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Ole Miss releases response to NOA

By John Luke McCord

Dec 22, 2015; Oxford, MS, USA; Mississippi Rebels head football coach Hugh Freeze talks with Mississippi athletic director Ross Bjork during a mens basketball game between the Rebels and the Troy Trojans at the Tad Smith Coliseum. Mississippi defeated Troy 83-80. Mandatory Credit: Spruce Derden-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 22, 2015; Oxford, MS, USA; Mississippi Rebels head football coach Hugh Freeze talks with Mississippi athletic director Ross Bjork during a mens basketball game between the Rebels and the Troy Trojans at the Tad Smith Coliseum. Mississippi defeated Troy 83-80. Mandatory Credit: Spruce Derden-USA TODAY Sports /
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Ole Miss released the Notice of Allegations it received from the NCAA on Friday morning. Football is cited for 13 of 28 total allegations. Track and Field and Women’s basketball responsible for additional 15.

Ole Miss released the NOA from the NCAA. This is a 52-page account from the NCAA on all wrongdoings alleged for football, women’s basketball and both men’s and women’s track and field and cross country. There are 28 allegations alleged amongst the three, with 13 violations involving in football, eight from track field and seven from women’s basketball.

Here is the full response from Ole Miss to the NOA, a mere 154-pages itself. The women’s basketball violations come from a short stint under Adrian Wiggins. The football violations span from 2010 to 2015, with 11 of the 13 allegations coming under Hugh Freeze.

In fact, here is a tweet from Ben Garrett of the Ole Miss Spirt that shows a graphic included in the response providing an “Overview of the case.”

Eight of the 13 violations in football are classified as Level I violations, the significant kind. Additionally, three are classified Level III and two are Level II. Ex coaches David Saunders and Chris Vaugn, both employed under Houston Nutt, were included in the NOA, as were current assistants Chris Kiffin, Maurice Harris and Derrick Nix.

Kiffin was tied to three violations, a Level II and Level III violation. Harris is linked to a violation of the Level I variety. Nix is tied to a Level I violation along with Vaughn and Saunders that occurred in 2010.

The NCAA feels that Ole Miss has cooperated, with the Rebels reporting 20 of the 28 violations. That cooperation could serve them well when it comes to the final ruling. Here are the highlights of the self-proposed violations:

  • $159,325.00 paid in penalties.
  • recruiting restrictions, including limited official and unofficial visits and limited off-campus evaluation time, in football and track and field.
  • The loss of 11 football scholarships from 2015-16 through 2018-19.
  • postseason ban for women’s basketball
  • Two head coaches fired: Brian O’neal(Track and Field/Cross Country) and Adrian Wiggins(Women’s basketball).
  • Cut ties with all boosters involved

This tweet from Chase Parham of the Rebelgrove.com shows the year-by-year breakdown of the scholarships proposed to be forfeited in football and other self-imposed penalties:

After initially coming to Oxford to probe into women’s basketball program in 2012, the NCAA soon took interest in the track and field and football programs as well. Now, we are at the point where a process will ensue where the committee on infractions will review the response and make their ruling. While the next few months will be an excruciating time in the process, it still marks the home stretch of a long journey.

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It has not been a great last few months as far as it relates to public perception for Ole Miss football. With brash rumors of extreme punishment stemming from the NCAA case and Laremy Tunsil’s draft night. It appears that the NOA was not as bad as some spoke of it being, but not quite as light as once made out to be by the athletics department.

If the sanctions are close to what Ross Bjork and Ole Miss have proposed, then it has to be considered a relief to Ole Miss fans and especially Freeze and the football program.

The timing of the release, though stretched out long enough for crazy rumors to emerge left and right, has actually worked out for Ole Miss. Just yesterday the evolving case surrounding Baylor reached a climax with the firing of head coach Art Briles. That is taking the front page headlines, at least nationally, currently.

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