Self-Imposed Penalties Help Georgia Escape Major Sanctions

Georgia’s football team will spend the next two years on probation but escaped major sanctions Wednesday when the NCAA took the unusual step of accepting the school’s self-imposed penalties.

The Bulldogs, who already had agreed to reduce their scholarships next year and cut their ties to a prominent south Florida booster, remain eligible to play in bowl games and appear on television.

“We are embarrassed both personally and as an institution to be here at all today,” university president Charles Knapp said at a news conference, after the NCAA Committee on Infractions released its report.

“However, we are aware that it is rare for the committee to accept an institution’s investigation and selfimposed sanctions without additional penalties, and for that we are grateful.”

In 28 previous cases in which schools imposed their own penalties, the NCAA ordered additional sanctions 27 times.

“They imposed the same kind of penalties we would have imposed,” said David Swank, a University of Oklahoma law professor who heads the infractions committee. “These are meaningful penalties, significant penalties and appropriate penalties.”

Still, it was apparent that everyone at Georgia was breathing easier, knowing the school has escaped sanctions that could have set the football program back for years. Already, the Bulldogs face a major rebuilding job under second-year coach Jim Donnan, having gone 22-22-1 over the last four seasons.

Grambling State coaches have denied they violated NCAA rules, preventing the university’s efforts for a quick settlement of the case.

If the coaches had agreed, the school could have resolved the matter without prolonged hearings by acknowledging they did wrong and promising to correct the problems.

However, the coaches - particularly football coach Eddie Robinson and assistant Eddie Robinson Jr. - deny any wrongdoing.

Their positions close the option for what the NCAA calls “summary disposition” of the allegations. Summary disposition requires agreement by all coaches.