Pinpointing responsibility...

[TIDE-HSV]

This post is to clarify exactly where the breakdown occurred. To me, this is important, although some other posters have said it's not to them. Just my nature, I guess. The employee primarily responsible in the AD is named Dever. He looks at the actual vouchers. His boss is named Almond, who signs off on what Dever does. The Supe Store shares responsibility for the book accounts. As I remember, there were three reprimands handed out to Dever, Almond and the SS mgr (could have been an assistant mgr). Dever was denied a raise. I don't know if the other two were. But all three are still in place, drawing a paycheck.

Now, I'm among the group who think the AD needs to be reorganized from the top to the bottom, because I think the NCAA (as well as some of us) are getting tired of looking at the same faces every time there's another screw-up. So, if anyone wants to condemn the whole AD system, I'm with you. What is absolutely not accurate is to blame Compliance for this particular screw-up (not saying we have great Compliance). All Compliance did was convey the self-report to the NCAA.

 

[XXL TideFan]

I'll second the motion. Top to bottom.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

Thank you Earle for the clarification. Nicely detailed out. I've gone back and forth on this (in my head) since the ruling came out. As I've watched the news and had to deal with other rival fans' reaction I've all but concluded this. With regard to our public perception I think we've all but ruined it for decades to come until we go a significant amount of time without returning to the court of the NCAA. Our credibility in the college football community has got to be hoovering at zero or below.

The media along with every person that has approached me has beat the same drum to death and that's the statistic being blared over and over. "Alabama over the last 17 years has been on probation for 15 of those years." When that is pumped over the air waves over and over everything else takes a backseat. No one pays attention to anything else except for that. Our administration has a lot of work to do and with the added pressure of ensuring NOTHING goes wrong for the next five years. I'm not sure how good our chances of accomplishing this are. As easy as NCAA regulations are to break this is going to be tough.

 

[tortfeasor]

I have used the term "compliance" in the more general sense as opposed to its narrow meaning within the athletic department hierarchy.

 

[lynyrd skynyrd]

I'm just sick over this whole damn mess. Every team in the nation will be fabricating BS lies and throwing it against the wall to see if something sticks...Here we go again...

 

[Alasippi]

I agree Earle. When an entire athletic program is at stake you don't play good ole boy politics and keep three to four primary people in the same positions.

The U of A is too wonderful of an institution to take a chance on it's athletic future.

Top to Bottom. Great idea.

Starting with the non-compliance department we've had for the past couple of decades.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

That's confusing - and the reason every time I've used "Compliance," it's with a capital "C."

 

[GreatDanish]

About "reorganizing" the AD "from the top to the bottom", how exactly is this done?

When I have been involved in "reorganizations", it pretty much means we hired a new supervisor, and some people will now be reporting to him/her, or perhaps it simply refers to some layoffs and the reorganization is an attempt to increase efficiency among the office by splitting the duties of the person who was laid off among other employees.
I guess I just don't get exactly what kind of reorganization we need.

Having very little knowledge of the organizational structure within the Athletic Department, what needs to change from an organizational stand point, or is it strictly personnel that needs to change? Do we just need to fire people, and hire new ones? I think we need to be very careful with that.

 

[Alasippi]

About "reorganizing" the AD "from the top to the bottom", how exactly is this done?

When I have been involved in "reorganizations", it pretty much means we hired a new supervisor, and some people will now be reporting to him/her, or perhaps it simply refers to some layoffs and the reorganization is an attempt to increase efficiency among the office by splitting the duties of the person who was laid off among other employees.
I guess I just don't get exactly what kind of reorganization we need.

Having very little knowledge of the organizational structure within the Athletic Department, what needs to change from an organizational stand point, or is it strictly personnel that needs to change? Do we just need to fire people, and hire new ones? I think we need to be very careful with that.

As my former UA room mate Ronnie said today..."You fire them all and find a Captain who knows how to steer the ship".

 

[TIDE-HSV]

I would probably leave the "reorganization" to Coach Saban. I do think it would mostly be personnel...

 

[bayoutider]

Hasn't the University normally in the past hired from within? What I am getting at is musical desks. I guess I should have added hire from within before advertising to the outside. I think we could stand some more new faces that can bring in some successful new ideas on how to do some things.

As for Compliance is there some super duper legal jargon used when the reports are filed or does it go like this?

