Nanook Nation 2014-2015

[Squarebanks]

Re: Nanook Nation 2014-2015

In amongst all this crap, we actually have to play hockey tonight (with eligible players no less). It'll be interesting to see how the guys respond, although at this point I'm more worried about getting past this three game losing streak.

[Squarebanks]

Umm, yes you can. You can't win by cheating. Your team had nine, count them N-I-N-E, ineligible players. According to the NCAA report "The Level I violations represent a severe breach of conduct because they resulted in a substantial or extensive competitive advantage and contributed to a lack of institutional control".

The entire NCAA report can be found here:
http://www.ncaa.org/sites/default/fi...20Decision.pdf

I had to laugh at the "extensive competitive advantage" line. Hockey was good for a few of those years, but basketball and volleyball were awful the entire time.

The report also pinpoints exactly who didn't act from administrative level. Fortunately those people are long gone.

[Suze]

Re: Nanook Nation 2014-2015

I had to laugh at the "extensive competitive advantage" line. Hockey was good for a few of those years, but basketball and volleyball were awful the entire time.

The report also pinpoints exactly who didn't act from administrative level. Fortunately those people are long gone.

Actually it said substantial OR extensive advantage. You can't blame the NCAA for this, it's all on the UA_ athletic department.

[Squarebanks]

You can't blame the NCAA for this, it's all on the UA_ athletic department.

Never said it wasn't. And I'm glad that those who oversaw this cluster are long gone.

[mmf]

Re: Nanook Nation 2014-2015

The full report is pretty d*mning on many valid points, and I don’t have much sympathy for our “administrative” leadership during this period. We have a long history of a very screwed up administration. Much of it budget related but screwed up nonetheless. It is an easy out to ignore the costs and resources necessary to monitor compliance, whether that be financial, legal, or in this case NCAA eligibility, until the wheels come off. Most the penalties are warranted and I don’t think the committee has any choice but to vacate the wins. And I don't think any Nook fan can reasonably defend or even wants to defend Administration's history of incompetence.

But to the dismay of Seawolf fans, UAF was neither “caught cheating” or “ignored repeating warnings from the NCAA.” This whole report is justifiably critical of our “lack of institutional control and failure to monitor”, but as the report states, “unethical conduct was not present in this case.” And the warnings UAF ignored and failed to address in a timely manner were internal, not from the NCAA. In 2008 an academic advisor returns from compliance training with serious concerns of our processes. Those concerns are confirmed by the compliance director in the fall 2008, and after a department review also confirmed and recommendations made to higher authorities by the AD in May of 2009. Those recommendations were ignored and no resources or improvements made to compliance monitoring until the summer of 2011 when a new compliance director (I think) documented actual violations while working in the academic admissions office after being furloughed from her compliance job during the summer months.

Once actual violations were documented in the summer of 2011, UAF self reported and subsequently worked with the NCAA and we are where we are at now.

I do feel the post season ban is too harsh to current players and that is one penalty that could still be appealed (most likely with little success). The NCAA references other schools violations and similar penalties, but I can’t tell if they also self reported and had already taken most of the corrective actions before any NCAA’s report. A lot of our violations are fairly clerical/technical in nature, but there are some (especially in the DII sports) that there is no excuse for. True negligence.

This will hang over us for a few years, but we’ll get past it. I have no doubt we’ll continue to put a quality team on the ice. It’s too bad that the team that comprises upper level administration never has and probably never will get close to the effort or character of the team on the ice.

And speaking of teams on the ice. While UAA’s winning record will be adjusted upward, as with every other impacted school, and official records will reflect two or three more Governor Cup Championships for UAA, I still take satisfaction in that they couldn’t get it done on the ice.

The healing starts tonight.
Go Nooks!

[Wondering]

Re: Nanook Nation 2014-2015

I encourage anyone commenting here to read the full NCAA report. MMF pulled out some of the significant findings -- thank you! -- but it's worth reading the whole thing.

