Oregon Ducks Recruiting Violation

The Oregon Ducks are in some trouble with the NCAA for violating the usage of recruiting services from 2008 to 2011, and the name Willie Lyles pops up everywhere we go these days. In 2010, the Ducks payed Lyles $25,000, and he had connections with a Texas recruit who would later commit to the Oregon Ducks.

“While we have no specific timetable on the inquiry, we remain in close communication with the NCAA as the process advances cooperatively through each stage. Currently, pursuant to the NCAA’s process, we are in constructive discussions with the NCAA on the draft of their proposed findings,” Oregon Ducks Athletic Director Rob Mullens said.

You can read a message from Mullens here and the document here.

To continue, the Oregon Ducks improperly used three scouting services and also had too many coaches recruiting at one given moment. The athletic department has been condoned by the NCAA for not monitoring the recruiting activities by the football program, and the big thing is their misusage of scouting services.

This is a difficult situation for the university, because there hasn’t been a serious case of a scouting service violation. The only recruit who seems to be directly involved with all this is the disappointing Lache Seastrunk.

My guess is that the NCAA ends up giving the Oregon Ducks a minor penalty, but it’s difficult to predict what the NCAA is going to do. They are as secretive and arbitrary as it gets, so there is no use in truly predicting what will happen. I’m going to blissfully ignore all this for a second and focus on tomorrow’s Civil War game.

The problem is that the Oregon Ducks will lose some of their recruiting momentum that they have gained, if the punishment is harsh enough. Many recruits are holding out for an offer from the team, but some of those guys might have second thoughts. I doubt it, because that obviously hasn’t happened to USC or other big schools. Oregon should be fine at the end of this, but this will hurt the football program at least a little.

Chip Kelly stated, back when we thought he would leave for the NFL, that he didn’t like having to deal with parents and all the extra stuff that goes on in college football. This is one of those things, and he’ll just have to deal with it the best he can and hope that it doesn’t impair his ability to recruit top players.

There is a good chance that nothing happens, because Alabama and LSU did not get in much trouble for basically the same thing. However, those are SEC schools and the NCAA seemingly gives out punishments at random. Again, let’s just hope for the best and focus our attention on the basketball team for now.

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