Well NCAA we blew it again. Some of our athletes found a loophole in our textbook plan and got some extra books for their friends. We got all the books back and we made some of them sit out some games. Ya'll cool with that? Let's do lunch and talk about it one day.

 

[Islander]

Any time 201 student athletes out of 490 athletes in a program are guilty of wrong doing it has to be embarrassing to everyone who loves the University of Alabama and denying the responsible party a raise is totally insufficient punishment IMO. The entire AD needs to be examined to find a solution. We would not be so lucky next time and there had better not be a next time.

 

[GreatDanish]

I would probably leave the "reorganization" to Coach Saban. I do think it would mostly be personnel...

And, I guess that is partly my problem. There need to be personnel changes, but not ALL personnel need replaced. I think many of us fans look at this and say, "Why don't we just fire the whole Athletic Department and start over."
I think some individuals probably do need replaced. You can't have violations occur repeatedly without there being someone not doing their job. But, I just hate to hear/see people saying they ought to get rid of everyone because of the failure of others. I have a college friend who works in the UA Compliance office (and he's not a UA guy), and I think it would be stupid to fire guys like him just because others are not doing their job.
And in reality, most of us have no idea who, exactly, needs replaced. It's easy to put all the blame on Mal, but simply replacing Mal isn't the answer.

I would like to consider what specifically needs to be done in the Athletic Department to begin answering these issues. Because it is obvious, something HAS to be done. Not giving someone a raise probably isn't the answer.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

I didn't say "most of the personnel," I said "mostly personnel." I'm equally sure that not everyone needs replacement. OTOH, I'm also sure that CNS knows exactly who needs to be replaced. I have my personal "chop list," but I'm not going to publish it...

 

[BamaInBham]

I didn't say "most of the personnel," I said "mostly personnel." I'm equally sure that not everyone needs replacement. OTOH, I'm also sure that CNS knows exactly who needs to be replaced. I have my personal "chop list," but I'm not going to publish it...

Will CNS punt a FG ? Seems to be an oft mentioned problem. I hate speaking in code - feel like a 12 year old . This was not much better than pig latin.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

LOL! Let's try to keep names out of it. I think he knows the wheat from the chaff...

 

[Alasippi]

And, I guess that is partly my problem. There need to be personnel changes, but not ALL personnel need replaced. I think many of us fans look at this and say, "Why don't we just fire the whole Athletic Department and start over."
I think some individuals probably do need replaced. You can't have violations occur repeatedly without there being someone not doing their job. But, I just hate to hear/see people saying they ought to get rid of everyone because of the failure of others. I have a college friend who works in the UA Compliance office (and he's not a UA guy), and I think it would be stupid to fire guys like him just because others are not doing their job.
And in reality, most of us have no idea who, exactly, needs replaced. It's easy to put all the blame on Mal, but simply replacing Mal isn't the answer.

I would like to consider what specifically needs to be done in the Athletic Department to begin answering these issues. Because it is obvious, something HAS to be done. Not giving someone a raise probably isn't the answer.

Sometimes you have to start from scratch. A new start. I think we need one badly.

 

[buzzincuzzin]

LOL! Let's try to keep names out of it. I think he knows the wheat from the chaff...

You started this thread out naming names. VERY unlike you. You're irked about this!

 

[jgb_hsv]

I think Dr. Witt should consider hiring an independent NCAA auditor that reports directly to him and has full access to the athletic department. He would be a bird dog that would be tasked with flushing out potential departmental violations, oversights and incompetence relative to NCAA compliance. Sometimes you need an outsiders eyes to spot the problems.

 

[Tidewater]

Any time 201 student athletes out of 490 athletes in a program are guilty of wrong doing it has to be embarrassing to everyone who loves the University of Alabama ...

Painful stat.
Most folks have got several balls they have to juggle at work. Many are rubber balls that will bounce if dropped. Others are glass that you simply must not drop.
Anything dealing with scholarship student-athletes at the University of Alabama is a glass ball.
Supe Store rep, AD voucher guy, AD voucher guy's superviser seems a good place to start.

• How much in $ did scholarship athletes get in books get this year compared to last year, and the year before?
• How many hours did each player sign up for?
• Who has dropped and added classes?
• Does the coach know about drops/adds?

These are not unreasonable questions that should have been tracked.