I thought one of the saddest points was that an academic advisor and a compliance director saw problems and pushed for changes, but higher-ups didn't respond to their requests for help. It probably came down to time and money, but boy, was that short-sighted. How much time and money has the university spent now? Thousands of work-hours and $30,000 fine, at the very least.

But I'm angry that when the university tried to do the right thing -- a new compliance director came in and identified errors; the University self-reported them to the NCAA and took corrective action -- it didn't seem to matter. NCAA imposed penalties way out of proportion to the violations; penalties worse than some college have received for blatantly deliberate wrongdoing. What if UAF had simply changed its procedures without self-reporting past problems to the NCAA? Would we be better off now? Is that what the NCAA wants to encourage?

The report states that because UAF did not agree to the postseason ban, it "has the opportunity to appeal that penalty to the NCAA Division I Infractions Appeals Committee." Will it do so? UAFHockeyFan314, do you know more?

[Squarebanks]

I encourage anyone commenting here to read the full NCAA report. MMF pulled out some of the significant findings -- thank you! -- but it's worth reading the whole thing.

I thought one of the saddest points was that an academic advisor and a compliance director saw problems and pushed for changes, but higher-ups didn't respond to their requests for help. It probably came down to time and money, but boy, was that short-sighted. How much time and money has the university spent now? Thousands of work-hours and $30,000 fine, at the very least.

But I'm angry that when the university tried to do the right thing -- a new compliance director came in and identified errors; the University self-reported them to the NCAA and took corrective action -- it didn't seem to matter. NCAA imposed penalties way out of proportion to the violations; penalties worse than some college have received for blatantly deliberate wrongdoing. What if UAF had simply changed its procedures without self-reporting past problems to the NCAA? Would we be better off now? Is that what the NCAA wants to encourage?

The report states that because UAF did not agree to the postseason ban, it "has the opportunity to appeal that penalty to the NCAA Division I Infractions Appeals Committee." Will it do so? UAFHockeyFan314, do you know more?

I too have to wonder if we had never self reported if it would have even been an issue. Not that I'm endorsing that, but being honest with the NCAA rarely works out in a school's favor.

I caught the part about being allowed to appeal, too. Although I doubt it will go anywhere, I think we owe it to the current students and coaches to at least try.

I'll agree that UAF has had poor leadership in the past, but I personally believe the current administration is by and large the best leadership group UAF has had in a long time. It's unfortunate they will be tarnished by something that largely happened under the previous AD, previous VC, and previous Chancellor (although Chancellor Rogers did transition in 2009, but I don't think this is a direct result of his doing).

[Jimjamesak]

I encourage anyone commenting here to read the full NCAA report. MMF pulled out some of the significant findings -- thank you! -- but it's worth reading the whole thing.

I thought one of the saddest points was that an academic advisor and a compliance director saw problems and pushed for changes, but higher-ups didn't respond to their requests for help. It probably came down to time and money, but boy, was that short-sighted. How much time and money has the university spent now? Thousands of work-hours and $30,000 fine, at the very least.

But I'm angry that when the university tried to do the right thing -- a new compliance director came in and identified errors; the University self-reported them to the NCAA and took corrective action -- it didn't seem to matter. NCAA imposed penalties way out of proportion to the violations; penalties worse than some college have received for blatantly deliberate wrongdoing. What if UAF had simply changed its procedures without self-reporting past problems to the NCAA? Would we be better off now? Is that what the NCAA wants to encourage?

The report states that because UAF did not agree to the postseason ban, it "has the opportunity to appeal that penalty to the NCAA Division I Infractions Appeals Committee." Will it do so? UAFHockeyFan314, do you know more?

The reasoning for the punishment is clear in the report. UAF knew what was going on and didn't do anything for years. Just because you ignore something for years and then report it doesn't exempt you from punishment.

[Squarebanks]

The reasoning for the punishment is clear in the report. UAF knew what was going on and didn't do anything for years. Just because you ignore something for years and then report it doesn't exempt you from punishment.

