http://collegebaseball360.com/report-ncaa-could-sanction-arizona-state-baseball/ http://collegebaseball360.com/report-ncaa-could-sanction-arizona-state-baseball/#comments Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:36:25 +0000 http://collegebaseball360.com/?p=2157

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The Plot Continues To Thicken In The Wake Of Pat Murphy’s Departure

According to a report in today’s Arizona Republic Newspaper the NCAA has accused Arizona State University of a major rules violation that could come with steep sanctions.

Lisa Love (ASU photo)

The report says ASU officials received a “notice of allegations” from the NCAA on Nov. 19, which was the day before the school announced head coach Pat Murphy’s resignation.  Murphy spoke for the first time over the weekend and told the Republic that he was fired without cause.

ASU Vice President For Athletics, Lisa Love, denied at that time that Murphy’s “resignation” was connected to an ongoing two year NCAA investigation into the Sun Devil baseball program.

The notice from the NCAA to ASU reads “It is alleged that the institution violated the principles of institutional control in that it failed to ensure adequate systems to monitor for compliance and provide adequate NCAA rules education involving the baseball program and student athletes.”

Pat Murphy

A decision from the NCAA on the matter is not expected to made until sometime around the end of the 2010 college baseball season at the earliest.

As we have mentioned twice before on this site, the NCAA has never made any mention of Murphy on The Record on NCAA.org.  The Record is the section of the web site where coaching hirings, firings, resignations, retirements and the like are officially noted.  However, an announcement was made on The Record when ASU announced the hiring of interim head baseball coach Tim Esmay earlier this month.

CLICK HERE to read the full Arizona Republic report.

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The Pat Murphy saga has taken a stunning turn.  Nearly a month ago Arizona State University issued a statement saying Murphy had resigned his position as baseball coach.  The sudden announcement ended Murphy’s 15-season reign in Tempe.

Murphy told the Arizona Republic: “Without warning or explanation I was terminated as Arizona State head baseball coach. This was a decision—unprecedented in its timing—that was not dictated by me and isn’t something I agree with. I look forward to my next job coaching in the NCAA .

“During my 25 years as a head coach I have worked hard to build programs based on transparency, integrity, and hard work. While I have answered many questions surrounding my departure, I have been left with many unanswered questions by those who made the decision to let me go.”

“I want to set the record straight but also let the ASU community know how thankful I was to be a part of it for so many years,” Murphy said. “I’m very much bothered by how it ended, the timing of it and unanswered questions and being out of baseball for the first time in 27 years.

“I’m not saying our clubs are perfect, but we’ve never intentionally done anything to be dishonest or unethical. That’s why I have to set the record straight, to let others know the truth so this won’t hinder my future. This has concerned people who are going to think it’s more than it is.”

The newspaper says Murphy would not answer questions about an on-going investigation into the ASU baseball program.  The alleged infractions are thought to be minor in scale.

Also, I mentioned something previously that I think is worth mentioning again.  There is a section of the NCAA’s official website called The Record.  That’s where all coaching “transactions” are noted.   While Tim Esmay’s hiring as ASU’s interim head baseball coach was noted in the Dec. 7 edition of The Record, since ASU announced his “resignation” on Nov. 20 The Record has never made any mention of Murphy either resigning or being fired.