The death penalty is the popular term for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s power to ban a school from competing in a sport for at least one year. This colloquial term compares it with capital punishment since it is the harshest penalty that an NCAA member school can receive, but in fact its effect is only temporary.
It has been implemented only five times: The University of Kentucky basketball program for the 1952–53 season. The basketball program at the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and athletically branded as "Louisiana") for the 1973–74 and 1974–75 seasons. The Southern Methodist University football program for the 1987 season. The Division II men's soccer program at Morehouse College for the 2004 and 2005 seasons. The Division III men's tennis program at MacMurray College for the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons.
Besides those that received this so-called "death penalty" from the NCAA, some schools voluntarily dropped sports programs for extended periods of time due to high-profile scandals. The most notable examples were in 1951, when Long Island University (LIU) shut down all of its athletic programs for six years following the involvement of its men's basketball team in a point shaving scandal, and in the 1980s, when two other Division I men's basketball programs shut down after revelations of major NCAA violations – the University of San Francisco from 1982 to 1985 and Tulane University from 1985 to 1989. The next self-imposed "death penalty" by a Division I school took place in 2015, when Western Kentucky University (WKU) shut down its men's and women's swimming and diving teams due to a hazing scandal.
Current criteria The NCAA has always had the power to ban an institution from competing in a particular sport. However, in 1985, in response to rampant violations at several schools, the NCAA Council passed the "repeat violator" rule. The rule stipulates that if a second major violation occurs at any institution within five years of being on probation in the same sport or another sport, that institution can be barred from competing in the sport involved in the second violation for either one or two seasons. In cases of particularly egregious misconduct, a school can also be stripped of its right to vote at NCAA conventions for four years. The severity of the penalty led the media to dub it "the death penalty," and the nickname has persisted. However, if the NCAA finds a school has engaged in a "pattern of willful violations," it can look back to when the violations first occurred, even if they are outside the five-year window.Robinson, Charles; Wetzel, Dan. Source: Willful violators clause could apply at Miami. Yahoo! Sports, 2011-08-18 It also still has the power to ban a school from competing in a sport without any preliminaries in cases of particularly egregious violations. However, the "repeat violator" rule gave the Infractions Committees of the various NCAA divisions specific instances where they must either bar a school from competing or explain why they chose not to do so.
Division I programs
University of Kentucky basketball, 1952 On October 20, 1951, former Kentucky players Alex Groza, Ralph Beard, and Dale Barnstable were arrested for taking bribes from gamblers to shave points during the National Invitation Tournament game against the Loyola Ramblers in the 1948–49 season. This game occurred during the same year that Kentucky won their second straight NCAA title under Adolph Rupp. The arrests were linked to a wider investigation of point shaving in college basketball that initially involved the City College of New York (CCNY) but soon spread to several other major basketball powers of the day. Rupp and the university were criticized by the presiding judge, Saul Streit, for creating an atmosphere for the violations to occur and for "failing in his duty to observe the amateur rules, to build character, and to protect the morals and health of his charges".Associated Press (1952-04-30). Retrieved 2012-01-08. Senior center Bill Spivey, a freshman on the 1948 unit, was charged with perjury due to discrepancies between his testimony and former teammates who claimed he was involved in the scheme as well. While he was acquitted, he was barred from ever playing for the Wildcats again. NBA president Maurice Podoloff banned all players involved in the scandal from ever playing in the NBA. Spivey eventually sued the NBA in 1960, but accepted a $10,000 settlement when it became apparent that he would be too old to be a viable prospect by the time he would have gone to trial.
Following the point shaving scandal, the NCAA and Southeastern Conference opened an investigation into the Kentucky program. School officials hoped that barring Spivey from ever suiting up again would work in their favor. It was to no avail. In August 1952, the SEC barred Kentucky from conference play for the 1952–53 season."UK Suspended from SEC Basketball For One Year" Lexington Herald, August 12, 1952 In October, in its first-ever formal enforcement action, the NCAA found that 10 Kentucky basketball players received impermissible financial aid. It also found that Rupp and his staff knew the players were ineligible and allowed them to play anyway. As punishment, the NCAA barred Kentucky's entire athletic program from postseason play for the 1952–53 academic year, and directed its basketball-playing members to boycott the Wildcats during the 1952–53 season. The latter penalty was invoked through provisions in the NCAA Constitution that required members to compete against only those schools that were compliant with NCAA rules. This effectively canceled the Wildcats' 1952–53 season and is thus reckoned as the first "death penalty."
