The NCAA put Kentucky football on two-years probation and vacated wins from the Wildcats program on Friday, the organization announced.
Kentucky committed NCAA violations when at least 11 football student athletes received payment for work they did not do. The NCAA’s release doesn’t clarify where the jobs were at but previous reports indicated that they occurred at the university hospital.
The NCAA’s release doesn’t indicate how many wins they are vacating but did state that they are vacating wins when these ineligible players competed. The violations occurred “between spring 2021 and March 2022.” If ineligible players only played during the 2021 season then Kentucky will vacate 10 total wins. If they also participated during the 2022 season than Kentucky will vacate 17 total wins.
The Wildcats won’t have any wins against Tennessee vacated because the Vols have defeated Kentucky in each of the last three seasons. Josh Heupel’s two wins in Lexington (2021 and 2023) were narrow victories while Tennessee blew out Kentucky inside Neyland Stadium during the 2022 season.
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What is worth watching regarding how many wins the NCAA vacates from Kentucky is the fact that Mark Stoops currently holds the record for most wins of any Kentucky coach. Stoops’ 73 wins at Kentucky are 13 more than Bear Bryant. If Kentucky only vacates wins from 2021 than Stoops will still hold the record. If they also vacate wins from 2022 then Bryant will once again hold the record.
Kentucky avoided the “fail-to-monitor” clause in NCAA violations because “the enforcement staff and school agreed that no staff member in the athletics department knew or reasonably should have known about the payment for work not performed.”
Stoops is 73-65 in his 11 seasons as Kentucky’s head coach including a 14-12 record in each of the last two seasons. The 57-year old head coach is 2-9 against Tennessee during his tenure in Lexington. The Wildcats travel to Neyland Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 2 this season.
2 Responses
If the same scrutiny was applied back when Bear was there they’d have to vacate all of Bear’s wins….back then – ’46-53..that was how players made it to the drve in and soda shop…they were put on ground crews or contractor summer jobs and did nothing but Rock around the Clock -so to speak!
Just do what Kansas basketball and Michigan football have done in the recent past. Tell them to pound sand since they can’t do anything about it lol. The ncaa is a joke that has no value or pull in 2024.