NCAA penalizes Michigan for major violations

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The NCAA on Thursday handed Michigan a third year of probation for practice and training violations, declining to sharply punish Rich Rodriguez or his program for an embarrassing problem that cropped up just a few days before last season.

Rodriguez, who is 13-19 in his third season with the Wolverines, had been charged with failing to promote an atmosphere of compliance in the program — a serious allegation with serious penalties — but the NCAA reduced that charge to a failure to monitor the details.

The lower charge was "more appropriate," said Paul Dee, chair of the Division I infractions committee.

"He was cleared with respect to the failure to promote-the-atmosphere (allegation)," he said. "Some of the things that did occur did not get all the way to the coach."

The NCAA ordered Rodriguez to attend a rules seminar but otherwise said the school had punished itself appropriately.

Michigan announced in May that its self-imposed sanctions included probation for two years and reducing training time by 130 hours over two years, doubling the amount of time the Wolverines exceeded NCAA rules.

The problems started more than a year ago when the Detroit Free Press, quoting anonymous players, reported that the Rodriguez-led program was exceeding NCAA limits on practice and training time, leading to school and NCAA investigations.

The school admitted in May it was guilty of four violations. It reprimanded Rodriguez and six other people and announced self-imposed sanctions, including two years of probation. Michigan also said it would cut back practice and training time by 130 hours over two years, double the amount of time it exceeded NCAA rules.

It also trimmed the number of assistants — the so-called quality-control staff — from five to three and banned them from practices, games or coaching meetings. Another staffer was fired and the school released more than 150 pages detailing a breakdown in communication within the athletic department.

After the NCAA outlined five potentially major rules violations, all related to practices and workouts, the school disagreed only with the one that charged Rodriguez with a failure to promote an atmosphere of compliance in his program. Athletic director Dave Brandon called it "overly harsh" and Rodriguez, who admitted making mistakes, clearly didn't like being singled out.

The school decided not to take away scholarships or eliminate coaching positions, saying the problems had not led to a competitive advantage.