Let's discuss Ole Miss's claim that Barney acted as a "rogue agent"...
When used as an adjective, dictionary.com defines rogue as:
"no longer obedient, belonging, or accepted and hence not controllable or answerable; renegade."
In layman terms, a rogue person is one who acts alone and therefore his actions cannot be controlled or predicted. A perfect example of a "rogue agent" would be David Saunders' actions in the ULL NCAA case from 2015. Let's first look at that case, then compare it to OM's case...
NCAA vs ULL 2015:
-The NCAA issued a NOA to ULL on May, 22 2015. The NOA contained 4 allegations, all of which where Level I. The 4 allegations were:
1. David Saunders fixed ACT scores for prospective student athletes so that they could gain admission into the university.
2. David Saunders acted alone in providing $6,500 in cash to a student athlete both before and after admission into the university.
3. David Saunders participated in unethical conduct and failed to cooperate with NCAA officials.
4. David Saunders lied and refused to give information to NCAA officials.
-7 months prior to receiving the NOA, ULL terminated David Saunders due to internal findings that he had solely participated in blatant and severe violations.
-90 days after receiving the NOA, ULL submitted it's response to the NCAA. The response contained self imposed penalties as follows:
1. A reduction of scholarships; 11 over a 3 year span
2. A 2-year probationary period
3. Recruiting restrictions
-6 months after ULL had submitted it's response, the Committee on Infractions conducted a hearing in which they fully accepted ULL's self imposed penalties. They did not add to the self imposed scholarship reductions, probationary period or recruiting restrictions. However, they did tack on:
1. A $5,000 fine to the university
2. Vacation of games in which ineligible student athletes participated in.
-In the COI's findings they stated that:
"The case did not involve a failure to monitor or lack of institutional control. There was also no allegation that the head coach lacked control in this case."
"In short, the institution's exemplary cooperation in this case was a model for the kind of relationship and cooperation member institutions should strive for in the infractions process"
-Therfore, because the actions in the NOA involved only one "rouge agent" in David Saunders, the COI ruled that all 4 of the allegations in the NOA would be ruled as Level I-mitigated against the institution(which is equal to a Level II-standard allegation), while all 4 of the allegations would be ruled as Level I-aggrivated against the "rogue agent" David Saunders.
-ULL's NOA includes the "factual information packets", these packets contain over 100 separate bits of factual information, and this was for only 4 allegations involving only one coach. OM's NOA does not include the "factual information packets", but one can assume that it contains hundreds of bits of factual information. The NCAA does not just create allegations, they base them off hundreds of FACTS.
-Long story short, ULL was penalized by the COI with 11 scholarship reductions over 3 years and a 2 year probationary period for 4 level II-standard violations.
Now, let's compare ULL's case involving one rogue agent and Ole Miss's case that involved "some mistakes, Houston Nutt's assistants fixing ACT scores, some minor violations under Freeze, a spiteful ex step father, Student Athlete #39 and one rogue agent".
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ULL's case is one that does involve one "Rogue Agent", therefore the university was punished accordingly. Also, ULL acted swiftly, terminating the only involved party, and self imposing appropriate penalties. Ole Miss's case includes atleast a combined 85 prospective/current/former student athletes, boosters, coaches, third party businesses and student athlete's family/friends over a 6 year time frame. It also contained FIFTEEN level I allegations including head coach responsibility and Lack of Institutional Control. Those 15 level I allegations out number the total amount of OM's self imposed scholarship reductions by 4, which is the total amount of allegations in ULL's case.
Let's look at just the Saunders/ACT allegations in both cases. Basically, OM's allegations 1, 2, 3 and 4 match ULL's 4 allegations in their NOA, all 4 are of the same nature in both OM's and ULL's NOA. Each have 1 ACT scandal allegation, 1 illegal inducements allegation, and 2 ethics violations. The only differences? OM paid student athlete's ~$2,000 while ULL paid $6,500, and ULL's allegations involve 1 coach while Ole Miss's involved 3 coaches, 2 former and 1 current. That current coach is Derrick Nix, who committed the allegation almost 7 years ago, yet he still remains on OM's staff.
If OM were only facing allegations 1-4 like ULL, it would make sense to self impose 11 over 4(actually only 10 over 3, they claim they self imposed 1 scholarship last year before making the self imposed penalties public). The COI accepted ULL's 11 over 3 and called it a day, same would be for OM if they only had those 4 allegations and terminated involved parties. HOWEVER, OM has SEVENTEEN more allegations to answer for, with 11 of those 17 allegations being level I.
Predicting OM's future penalties is impossible at this point. They have consistently denied, deflected and downplayed this investigation and it's allegations, while clearly and publicly disrespecting the authority of it's authoritative figure, the NCAA. Months ago I said they could be facing the death penalty, the OM faithful laughed. Now, they are trying to bring other universities down with them, blaming anyone and everyone but themselves for their "mistakes". If they think the COI is going to take it easy on them because 1 of the 55 involved student athletes posted a picture of the Joker on Twitter, they are sadly mistaken. If anything, this Rebel Rags/Leo Lewis mess is only going to make it worse for them. They are going to get what they deserve, if not the DP, it will be penalties that have the same effect, a decade or more of shit football in Oxford. Good thing they bowled in that stadium, there will be plenty of empty seats for the Ghost of Ole Miss to fill. If the few fans who are not dissociated and/or care to watch shit football listen real carefully, they might be able to hear one of the ghosts whistling Dixie over the opposing quarterback's audibles, but then again, that may just be the wind blowing through the Vaught's endzone expansion's shitty bleachers. One thing is for sure, such a proud and tradition filled fan base** will hardly be able to look at what they themselves have done to their beloved football program.
"Look away, look away, look away Dixie Land!"
