Alabama

The NCAA will reveal later Thursday that the Alabama football program must vacate victories from 2005 through 2007 that included players who improperly got free textbooks for other students, the Birmingham News is reporting.

Alabama could be forced to vacate as many as 21 wins under the watch of former coach Mike Shula and current coach Nick Saban, sources at the university told ESPN.com's Mark Schlabach. Citing a source, the News reported the number of wins to be at least 10.

The Crimson Tide will not lose future scholarships, according to the News. The university also will be placed on three years' probation and ordered to pay a fine, the newspaper reported.

The NCAA alleges the violations began at the start of the 2005 season; the university reported the violations after uncovering them during the '07 football season, when starting linemen Antoine Caldwell and Marlon Davis, running back Glen Coffee and defensive backs Chris Rogers and Marquis Johnson were suspended prior to kickoff against Tennessee.

They were suspended for four games and reinstated by the NCAA before the Alabama-Auburn game and the Crimson Tide's bowl game against Colorado at the end of the season.

Under NCAA rules, the players would be ruled ineligible from when they first received the "extra benefits" and would have been ineligible until they were suspended and reinstated.

The university appeared before the NCAA Committee on Infractions in February and admitted that infractions occurred in several sports, and that it didn't adequately monitor its distribution of textbooks to athletes.

It is not clear which additional sports programs at Alabama are affected. The NCAA's ruling will be announced at 3 p.m. ET Thursday.

 

Standard Operating Procedure in the SEC.

 

I'm more surprised it took this long for this to get out.

 

receiving free text books are not covered in scholorships? Maybe receiving already completed test or papers but text books?

 

I guess it was a violation because they received them from other students. I assume that proper paper work has to be done when the athletes get books and when these guys started having text books that they never applied for then the NCAA steps in.

 

lol

 

The vacated wins, a result of a ruling announced Friday by the NCAA, would deal a severe blow to coach Bobby Bowden's attempt to finish his career as major college football's winningest coach. Bowden had 382 victories at the end of last season, trailing Penn State coach Joe Paterno, 82, by one. Bowden, 79, has said he intends to coach next season and then decide if he wants to sign another one-year contract.


Ouch. Bowden will keep coaching until Joe Pa retires or dies