The (Sun) Devil made him do it

RT Staff Note:Here is the article in the Arizona Central that details the Arizona State ban. Of course, my take on it is that the NCAA in all of it's infinite idiocy, screwed things up once again. The present staff and players are punished rather than the guilty parties. There were coaches and staff members that are now gone that should be punished, not a team of innocent coaches and players. I hope Arizona State appeals and wins.

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/asu/articles/2010/12/15/20101215ncaa-bans-arizona-state-asu-baseball-from-2011-postseason.html

The Arizona State baseball team is ineligible for the 2011 postseason under penalties imposed today by the NCAA Committee on Infractions.

The committee found ASU athletics to be guilty of lack of institutional control for the second time in five years, making it subject to repeat violator penalties. A 2005 lack of institutional control finding was for impermissible financial aid to athletes in football and other sports.

Penalties in the current case are limited to baseball, including most previously self imposed by ASU. The baseball program is on probation for three years through Dec. 14, 2013.

Former head coach Pat Murphy is not prohibited from future college employment but received a one-year show-cause penalty limiting his recruiting through Dec. 14, 2011.

ASU and Murphy have the right to appeal the penalties.

"The violations were the result of poor record keeping, failure to monitor and a cavalier attitude on the part of the former head baseball coach (Murphy) to NCAA regulations," the committee said in its decision.

ASU plans to decide by early next month if it will submit an appeal of the postseason ban to the Infractions Appeals Committee.

"We disagree with some of the findings," said Virgil Renzulli, ASU Vice President of Public Affairs. "We think the postseason ban is excessive."

In a written response to the decision, ASU said the lack of institutional control violation is "inconsistent with the fact that overall ASU had and continues to have a very strong compliance program," as evaluated in the Pac-10 2009 compliance review.

"We admit there were problems and could have been tighter control," Renzulli said. "But a vast number of these things are sloppy record keeping. We think we had good controls, and they're better now.

"There is a rules education program (for coaches), and we were surprised to hear we're not educating our coaches because that program was in place."

Renzulli said the athletic compliance department now is reporting to Jose Cardenas, ASU Senior Vice President and legal counsel.

ASU President Michael Crow, Vice President of Athletics Lisa Love and baseball coach Tim Esmay are not making public comment on the ruling.

Renzulli said Crow is "in total agreement" with ASU's written statement and that Love and Esmay remain in good standing. "We're very happy with the current direction of the baseball program," Renzulli said.

ASU is the first Division I school with nine major infractions violations since 1953. It previously was tied for the most with Southern Methodist at eight.ASU officials and Murphy appeared before the NCAA Committee on Infractions in a marathon session Aug. 13 in Seattle. The investigation into the baseball program, which began internally, has been going on since January 2008.

The Infractions Committee noted that ASU failed to self-detect any of the violations before the investigative process began. The case centered on impermissible phone calls, the recruiting of former ASU player Kiel Roling, players training at Athletes' Performance and working in Murphy's non-profit Sandlot program, and managers performing coaching duties.

The committee said Murphy failed to promote an atmosphere for compliance and that ASU failed to ensure adequate systems to monitor rules compliance and to provide NCAA rules education.

Murphy was terminated without cause as baseball coach on Nov. 20, 2009, one day after ASU received a notice of allegations from the NCAA. ASU admitted to two major violations in its response to the allegations and self-imposed penalties against the baseball program in April. Those penalties include vacating 44 wins and the Pac-10 title in 2007 and loss of two scholarships no later than the 2011-12 school year.

Murphy, 51, won 629 games in 15 seasons at ASU with four Pac-10 titles and four College World Series appearances. He has 1,000 career wins in 25 seasons. He is signed to manage the Eugene Emeralds, a San Diego Padres' Class A team, in 2011 but ultimately wants to return to college coaching.

ASU finished 52-10 in 2010, going to the College World Series for the fourth time in six seasons under coach Tim Esmay, who replaced Murphy first as interim coach. Esmay, who was Pac-10 Coach of the Year, learned he would continue at his alma mater before the postseason began and is under contract through the 2013 season.