Baseball Cleared of Violations By NCAA (Merged)

[PowerOfDixieland 3,226]

I hope Golloway takes down Jay Jacobs on this, he's flat out a liar and needs to treated as such.

Former Auburn University baseball coach Sunny Golloway has been cleared of any wrongdoing by the NCAA more than 16 months after AU fired him, citing multiple violations. According to a letter obtained by the Opelika-Auburn News, the Office of the Committees on Infractions stated it has no record of Golloway “having past involvement in any Level I/Level II/Major NCAA infractions” during his two seasons as the Tigers’ head coach.

[PowerOfDixieland 3,226]

Link for what it's worth >  http://www.oanow.com/sports/college/auburn/baseball/ncaa-former-auburn-baseball-coach-sunny-golloway-has-no-record/article_24a699e2-e982-11e6-825b-8f50f0221de4.html

[AU64 10,122]

51 minutes ago, PowerOfDixieland said:

I hope Golloway takes down Jay Jacobs on this, he's flat out a liar and needs to treated as such.

Former Auburn University baseball coach Sunny Golloway has been cleared of any wrongdoing by the NCAA more than 16 months after AU fired him, citing multiple violations. According to a letter obtained by the Opelika-Auburn News, the Office of the Committees on Infractions stated it has no record of Golloway “having past involvement in any Level I/Level II/Major NCAA infractions” during his two seasons as the Tigers’ head coach.

Should be interesting  to see how this comes out.

Seems highly possible that CSG was "set up" by some people who wanted him gone...and maybe not just in the athletic dept. since there were some AU media people who went out of their way to spread negative things about him.....maybe to the point of convincing JJ of NCAA violations....and we know how fearful JJ is of anything that even smells like an NCAA issue.   I don't recall that there was ever a settlement between AU and CSG so AU may yet be writing him a big check.  

And the most incongruous thing about the entire mess to me was the fact that AU seemed to be claiming that the school / coach committed serious NCAA violations....as justification for firing CSG......when it now looks like there was nothing that rose to the level of a true offense that warranted a penalty against AU or the coach.  I mean, was JJ or someone willing for AU to fall on it's sword just to get rid of CSG and save his buyout?   

Meanwhile,  how many times has the NCAA written a letter to clear an individual of claims of an NCAA violation...maybe with Cam Newton?    Any others?  

Wonder what happens next.

[augolf1716 21,103]

This ain't good for AU cuse the english

[Mikey 16,576]

My feeling all along was that Golloway's infractions, if any, were blown out of proportion in order to fire him. That now appears correct. I'm glad we've got Butch Thompson instead, but I don't like my school giving somebody the shaft.

[ellitor 33,082]

Quote

Baseball Cleared of Violations By NCAA

Not Quite

 

Quote

 

AUBURN, Ala. — Sunny Golloway was cleared of major infractions by the NCAA following his firing by Auburn, according to a letter from the NCAA, but the athletics department recently released more info about violations that led to his dismissal in September 2015.

The former Oklahoma and Auburn baseball coach told The Franchise radio station Wednesday and multiple media outlets Thursday he had recently been cleared of Level I, II "or major" violations by the NCAA, which is true, according to a letter from the NCAA, but he was also involved in multiple Level III violations, per Auburn.

“The NCAA recently closed its investigation and found four Level III violations," Auburn's athletics department released in a statement to AuburnUndercover on Friday. "Auburn’s dismissal of Coach Golloway and some members of the baseball staff was accepted by the Southeastern Conference and the NCAA, which determined no further action was required. No members of the current baseball staff were associated or involved in those violations, and we look forward to the coming season under coach (Butch) Thompson.”

Level III violations are defined by the NCAA as "breach of conduct," which could lead to penalties for the school and/or coach.

Golloway provided a copy of a letter from the NCAA dated Jan. 30 clearing him of major infractions. Golloway is attempting to get back into coaching following his firing from Auburn nearly two years ago.

 Auburn raised 11 allegations against Golloway and was fired with cause Sept. 27, 2015. Auburn claimed Golloway "knowingly and repeatedly broke Auburn and NCAA rules, including an attempt to destroy evidence of his violations."

Golloway filed a civil lawsuit against Auburn athletics director Jay Jacobs, members of the Auburn athletics administration and the university's board of trustees. Golloway claims he is owed $1 million in buyout money.

"Auburn made a decision to fire me and they have that right to do that," Golloway told AL.com. "This just allows me to go and pursue a new job. As far as my contractual things, that's a different story and something that each side's counsel will take care of. I had some very good experiences at Auburn, and I grew to love the place in a very short time, then I was shocked one Sunday afternoon when I was fired.""

Golloway was 62-50 in two seasons as Auburn's coach. He led Auburn to an NCAA Tournament in his final season.

