The Front Row

By SEC standards this is nothing. The ncaa and their masters at espin will dilute it via a new OSU rehash.

what screwed us is having a coach lie multiple times. The NCAA is forced to make an example of you in that situation.

Sorry Ive only been following ESPN, Yahoo, CBS, etc so I have no idea what S. Carolina did. I can tell you intimate details about what happened at OSU, however.

Knowing and proving is two different things. Until there is proof or admission that they knew i think what JT did is worse. JT didn't do the right thing and has admitted as such. It's that simple for me. Is he taking the fall (maybe) is something we may never know. What i don't get is that our kids sold stuff for approx 500 to 2000 and miss six gmaes yet the Miami kids took more money and got less of a punishment. NCAA what a joke!

The bulk of improper benefits come from 12 athletes staying at the Whitney Hotel at $450 each for a two-bedroom suite.

The NCAA found the hotel a few miles off campus charged a rate of $14.95 per athlete for two-bedroom suites. The NCAA said the rate should've been more than $57 per night for each athlete. One football player who spent more than a year at the hotel, the NCAA said, received an extra benefit worth $19,280.

The NCAA said the school received $47,000 worth of improper benefits from the rate reduction.

South Carolina's former compliance director Jennifer Stiles had said the hotel rate was comparable to other available off-campus housing. The NCAA called her assessment "flawed" in correspondence from 2010 and said the school should've compared with rates given others who stayed at the Whitney long term.

"Had this good faith error in judgment not occurred, the university believes the violations in allegation one would have been minimized," South Carolina said in its NCAA response.

The NCAA also alleged that South Carolina received $8,000 in improper benefits from the Student Athlete Mentoring Foundation.

SAMF president Steve Gordon and treasurer Kevin Lahn were found to have paid for several unofficial visits by Gamecocks freshman receiver Damiere Byrd. Both Gordon and Lahn are South Carolina graduates.

Byrd was suspended for South Carolina's first four games and made to pay back $2,700.

Lahn also paid for a $3,350 dinner cruise on nearby Lake Murray for several prospects that was also attended by track coach Curtis Frye and 16 members of his program.

The school said it will reduce football scholarships by one in 2012-13, by three in 2013-14 and by two in 2014-15. The football team will reduce its official visits from 56 to 30 in 2012-2013.

South Carolina said it would pay a fine of $18,500 for four athletes who played in 2009 and 2010 while ineligible because of these violations.

The university has disassociated itself from three boosters, SAMF officials Gordon and Lahn, and Whitney general manager Jamie Blevins.

I 100% agree were talking 55k compared to 13k.....also were talking about Tressel being the only one who knew about OSU and their ENTIRE compliance program knew about it for yrs.

since 2009 the Whitney Hotel made special arrangements with nine of the student-athletes to postpone paying rent, which constitutes an impermissible loan, according to NCAA statute. Proof they were lying...the compliance office has to sign off the same docs as Tress did.

No I understand that.....those idiots are in such denial its sickening.

Yea but the owner of the hotel is a Booster for the university...also, this isn't the only thing they are going in front of the NCAA for either. They are also under investigation for improper benefits from boosters of South Carolina from the SAM fund.

Our coach lied to the NCAA and let said players play. 'Nuff said.

BTW I love Tress, but he screwed up.

Exactly..the Whitney is pretty nice, and the owner is a big time booster, they definitely knew what they were doing.
IIRC, multiple players were also "behind" on thier vastly reduced rates. I also live in SC, and all I hear is how this and the SAM issue were blown out of proportion or were a misunderstanding. The SAM foundation also provided funds to Shariff Floyd, I'm pretty sure.