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The NCAA might wipe off the SMU dust and fire up ol’ Sparky one more time.
Since the NCAA sentenced SMU’s football program to the death penalty 22 years ago, the organization has admitted its error by pardoning more than 30 schools that committed similarly egregious violations.
Thanks to Division I-AA Alabama State, that might be about to change.
The Montgomery, Ala. school committed a cool 668 violations, according to a five-year NCAA investigation. The governing body also found the dreaded “lack of institutional control” that most experts believe got SMU the chair.
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Not a big deal, I know, but somehow seeing another school similarly penalized would make the Mustangs feel better, right?
“It’s not for me to say,” SMU athletic director Steve Orsini told me back in the fall, “but I’d hope the NCAA would remain consistent in administering penalties fairly.”
First June Jones. Now Alabama A&M. And on the horizon, the Bush Library.
SMU football’s days as the laughingstock may be numbered. — Richie Whitt