 

 

[AU64 10,122]

So AU trying to convince the NCAA that it committed four Level III violations...none of which,  or all of which ..were not serious enough to warrant a penalty....but in the eyes of JJ they seemed to justify firing CSG for "cause".  Level III ...often known as secondary violations....you remember those 'cause we  self reported  21 of them in 2014 and 33 over two years....apparently none of which were the four mentioned above.   Interesting too that AU describes them as Level III in the news release which likely is to make them sound quite serious whereas when the 21 violations were announced they were classified as "secondary" ....likely to make them sound trivial...which basically they were. 

Considering all the contentious circumstances surrounding CSG's short time at AU , strikes me as quite likely that JJ sent someone out to find a reason to get rid of the guy...and maybe the task fell to Compliance or someone else who could gather evidence.    Call me a cynic...but I'm betting that if anyone really tried, they could find Level III violations all over AU's athletic program...guys practicing beyond the 20 hour limit or whatever it is, etc but there is no real need to build a case against anyone right now so the "technical' violations are let slide...and certainly I don't recall any terminations over the 33 reported in 2014-15.

But considering that PM and some media people wrote scathing articles about CSG and did their best to inflame things, if there was an effort made, it was probably pretty easy to catch him doing some of the same stuff that his predecessors had been doing and that apparently had been done elsewhere...and start building a list. CSG was not dummy and had coached NCAA baseball for a long time.   He was definitely a horses patooty....but he likely knew the rules and knew how to get his teams to the baseball play-offs and was making progress with the AU program.....and far as we know, he was not known for fudging the rules.....of if he had been, AU blew it with their pre-hiring investigation of him. 

So....is AU willing to take some kind of NCAA penalty in order to save the million bucks that seems to be at stake?....or to "save face" and justify what might have been precipitous actions in firing the coaching staff ?.   

Butch seems to be getting things back on track but nobody is looking for AU to be in Omaha this year....getting to Birmingham will be a challenge...and meanwhile, it would be good for this thing to get wrapped up so CSG could go on with his life and AU could get out from under the cloud..  Considering the state of the baseball program at the moment, a year off from the NCAA tournament might not amount to anything but there is no need for that.

JMO but ....pay the money and get this behind us...nobody in the Athletic Department is looking good here and dragging it out further helps no one. 

[PowerOfDixieland 3,226]

"The money" is the balance of the contract, which exceeds $1 Million.  If anybody pays Golloway, it ought to be taken out of our AD's personal account.  This is just further proof that Jay Jacobs has succeeded in pulling off the longest running fraud in NCAA history.  How do we just sit back and take this???!!!

[AU64 10,122]

29 minutes ago, PowerOfDixieland said:

"The money" is the balance of the contract, which exceeds $1 Million.  If anybody pays Golloway, it ought to be taken out of our AD's personal account.  This is just further proof that Jay Jacobs has succeeded in pulling off the longest running fraud in NCAA history.  How do we just sit back and take this???!!!

I'm not solely blaming this on JJ....People all over AU were screaming about what an ass CSG was ....players, former players and people on this board....so I figure he caved into the complainers and looked (and found ) what he thought was a way to "solve the problem".   

 IF that is indeed what happened...it was a sorry way to go about it....ruining the guys reputation by ginning up a half-baked reason to fire him and save the buy-out. 

That's just speculation by me of course....but just looking at the entire soap opera, that's the conclusion I draw....and in the end, it probably would have been cheaper to negotiate a deal and pay him off to go away.   The way it went however, the program has suffered and I bet we will spend the million bucks and more before all of this gets wrapped up.   

PS...and I forgot to mention the possibility of a co-conspirator or two from the local media who helped frame the story to support Auburn's decision.

[PowerOfDixieland 3,226]

64 your on the right trail.  Forgot to mentioned the mommas and daddy's of the poor (and neglected) and Scott Duvall whom Jacobs conveniently re-assigned to another area of the athletic department.  Golloway was a bull in a china closet to be sure, but Jacobs is a snake in the grass.

[Auburnfan91 1,407]

7 hours ago, AU64 said:

I'm not solely blaming this on JJ....People all over AU were screaming about what an ass CSG was ....players, former players and people on this board....so I figure he caved into the complainers and looked (and found ) what he thought was a way to "solve the problem".   

 IF that is indeed what happened...it was a sorry way to go about it....ruining the guys reputation by ginning up a half-baked reason to fire him and save the buy-out. 

That's just speculation by me of course....but just looking at the entire soap opera, that's the conclusion I draw....and in the end, it probably would have been cheaper to negotiate a deal and pay him off to go away.   The way it went however, the program has suffered and I bet we will spend the million bucks and more before all of this gets wrapped up.   

PS...and I forgot to mention the possibility of a co-conspirator or two from the local media who helped frame the story to support Auburn's decision.

