Baseball America | Blog | Baseball America College Blog | NCAA’s Charges Against ASU Revealed

The allegations are piling up against Pat Murphy and the Arizona State baseball program.

On Saturday, the Arizona Republic published a full list of 10 violations the NCAA is accusing the Sun Devils of committing under Murphy’s leadership. Per the Republic:

1. Baseball officials violated a one-call-per-week rule by making at least 490 phone calls to prospective athletes between January 2004 and June 2009, the NCAA said.

2. Baseball coach Pat Murphy and four others allegedly committed ethical violations and compromised the NCAA investigation by discussing, and preparing spreadsheets on, matters related to the probe.

3. A then-assistant coach engaged in unethical conduct by denying he had conversations with another staff member about improper phone calls to prospects, the NCAA said.

4. Murphy and a former staffer violated phone-call and other rules in recruiting a prospective athlete.

5. Former athletes, designated as student managers, performed on-field coaching duties during games and batting practices. Their involvement violated regulations that limit the number of coaches.

6. Baseball athletes received impermissible training at non-ASU sports centers between spring 2004 and spring 2008 for a total of $63,000 in extra benefits.

7. Twenty athletes received a combined $5,889 for work they did not do in Murphy’s Programs for Youth program.

8. Murphy failed to promote an atmosphere for compliance with NCAA rules and to monitor practices of baseball administrators between January 2004 and June 2009, the NCAA alleged.

9. ASU violated institutional control principles related to allegations No. 1, 5, 6 and 7.

10. ASU committed a secondary, or lesser, violation by conducting a baseball camp for six prospective athletes during a period when no recruiting was to take place.

The paper provides even more detail here.

Questions: It would be insightful to get a glimpse as to the potential future of Pat Murphy. Can sanctions be leveled on a coach? Can they “follow” him to the next gig? Or is Murphy’s slate “wiped clean” upon his exit, lessons learned, etc, as it relates to future gigs? Certainly not his reputation. Pat Murphy has retained his own attorney via the Az Republic account, not to mention his counsel advising against public comment regarding the case at this time. What’s Pat’s risk beyond his reputation? Inquiring minds want to know. Waiting till June… crazy. ;-) Although I do imagine Murphy is dead in the water, regardless, until this whole thing sorts out.

Crazier would be Murphy landing at say, USC, and they play a future series, with ASU slammed with all sorts of sanction, while a USC program, for example, is sitting pretty and headed towards post season. ASU sinks, USC rises. I imagine that “potential” could happen, no? If that could be addressed in future articles, it would be clarifying.

Posted by PhxTitan | December 22, 2009 at 1:09 pm | Shortcut

Good thoughts, as always, PhxTitan. Definitely worth looking into.

Posted by Aaron Fitt | December 22, 2009 at 2:38 pm | Shortcut

Murphy’s ability to be hired depends on whether or not the NCAA slaps a “show-cause” label on him like they did with Kelvin Sampson at Indiana. If the NCAA does that it would basically prevent Murphy from being hired by another school for three-five years, depending on the length of the show cause term.

From Wikipedia – “On November 25, 2008, the NCAA slapped Indiana with three years’ probation for violations largely tied to Sampson’s watch. It also imposed a five-year show-cause order on Sampson, meaning that no NCAA member school would be able to hire Sampson without demonstrating to the NCAA that Sampson has served his punishment. However, most NCAA members will not even consider hiring a coach with an outstanding show-cause order, so the show-cause will likely have the effect of banning Sampson from coaching at the major-college level until 2013″.

Posted by FullertonBaseballFan | December 26, 2009 at 1:53 pm | Shortcut