This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The Utah Utes have joined a league long known for its glamorous teams, academic excellence and championship tradition.
But the Pac-12 Conference has a darker side, too.
Several of its teams have been involved in scandals of various degrees in recent years, illustrating what a cynic might call the real proof that the Utes are stepping into the world of truly big-time college athletics.
The most notorious?
The USC Trojans were put on probation for four years, banned from postseason football play for two — they are ineligible to play in the inaugural Pac-12 championship game — and had their available scholarships slashed by 30 over a three-year period, for a "lack of institutional control" that allowed superstars Reggie Bush and O.J. Mayo to receive numerous and substantial improper benefits.
It was the most severe penalty handed down by the NCAA in nearly 25 years.
But the Oregon Ducks are embroiled in their own football investigation at a time that Ohio State in the Big Ten Conference has been rocked by a massive improper-benefits scandal that cost coach Jim Tressel his job, while several other programs around the league have run afoul of rules and ethics.
The Ducks are under investigation for their relationship with a scout in Texas accused of steering high school football players to universities that paid his scouting service, and they surely hope to avoid sanctions that are anything close to as severe as the ones penalizing USC.
The Trojans vacated 14 football victories in which Bush played from 2004-05 — including the 2005 Orange Bowl, where they won the Bowl Championship Series national title — as well as 21 basketball victories in which Mayo played in 2007-08.
They also returned their copy of the Heisman Trophy won by Bush and removed all depictions and references to Bush and Mayo around campus.
Owner Willie Lyles of Complete Scouting Services has denied allegations that he took $25,000 from the Ducks in exchange for directing highly rated running back Lache Seastrunk to them, and has insinuated that the University of Texas ignited the controversy by spreading false rumors as a way to keep top prep players from leaving Texas for college.
Both Seastrunk and star running back LaMichael James are from Texas.
The Ducks have mostly remained silent about the investigation, and coach Chip Kelly figures to face plenty of questions about it when he meets reporters at the Pac-12 media day in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
Kelly has never commented publicly on the matter.
Investigations and punishments in the Pac-12 have not been limited to football, however.
The Arizona State baseball program, for example, was put on probation through most of 2013 and ruled ineligible for the postseason after being ruled guilty of being a repeat offender due to two "lack of institutional control" penalties within five years.
The Sun Devils were allowed to play in the College World Series, however, because its appeal of the postseason ban is still being reviewed by the NCAA.
Now coached by former Utah coach Tim Esmay, the Sun Devils also lost scholarships, vacated 44 of 49 victories from 2007 and a Pac-10 championship, accepted recruiting restrictions and limits on coaching activities for a long list of violations committed over a five-year period during the tenure of former coach Pat Murphy.
Also:
• The men's basketball program at Cal is serving two years of probation for making 365 impermissible recruiting phone calls shortly after coach Mike Montgomery and his staff were hired in April 2008.
The Golden Bears had imposed several penalties on themselves after disclosing the violations, including limiting recruiting visits and phone calls for Montgomery and his assistant coaches.
• Athletic directors at Oregon State and Colorado were caught up in the Fiesta Bowl scandal when it was disclosed they attended a bowl-sponsored retreat called the "Fiesta Frolic" that included free meals, hotel rooms, gifts and golf outings.
Oregon State's Bob De Carolis and Colorado's Mike Bohn were among the 11 members of the NCAA panel who decided not to revoke the Fiesta Bowl's license to operate, in the wake of an internal investigation that uncovered a litany of financial irregularities that led to the firing of CEO John Junker and a major overhaul of its board of directors and staff.
The co-founder of the Playoff PAC, a group that advocates a college football playoff system, charged that the panel comprised "a jury of the bowl's former freeloaders."
Even prestigious Stanford is not entirely immune.
School officials recently discontinued a list of alleged "easy classes" that was provided quietly to athletes since at least 2001. Some faculty and students said the list offered an academic advantage to athletes who used it, helping them keep up with the school's rigorous scholastic requirements.
Media reports said more than a quarter of the courses on the list did not fulfill university general education requirements.
Among them?
Beginning Improvising and Social Dances of North America III.
The list never led to any sanctions or official investigation, however.
Of course, the Utes don't quite have a spotless record, either.
Their men's basketball program served three years of probation and lost three scholarships from 2004-07, after a series of relatively minor violations committed by former coach Rick Majerus convinced the NCAA that the Utes lacked institutional control because they had "failed to foster an environment of compliance."
Dirty business
Make no mistake, big-time college football is rife with rule-breakers.
In fact, three Pac-10 teams — USC, Cal and Arizona State — have spent at least eight years on probation since the NCAA began punishing programs in 1953, according to SportsDelve.com research based on an NCAA database of infractions.
Only the Big 12 has more, with five, including new Pac-12 member Colorado. The Big Ten has three and the SEC two.
However, the 12 teams in the SEC have spent by far more time collectively on probation — 61 seasons. Teams in the Pac-12 have spent 39 seasons on probation, compared with 44 for the Big Ten Conference's teams. —
Troublemakers
Four teams now in the Pac-12 are among those that have spent the most time on probation since the NCAA began punishing teams in 1953:
School Years on probation
SMU 17
USC 12*
Auburn 11
Michigan State 10
Oklahoma 10
Alabama 9
Colorado 9**
Illinois 9
Texas A&M 9
Wisconsin 9
Arizona State 8
Cal 8
Kansas 8
Kansas State 8
Miami 8
Oklahoma State 8
Source: SportsDelve.com; NCAA reports
* The Trojans will be on probation through 2013.
** Joining Pac-12 this season