It seems those Syracuse self-imposed sanctions, lobbed at their own feet like a Halo player choosing to take their own life in a desperate attempt to avoid being killed by the enemy, didn't really impress the NCAA all that much.
It was announced Friday that head coach Jim Boeheim must be suspended for the first nine Atlantic Athletic Conference games of the 2015-16 season, per a report from Zach Schonburn of The New York Times.
And that's just the beginning.
"Over the next four years, the Syracuse men's basketball team must forfeit three scholarships; vacate all wins in which an ineligible basketball player participated from 2004 through 2012; reduce permissible off-campus recruiters from four to two; and return all funds received from participation in the Big East Conference tournament in 2011, 2012 and 2013, among other sanctions," reports Schonburn.
The NCAA's committee on infractions issued a report on Friday detailing the illegal conduct of the Syracuse athletic department and particularly Boeheim and the men's basketball program.
Boeheim, per Schonburn, was singled out for "failure to promote an atmosphere of compliance and monitor his staff."
Stan Kissel, the former director of basketball operations for the men's basketball team, was a focus of the investigation, along with a team receptionist, a support services mentor and a support services tutor, all alleged to have illegally aided players in academic endeavors.
"Improper institutional involvement and influence in a student's academic work in order to gain or maintain eligibility is a violation of NCAA rules and a violation of the most fundamental core values of the N.C.A.A. and higher education," the committee wrote, per Schonburn. "The behavior in this case, which placed the desire to achieve success on the basketball court over academic integrity, demonstrated clearly misplaced institutional priorities."
A booster was also found to have provided "impermissible benefits" to Syracuse football and basketball players which included a payment of over $8,000 in cash to appear at a local YMCA.
The self-imposed postseason ban was upheld.
UPDATE: The Times has now published the full NCAA report. Check it out here.