It wasn't his decision alone to get rid of Golloway but I'm sure it was Jacob's decision to fire Golloway with cause and not pay him the money owed on his contract. That part of it clearly falls back on Jacob's.

[au302 2,669]

Ridiculous. I know Sunny was a complete jerk but if he didn't commit any major violations, he never should've been fired. I would take him in a heartbeat of CBT. I'm sure most of you will laugh at that but that's how I feel. I mean, CBT had all the same players plus Palaciod and Buentello and managed to take them from a regional team to bottom of the SEC. I know that he didn't have much time before the season but there's no excuse for that roster to be so bad. I'm gonna give him another shot this year but if he doesn't show improvement with his players and a full offseason then I'll really be upset about Sunny getting fired

[auburnphan 6,050]

Sonny was the wrong fit, it really is the final answer.  JJ's choice on how to handle it, is anyone really shocked

[mustache eagle 2,397]

CSG turned out to be exactly the type of coach that everyone, including us on this board, heard him to be.  Jacobs screwed the pooch and then half baked this idiotic way of firing him.

i neither loved or hated CSG. But I respected the guy for being himself.  Jacobs got exactly who he hired.  Then the athletic department weaseled its way out of it in the manner they did.  If they wanted CSG gone, then they should have straight fired him and said oops.

im actually surprised that Phillip Marshall didn't write yet another article, that mentioned 1.5 years after the fact, that CSG was fired "for cause".  It was months after Thompson was hired and PM was still writing that crap.

[PowerOfDixieland 3,226]

On 2/5/2017 at 5:25 PM, au302 said:

Ridiculous. I know Sunny was a complete jerk but if he didn't commit any major violations, he never should've been fired. I would take him in a heartbeat of CBT. I'm sure most of you will laugh at that but that's how I feel. I mean, CBT had all the same players plus Palaciod and Buentello and managed to take them from a regional team to bottom of the SEC. I know that he didn't have much time before the season but there's no excuse for that roster to be so bad. I'm gonna give him another shot this year but if he doesn't show improvement with his players and a full offseason then I'll really be upset about Sunny getting fired

I was pretty quick to defend Golloway, thought that we needed a guy with a style on the other end of the spectrum from Pawlowski (who was milquetoast in my opinion).  The problem for Golloway was that he was so competitive that it clouded his judgement, willing to punch anybody in the nose who he felt was in the way of winning.  I had a good conversation with Tom Holliday about a month before they were swept out and he felt like Sunny was getting better and he was coaching/mentoring/helping him towards that end. When Golloway decided that Scott Duvall was the baseball version of Wayne Bolt and wanted him out, Jacobs hatched the "with cause" plan.

That said, I really think Thompson will prove to be a great coach.  In most cases, it takes three or four years for a long time assistant to figure out how to be the head guy.  I hope we will be patient to get there, he is putting some very good recruiting classes together.   

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

I'm glad he's gone because of his poor game management.  We ran ourselves out of so many innings under that clown.  Who the hell consistently tries to steal with their catcher and their first baseman?  It would be nothing for us to completely give away 6-to-9 outs each weekend on the basepaths or by bunting when a situation didn't call for it.

[AU64 10,122]

19 hours ago, Brad_ATX said:

I'm glad he's gone because of his poor game management.  We ran ourselves out of so many innings under that clown.  Who the hell consistently tries to steal with their catcher and their first baseman?  It would be nothing for us to completely give away 6-to-9 outs each weekend on the basepaths or by bunting when a situation didn't call for it.

You could be right...but Butch's let 'em hit strategy did not work all that well either and instead of a return trip to the NCAA the team took a nosedive with the essentially the same player who had made the regionals the season before.     JMO but coaches usually play the style game that suits the players he has and that might have been Butch's failing in the first season. thinking he had the MSU line-up at his disposal.

Guess we will see now many seasons it will take to get back to a regional game. ...and as I noted above, I'm betting AU will be swapping more outs for bases this year than in the past two....could be wrong but looking at the stats of the roster this year, I sure don't see many doubles and HR hitters.   We should know more in a couple weeks...either way, can't wait for the season to begin. 

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

1 hour ago, AU64 said:

You could be right...but Butch's let 'em hit strategy did not work all that well either and instead of a return trip to the NCAA the team took a nosedive with the essentially the same player who had made the regionals the season before.     JMO but coaches usually play the style game that suits the players he has and that might have been Butch's failing in the first season. thinking he had the MSU line-up at his disposal.

Guess we will see now many seasons it will take to get back to a regional game. ...and as I noted above, I'm betting AU will be swapping more outs for bases this year than in the past two....could be wrong but looking at the stats of the roster this year, I sure don't see many doubles and HR hitters.   We should know more in a couple weeks...either way, can't wait for the season to begin. 

