By Keith Taylor
Kentucky Today
The University of Kentucky and the NCAA reached a settlement agreement on rules violations within the football and swimming programs.
As part of the agreement between UK and the NCAA, the football program will vacate any wins from the 2021 season in which 11 players who accepted payment for hours they did not work in jobs at the UK hospital during the spring of 2021 to March 2022 appeared in. UK went 10-3 in 2021 with a win over Iowa in the Citrus Bowl, and all 10 victories will be vacated.
In a release, the NCAA enforcement staff and the school agreed that “no staff member in the athletics department knew or reasonably should have known about the payment for work not performed, and thus the violations involving the football program did not provide additional support for the agreed-upon failure-to-monitor violation.”
University of Kentucky President Dr. Eli Capilouto said the university uncovered and reported the violations to the NCAA.
“We respect the process, we respect the decision and we’re going to uphold the integrity that has marked UK athletics for decades under (AD Mitch Barnhart’s) leadership.”
“For over a couple of decades we have worked really hard to make sure our compliance and integrity is at the highest level,” Barnhart said. “In this case, our process has worked. Our compliance office uncovered both of these violations and worked through – over the last three years – trying to find a way through a solution to the resolution, which we have now received.”
Barnhart added he’s “thankful the process has come to a close” and the school is ready to move forward.”
The Wildcats will be placed on two years probation and received a fine. The school did agree that it failed to monitor the swimming program and “the underlying violations demonstrated a head coach responsibility violation.”
The swimming violations remain under investigation. According to the NCAA release, the committee “will not discuss further details of the case to protect the integrity of the ongoing process, as the committee’s final decision — including potential violations and penalties for the former coach — is pending.”
In a release from the school, “a former swimming and diving coach (Lars Jorensen) did not participate in the agreement. His portion of the case will be considered separately by the Committee on Infractions, after which it will release its full decision. The University is not permitted to comment further until the full decision is released.”
They vacate 10 wins and Tennessee got nothing from their violations?