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.[2]
However, in 1986, SMU faced allegations 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. However, under a secret plan adopted by the board, the school would phase out the slush once all players that were still being paid had graduated.[3]
As a result:
The 1987 season was canceled; only conditioning drills (without pads) would be permitted until the spring of 1988.
All home games in 1988 were canceled. SMU was allowed to play their seven regularly scheduled away games so that other institutions would not be financially affected. The university would ultimately choose not to do so (see below).
The team's existing probation was extended to 1990. Its existing ban from bowl games and live television was extended to 1989.
SMU lost 55 new scholarship positions over 4 years.
The team was only allowed to hire five full-time assistant coaches, instead of the typical nine.
No off-campus recruiting would be permitted until August 1988, and no paid visits could be made to campus by would-be 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 past 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.[4]
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 shuttered for 1988 as well, citing the near-certainty that it wouldn't have enough experienced players left to field a competitive team.[5] Their concerns proved valid, as new coach Forrest Gregg was left with a severely undersized and underweight roster comprised mostly of freshmen.
[edit] Fallout
Before the "death penalty" was instituted, SMU was a storied 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 titles. The Mustangs compiled 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, who set the NFL single-season rushing record by gaining 2,105 yards in 1984 for the Los Angeles Rams, and Craig James, who played with the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XX.
Afterwards, players were reluctant to attend a school with a history of such major recruiting violations. In addition, the loss of 55 scholarships meant that it would be 1992 before the Mustangs were able to field a team with a full complement of scholarship players; it would be another year before it fielded a team comprised entirely of players unaffected by the scandal.
Since 1989 SMU has only defeated 2 ranked teams, has only 1 winning season, and is 58-153-3.[6] The death penalty decimated the Southwest Conference's reputation and finances, contributing to the collapse of the entire conference in 1996. Arkansas began the exodus in 1990 by joining the Southeastern Conference, and Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Baylor merged with the Big Eight to form the Big 12. The three small private schools of the conference (Rice, SMU and TCU) joined the WAC, while Houston, hit with probation in the early 1990s and rejected by the Big 12 and WAC, became a charter member of Conference USA, where Rice and SMU have also been members since 2005. TCU left the WAC for C-USA in 2000, and in 2005 moved to the Mountain West Conference, where it rejoined eight schools it competed against in the WAC.
One of the most memorable quotes about the death penalty came from former University of Florida President John Lombardi, now president of the Louisiana State University System: "SMU taught the committee that the death penalty is too much like the nuclear bomb. It's like what happened after we dropped the (atom) bomb in World War II. The results were so catastrophic that now we'll do anything to avoid dropping another one.”[7]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_penalty_(NCAA)#SMU_football.2C_1986-88
Pretty great to see a program coming back from that, and hopefully, Jones is doing it the right way this time. All I've ever heard about him is that he's a great guy and a great coach, so I would bet he is.
good to hear. I root for SMU because of what the NCAA did to that program
The dude can coach.
I'm happy things are looking up for them. Hopefully they can get into a Bowl Game.
What SMU did in the 80's was par for the course in major college football at the time. It set the blueprint for how the NCAA has treated rules violations since. The NCAA's general position seems to be that they can't catch everyone who breaks the rules so when they catch a program in the wrong they try to make them an example. The other hilarious thing about the NCAA of late is their propensity to dock the programs that are least likely to fight back the heaviest.
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.[2]