Agreed with being ready for the season.  My buddies and I went to the CWS last year and it was an absolute blast.

Back to AU though.  We weren't a terrible team at the plate last year (4th in conference for BA, 4th in OBP, 8th in total bases despite playing less games than others).  We struggled bring runners home, but I don't think the talent last year was fully up to par to cash in on opportunities, especially with the way Butch likes to play.  Remember, Sunny's teams never scored lots of runs, although part of that could be due to rule changes during his tenure.

Our deficiencies last year were on the mound and in the field.  12th in ERA and dead last in fielding percentage in the SEC.  Butch has brought in some solid pitching talent, but I see this like I do the basketball program.  The real fruits of recruiting and teaching won't come until year three, when Sunny's fingerprints are completely gone from the clubhouse and program.

[AU64 10,122]

57 minutes ago, Brad_ATX said:

Agreed with being ready for the season.  My buddies and I went to the CWS last year and it was an absolute blast.

Back to AU though.  We weren't a terrible team at the plate last year (4th in conference for BA, 4th in OBP, 8th in total bases despite playing less games than others).  We struggled bring runners home, but I don't think the talent last year was fully up to par to cash in on opportunities, especially with the way Butch likes to play.  Remember, Sunny's teams never scored lots of runs, although part of that could be due to rule changes during his tenure.

Our deficiencies last year were on the mound and in the field.  12th in ERA and dead last in fielding percentage in the SEC.  Butch has brought in some solid pitching talent, but I see this like I do the basketball program.  The real fruits of recruiting and teaching won't come until year three, when Sunny's fingerprints are completely gone from the clubhouse and program.

No question the pitching looks better...at least the prospects..but I was thinking of the fact that CSG left behind guys like Grier, Palacio, Buentello and more...guys with a bit of power and .300+ hitters....and BT still could not score runs....left guys on base all over the place.   Just waiting until we get a line-up at the plate again that looks like 2015 again...but don't see that our roster has more than a couple guys who might be in their class as hitters.    

Hoping for the best and will be good to see KT back on the mound.

[au302 2,669]

On 2/9/2017 at 0:56 PM, AU64 said:

No question the pitching looks better...at least the prospects..but I was thinking of the fact that CSG left behind guys like Grier, Palacio, Buentello and more...guys with a bit of power and .300+ hitters....and BT still could not score runs....left guys on base all over the place.   Just waiting until we get a line-up at the plate again that looks like 2015 again...but don't see that our roster has more than a couple guys who might be in their class as hitters.    

Hoping for the best and will be good to see KT back on the mound.

Agreed. We even upgraded from 2015 last year in terms of hitters. Palacios and Buentello weren't on the regional team. CBT needs to manage our hitters better and we will improve. Our fielding and pitching should improve but he needs to get our runners home more consistently

[AFTiger 282]

NCAA clears former Auburn baseball coach Sunny Golloway of infractions

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2017/02/ncaa_clears_former_auburn_base.html

Quote

Former Auburn baseball coach Sunny Golloway has been cleared by the NCAA of any major infractions.

Golloway, who spent two seasons on the Plains before being fired in September 2015, received a letter from Shepard Cooper, the NCAA's Director of the Committee of Infractions, saying that it "has no record of Sunny Golloway having any past involvement in any" NCAA violations. The letter was first obtained by The Franchise, an Oklahoma radio station, as well as D1baseball.com. AL.com confirmed the report with Golloway on Wednesday night, and a copy of the letter was obtained by AL.com on Thursday morning. 

"They gave me a letter stating I'm not involved in any infraction of Level I, II or major and that I wasn't currently under anymore investigation," Golloway told AL.com. "They told my counsel they'd closed the book on it, so that was good news for me and my family."

Auburn spokespersons did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 

[ellitor 33,082]

Very old news. Already been discussed ad nausseum.

[AU64 10,122]

22 minutes ago, ellitor said:

Very old news. Already been discussed ad nausseum.

Nobody from AU coming forth to say how pleased they are with the decision? ...saying they knew all the time that the charges were false and they are happy that the NCAA confirmed that AU is running a clean baseball program? 

[ellitor 33,082]

53 minutes ago, AU64 said:

Nobody from AU coming forth to say how pleased they are with the decision? ...saying they knew all the time that the charges were false and they are happy that the NCAA confirmed that AU is running a clean baseball program? 

See my post early in the thread. The original article is not completely accurate.

[boomstick 1,315]

2 hours ago, ellitor said:

See my post early in the thread. The original article is not completely accurate.

Right. Minor NCAA violations occurred, and I'm guessing, having not read the contract, Auburn believed those violations were enough to fire Galloway with cause. I guess that's what happens when you dare your boss to fire you. He's going to find a way to fire you.