Boren said, "The university has limited its appeal to only two specific areas among several findings made by the NCAA and penalties assessed. We have accepted the large majority of the NCAA's findings and penalties because we agree that the highest possible standards of conduct and ethics should be maintained and that when mistakes are made, even if they are unintentional, institutions must be held accountable.

"I personally feel that the Infractions Committee provided the university with a full and fair opportunity to present its view of the case. I also appreciate the comments made by the committee chairman Paul Dee in saying that the committee took into account the fact that OU investigated and found the evidence of wrong doing in this case, immediately reported the evidence to the NCAA, and acted decisively to permanently remove the players involved from the team.

"Even as we appeal these two limited items, OU will continue its vigorous effort to build a compliance system that is second to none. Almost five years ago, I tasked our Director of Athletics, Joe Castiglione, to develop a set of best practices from other major programs for us to implement. It is ironic that our effort to move employment oversight from the Athletics Department academic office to the compliance office, which was part of our enhanced monitoring plan, resulted in an unintended temporary lapse in recordkeeping as the new plan was being implemented. We agree with the NCAA that this mistake was made, but believe that it was an unintentional mistake and not a failure to monitor, which implies a failure to have a comprehensive monitoring system.

"Almost a year ago, as another part of our enhanced monitoring plan, I directed that the compliance staff be moved for reporting purposes from the Athletics Department to the Office of the General Counsel. This assures the complete independence of the compliance operations. We have continued, even as the current case was pending, to enhance our compliance staff which now has eight full-time professional positions, including three with law degrees, and one part-time employee. Jason Leonard, the executive director, is also an attorney. In addition, electronic software to speedily track all records continues to be substantially upgraded.

"Our goal is to have a compliance program which will be a model for other NCAA member institutions. I hope that the continued upgrading of our compliance system and our quick action in dealing with any wrongdoing has sent a message to the NCAA and to the public that OU has set the highest possible standards for itself. I will always be proud of the immediate action taken by Coach (Bob) Stoops just days before the 2006 season began.

"In addition to the finding on the monitoring issue, we have also served notice today that we will appeal the penalty which involves the vacating of the 2005 record of the team and the coaches. Since two of the players involved have been allowed to play at other schools, I felt an obligation to appeal that part of the ruling which punishes all of those players and coaches who worked so hard and played by the rules. I feel that we would be letting down these student athletes if we did not appeal on that issue." (University of Oklahoma PR)

Smith named defensive player of the year: SoonerSports.com

Labels: Appeal, NCAA, Oklahoma Sooners, University of Oklahoma

Statement from OU President David L. Boren: "It is appropriate that the action taken today by the NCAA does not limit the ability of our football team to succeed in the upcoming or future seasons." "In light of all the circumstances surrounding this case and as a matter of principle, the university has decided to appeal two elements of this decision - the penalty of erasing the 2005 season record and the finding of failure to monitor. Any mistakes made by the athletics department compliance staff while monitoring would not have prevented the intentional wrongdoing by the student athletes and the employer involved. The university developed the evidence of wrongdoing by the players and employer and took immediate action. Myles Brand, President of the NCAA said at the time, `.... I want to compliment the university insofar as that they took immediate action once they completed their internal investigation.'" "Above all, we do not believe that erasing the 2005 season from the record books is fair to the over 100 student athletes and coaches who played by the rules and worked their hearts out for a successful season that year." "The University remains strongly committed to setting the highest possible standards for our athletics program. We are continuing to enhance our compliance system, which includes the action taken last year to house the comprehensive compliance program in the Office of the General Counsel of the university."

Statement from OU Head Football Coach Bob Stoops: "I strongly support President Boren's statement and position, and I appreciate his support of our program. Our current team is focused on the upcoming season. The university is dealing with a matter that relates to the 2005 season. This group of players and those that will join our program later have no reason to be concerned about our goals or the direction of our program. Those things remain unchanged. We remain a program that is concentrated on winning championships and my expectation is that we will compete on that level for many years."

Labels: Appeal, Bob Stoops, Oklahoma Sooners, University of Oklahoma