On Thursday, the NCAA announced its findings in its ongoing investigation into the LSU football program and, specifically, the actions of former offensive line coach [autotag]James Cregg[/autotag].
The NCAA found that Cregg had impermissible contact with recruits during the COVID-19 recruiting dead period in 2020, and it levied a three-year show-cause against Cregg and one year of probation against the Tigers.
All in all, the penalties aren’t particularly severe, and all were self-imposed by the university. They include a minuscule $5,000 fine and several minor recruiting limitations. However, this isn’t the only issue the school currently has with the NCAA.
In March, basketball coach [autotag]Will Wade[/autotag] was fired for cause due to the NCAA Notice of Allegations against the basketball program, which accused him of five Level I violations in addition to several other allegations of misconduct. Per Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellinger, that investigation is still ongoing and will likely carry into next year.
However, when the ruling from the NCAA eventually comes down, you likely won’t see as proactive of a response from LSU the second time around. According to a report from The Athletic’s Brody Miller, the basketball program has no plans to self-impose penalties in cooperation with the NCAA investigation.
Just to add to this, understanding is #LSU basketball has no plans to implement any self-imposed postseason bans or scholarship reductions.
So, the NCAA decision will be big. https://t.co/HEgPjpxJta
— Brody Miller (@BrodyAMiller) September 22, 2022
We’ll have to wait to see exactly what impacts the ongoing investigation has on the basketball program under new coach [autotag]Matt McMahon[/autotag], but it seems the NCAA decision will carry a lot more weight this time around.
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