Ole Miss responds to amended NCAA allegations in 124-page document

It’s the latest development in the Rebels’ NCAA saga.

The University of Mississippi released its public response to a series of new and amended NCAA allegations against its athletic department on Tuesday afternoon. These include the response to NCAA’s case against the Ole Miss football program. The school is contesting two serious charges against head coach Hugh Freeze, as expected.

It’s Ole Miss’ second formal response to a batch of NCAA allegations against Freeze’s program. The school first received a Notice of Allegations in January 2016, and it responded to those charges in detail last May. Ole Miss conceded some violations had occurred, and it contested the severity of others.

At that point, the football program was facing 13 allegations. It is now facing 21, after the NCAA sent it an amended NOA in February of this year. The school says it is “most importantly” challenging two charges that would be highly damaging to Freeze: that his program “lacked institutional control” and that he violated head coach responsibility legislation. If the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions were to find Ole Miss committed either of those violations, it could lead to significant, long-term penalties.

A passage from the response:

“The University has consistently satisfied each of the four pillars of institutional control: (1) “adequate compliance measures exist”; (2) “they are appropriately conveyed to those who need to be aware of them”; (3) “they are monitored to ensure that such measures are being followed”; and (4) “on learning of a violation, the institution takes swift action.”

Ole Miss hadn’t formally responded to the amended allegations until Tuesday. But athletic director Ross Bjork said in February that the school would contest those charges as well as several others.

In response to the head coach responsibility against Freeze, the school says:

This case does not involve a head coach who facilitated or participated in violations or otherwise ignored red flags associated with them.8 Freeze developed and implemented a broad, staff-wide compliance program dedicated to satisfying the NCAA’s amended head coach responsibility legislation in early 2013, and he has continuously worked to expand and improve upon that program ever since

Of the 21 football allegations, 15 are classified by the NCAA as Level 1 charges — the most serious type. Some of them are more salacious than others, ranging from former staffers allegedly fixing ACT scores to get recruits qualified for the football team to recruits allegedly hunting on boosters’ private land.

Ole Miss self-imposed a bowl ban for the 2017 season after the new batch of allegations came out in the winter. The school is emphasizing that punishment to the NCAA, probably in the hopes that the organization opts for more leniency.

“In taking responsibility for what has occurred, the University has self-imposed significant and appropriate penalties,” the school’s response reads.

The entire report can be found here. This post will be updated with more information on its contents. It’s more than 120 pages long.