NCAA Orders Notre Dame Football To Vacate 2012, 2013 Wins

The NCAA has ordered the University of Notre Dame football team to vacate wins from 2012 and 2013 seasons because of an athletics trainer’s academic misconduct.

Over the course of two academic school years from 2011 to 2013, a student athletics trainer partially or entirely completed academic assignments for two football players, and gave six other players extra academic benefits.

University officials took action in 2014 to discipline and adjust grades for those students.

But because an athletics trainer was involved, the NCAA decided to impose institution-level penalties, including vacating all wins from the 2012 and 2013 seasons.

University President the Rev. John I. Jenkins said in a statement the penalty is inappropriate.

“We believe that imposition of the vacation of records penalty without serious underlying institutional misconduct will not primarily punish those responsible for the misconduct, but rather will punish coaches, student-athletes and indeed the entire institution who did nothing wrong and, with regard to this case, did everything right,” Jenkins said.

Football Coach Brian Kelly says the decision is unprecedented.

“In the history of the NCAA a penalty has never been issued in this fashion before,” Kelly says.

Notre Dame will submit its case to an NCAA Appeals Committee.

Read the complete NCAA decision here.
Read the complete statement from Notre Dame here.