University of Southwestern Louisiana basketball, 1973
Southwestern Louisiana was found guilty of more than 125 violations in August 1973. Most of them involved small cash payments to players, letting players borrow coaches' and boosters' cars, letting players use university credit cards to buy gas, clothes, and other items. However, the most severe violations involved massive academic fraud. In the most egregious case, an assistant coach altered a recruit's high school transcript and forged the principal's signature. Several boosters arranged for surrogates to take college entrance exams for prospective recruits. The NCAA responded by scrubbing the Ragin' Cajuns' 1972 and 1973 NCAA Tournament appearances from the books and canceling the 1973–74 and 1974–75 seasons.Bradley, John Ed. An Accidental Hero: Beryl Shipley, 1926–2011. Sports Illustrated, 2011-05-02. To date, this is the only multi-season cancellation ever handed down to a Division I member. The NCAA Council found the violations to be so egregious that it recommended throwing Southwestern Louisiana out of the NCAA altogether, but the convention opted to strip the school of voting privileges until 1977.
Southern Methodist University football, 1987
The SMU case was the first modern "death penalty" – that is, the first one utilized under the "repeat violator" rule. It is the only modern death penalty handed down to a Division I school.
SMU football had already been placed on three years' probation in 1985 for recruiting violations. At the time, it had been on probation seven times (including five times since 1974), more than any other school in Division I-A.SMU 1985 probation report
However, in 1986, SMU faced allegations by two whistleblowing players, Sean Stopperich and David Stanley, that players were still being paid. An investigation found that 21 players received approximately $61,000 in cash payments, with the assistance of athletic department staff members, from a slush fund provided by a booster. Payments ranged from $50 to $725 per month, and started only a month after SMU went on its original probation (though it later emerged that a slush fund had been maintained in one form or another since the mid-1970s). Also, SMU officials lied to NCAA officials about when the payments stopped.
While the school had assured the NCAA that players were no longer being paid, the school's board of governors, led by chairman Bill Clements, decided that the school had to honor previous commitments made to the players. Under a secret plan adopted by the board, the school would phase out the slush fund once all players that were still being paid had graduated.Wangrin, Mark. 20 years after SMU's football scandal . San Antonio Express-News, 2007-03-03.
As a result: The 1987 season was canceled; only conditioning drills (without pads) were permitted until the spring of 1988. All home games in 1988 were canceled. The NCAA allowed SMU to play their seven regularly scheduled away games so that other institutions would not be financially affected and so that SMU could avoid uninsurable default liabilities to those schools if its failure to uphold the contractual obligation to appear for competition was not beyond the school's control. The university ultimately chose to cancel the away games and accept the uninsured "failure to appear" liability. SMU's existing ban from bowl games and live television was extended to 1989, and the team's existing probation was extended to 1990, resulting in essentially two full years of lost appearance, broadcast media, and advertising sponsorship income. SMU lost 55 new scholarship positions over 4 years. The team was allowed to hire only five full-time assistant coaches instead of the typical nine. No off-campus recruiting was permitted until August 1988 and no paid visits could be made to campus by potential recruits until the start of the 1988–89 school year.
The infractions committee cited the need to "eliminate a program that was built on a legacy of wrongdoing, deceit and rule violations" as a factor in what is still the harshest penalty ever meted out to any major collegiate program. It also cited SMU's history of violations and the "great competitive advantage" the Mustangs had gained as a result of cheating. However, it praised SMU for cooperating fully with the investigation, as well as its stated intent to run a clean program. Had SMU not fully cooperated, it would have had its football program shut down until 1989 and would have lost its right to vote at NCAA conventions until 1990.
All recruits and players were allowed to transfer without losing eligibility, and most did. On April 11, 1987, SMU announced its football team would stay inactive for 1988 as well, citing the near-certainty that it would not have enough experienced players left to field a competitive team.Frank, Peter. "'88 football season canceled by SMU." The New York Times, 1987-04-11. Their concerns proved valid, as new coach Forrest Gregg was left with a severely undersized and underweight roster composed mostly of freshmen.
Before the "death penalty" was imposed, SMU was a successful program in college football, with a Heisman Trophy winner (Doak Walker in 1949), one national championship (from the Dickinson System in 1935) and 10 Southwest Conference (SWC) titles. The Mustangs compiled a 52–19–1 () record from 1980 until 1986, including an undefeated season in 1982 led by the Pony Express backfield of future Pro Football Hall of Fame member Eric Dickerson and Craig James. The only blemish on that team's record was a tie against Arkansas, which denied the Mustangs a shot at the national championship despite being the only undefeated team in the nation.