I don't think anyone is arguing we should have been punished. We already self-imposed scholly limitations. I get that. The fine? I get that. Probation? Absolutely, we screwed up. The wins vacation? Harsh, but I get it. The postseason ban was over the top though, and serves no good purpose other than to screw current students who had nothing to do with the mess.

[Slap Shot]

Re: Nanook Nation 2014-2015

I find it quite ironic that Joe Maturi was one of the committee members that reviewed this case. When he was the AD at Minnesota, he did nothing about the underage drinking scandal with the hockey program, as well as the illegal gifts the players received when they got into bars without paying the cover charges. That whole thing was a big story, and not one player sat out a game. Instead they attended orientations on the dangers of underage drinking. Really?

Six degrees of crying about UM.

(ftr I think Maturi is an asshat)

[Alaska Hockey]

Re: Nanook Nation 2014-2015

Never said it wasn't. And I'm glad that those who oversaw this cluster are long gone.

Just think of all the money you would have saved from all the going away parties and lavish gifts you all had to pony up for. If they were still employed at UA_, just think of all the personal satisfaction you would have had to Ashley Reed their *** out on a rail from UA_.

[blackswampboy]

Re: Nanook Nation 2014-2015

Oh, they go to UAA. That's what a forfeit is. The Alaska Dispatch states:

wouldn't be too sure about that.
the NCAA differentiates between forfeits and vacancies, and the nooks are vacating.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikiped...ated_victories
(Yes, this explanation is for football.)

"In the case of regular season games, the penalized team's win is removed from its official NCAA record. The losing team, however, retains the loss, and individual statistics resulting from the subject game(s) are not affected other than for players declared specifically ineligible."

"In the case of tournament games, the entire match result is vacated and the win and the corresponding loss are both removed from the two teams' records. Championships and honors earned by reason of the vacated wins are stricken from the penalized team's record. Again, except for specifically ineligible players, individual statistics will remain unaffected. However, any individual tournament honors earned by players will be vacated along with the match(es)."

[Suze]

Re: Nanook Nation 2014-2015

wouldn't be too sure about that.
the NCAA differentiates between forfeits and vacancies, and the nooks are vacating.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikiped...ated_victories
(Yes, this explanation is for football.)

"In the case of regular season games, the penalized team's win is removed from its official NCAA record. The losing team, however, retains the loss, and individual statistics resulting from the subject game(s) are not affected other than for players declared specifically ineligible."

"In the case of tournament games, the entire match result is vacated and the win and the corresponding loss are both removed from the two teams' records. Championships and honors earned by reason of the vacated wins are stricken from the penalized team's record. Again, except for specifically ineligible players, individual statistics will remain unaffected. However, any individual tournament honors earned by players will be vacated along with the match(es)."

You are mixing apples and oranges. It's already been stated that both UA_ and UAA will change their stats to reflect the changes, and that UAA will get the Gov Cup for two of those years. And in this case, ALL of the stats are gone, not just the stats from ineligible players.

[blackswampboy]

Re: Nanook Nation 2014-2015

You are mixing apples and oranges. It's already been stated that both UA_ and UAA will change their stats to reflect the changes, and that UAA will get the Gov Cup for two of those years. And in this case, ALL of the stats are gone, not just the stats from ineligible players.

"forfeits" and "vacancies" are apples and oranges. you called them forfeits, but the NCAA is calling them vacancies.
so you're saying there's some sort of special deal where the Gov Cup games are forfeits, but all the other games are vacancies? how does that work?

[mmf]

Re: Nanook Nation 2014-2015

Let’s go boys, salvage something out of this weekend.

Remind the freshman D that we realize that you’re not used to the speed of the game, but it is better to take the hit or push it back into the corner than it to make blind passes into open ice in your own zone. Turnovers are killing us. Remind the experienced D to not hold the puck on the point so long. You’re just being forced into making crummy passes. Remind everyone that the objective of a pass is not to get it caught up in your teammate’s skates. Passing was horrendous the last few games. And fight for everything. We have yet to win more face offs than the other team this season. Start turning it around tonight.

Go Nooks!