ineligible” after getting the gifts.

Back then, the NCAA ordered the Yellow Jackets to pay $100,000 in fines, to give back their 2009 ACC Championship Trophy, and be placed on four-years probation.

The additional two-years for “failure to monitor” have to do with almost 800 communications made via phone call or text mesage to 140 different recruits in 2011 and 2012 between nine different sports played at The Flats.

It was found that most of these calls were made by the football team along with the men’s and women’s basketball teams.

The raw numbers are as follows: there were 478 impermissible calls made and 299 impermissible text messages.

In an article by Ken Sugiura for ajc.com on August 22 of this year, it was stated in the article that the staff was misled on how to handle phone calls. In the article it said:

“After the school implemented software in 2010 that monitored coaches’ phone calls, coaches said they were erroneously advised by then-compliance director Paul Parker and his staff that they no longer were required by NCAA rule to keep a log of phone calls, according to the NCAA’s findings.”

-Atlanta Journal Constitution

Obviously that is not the rule and Georgia Tech is paying for their mistake even further. In that same article on ajc.com it went on to explain the rules of engagement between coaches and prospective recruits:

“During periods when a coach may only make one call to a prospect, the coach may make additional calls to a prospect if the initial call or calls are unsuccessful, but must have documentation proving that the call was not completed. However, if there is no such documentation, any subsequent call becomes impermissible.”

-Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Athletic Director, Mike Bobinski, obviously is dismayed by these latest developments involving his athletic program.

According to an article by yahoo.com, Bobinski told the press:

”What transpired in 2011-12 and the ‘failure to monitor’ finding are not things that sit well with me or with any of us here at Georgia Tech. This is not a label we intend to wear beyond the point of our extended probation period. We are pleased the NCAA accepted our self-imposed sanctions and corrective measures, but our clear intentions are that this is the last time we go down this road as an Institute.”

-Georgia Tech A.D. Mike Bobinski

Clearly Mike Bobinski wants to run a clean program and the coaches know that this is a black eye not only on the institution but also on themselves.

No one wants to be associated with recruiting violations in any way, shape or form. The question now is will there be any backlash from Tech fans as far as how they view the coaches?

There is already a segment of Gerogia Tech fandom that wants coach Paul Johnson’s ouster as of yesterday. Does this latest mishap add fuel to that fire either fairly or unfairly?

In the end, Tech is going to have two additional years of probation that is going to have to be served regardless of who is coaching what sport. So handing out pink slips is going to be irrelevant for a little while.