Lane Kiffin is a nightmare that won’t end for Tennessee. The NCAA will cite the Volunteers football program with failure to monitor a recruiting violation.
According to a report from Fanhouse, Kiffin, who left Tennessee last year to become Southern California’s head coach, and former Vols assistant coach David Reaves, who is currently a University of New Mexico assistant coach, will also be cited for their involvement in the Orange Pride hostess program that has since been disbanded.
The most damaging evidence centers on Reaves, who according to Fanhouse lied to NCAA investigators with regard to his participation in the Orange Pride program.
“Reaves told NCAA investigators that he provided no direction to members of Orange Pride. But the NCAA has evidence to counter these denials and that evidence in conjunction with interviews with the hostesses led the NCAA to believe that Kiffin, Reaves, and the University of Tennessee football program have all violated NCAA rules.”
A prominent NCAA attorney, Mark Jones, chair of the law firm Ice Miller’s collegiate sports practice, said that “failure to monitor allegations are almost always classified as a major violation,” but that punishments for failure to monitor can vary significantly based upon the NCAA’s opinion of the severity of those violations.
Jones also stated that situations where coaches commit a violation and then move on to another school and receive punishment are “not the norm, but in the past twenty-five years that has happened in a number of cases.”
Also at issue is how the NCAA citation will effect Southern California, a program that is appealing sanctions imposed by the NCAA last year.
Kiffin signed 30 prep football players to Letters of Intent on Wednesday to help USC land what all the recruiting services believe is a top five class.
If further sanctions are levied against the Trojans as a result of Kiffin’s recruiting violations at Tennessee, USC athletics director Pat Haden will have to decide if he’s going to keep him as the team’s coach.
Kiffin, Reaves and the University of Tennessee will have 90 days to respond to the NCAA, and will have to appear before a committee meeting scheduled for this summer.
