BYU made history this week. For the first time ever, it has a team on probation. The No. 1-ranked men's volleyball team was sanctioned by the NCAA as a result of infractions, mostly involving foreign-born players.

The penalties include, among other things, a reprimand and reductions in scholarships and recruiting visits. From now until 2011, the Cougars will wear the scarlet letter of those that run afoul of the rules.

Which raises just one main question: What took BYU so long?

It has been fielding sports teams for 105 years and THIS is its first violation?

Everyone gets slapped by the NCAA. Otherwise, the people back at headquarters wouldn't have anything to do with their time. It's not like they're busy organizing a national football playoff.

This isn't the first time BYU athletics have had problems. Heaven knows, the football team in the Gary Crowton era had its share. But those were honor code violations, or legal problems, not NCAA violations.

This time it was the call they hoped would never arrive. According to the NCAA, former volleyball coach Tom Peterson and the school's compliance office failed to effectively monitor activities involving potential recruits. Certain players received unauthorized aid from boosters, and one player was employed by a booster at $2 above the approved hourly rate. Also, team members allegedly fed and and housed a foreign-born player prior to enrollment.

The worst among the violations was when a booster allegedly provided lodging, money for legal fees, and use of a car for a player who ended up not attending the university.

Although all the infractions were fairly minor, they were embarrassing. BYU has made a, well, religion out of staying clean for 105 years. But the NCAA rulebook is around 400 pages thick. If you sponsor an athletic program, somewhere along the line you're going to veer off the road.

Take, for instance, former Utah basketball coach Rick Majerus, who may have been difficult, but he wasn't a cheat. He got in trouble for taking Keith Van Horn to a diner the night his father died. Also, Majerus was sanctioned for providing milk and cookies during film sessions, and asking a chef to grill a bratwurst for him and some players.

Although Majerus also practiced too many hours, most of the infractions just made the NCAA look petty.

Similarly, when former Weber State basketball coach Ron Abegglen was leveled by the NCAA, one of the violations was loaning his pickup to a player so the kid could move to a new apartment.

In the 1980s, a Ute assistant football coach was found to have provided a ride for recruit Jason Buck from Rexburg, Idaho, to nearby St. Anthony. It seems Buck (who ended up at BYU) had missed his ride and couldn't find a cab in a town of 15,000 residents.