Notre Dame Football implicated for players receiving payments

As the college basketball scandal trial continues, Notre Dame football has been mentioned in the testimony of the main whistle-blower in the case.

For fans of college basketball, and now football, Louis Martin Blazer is a name worth knowing. That’s because he’s on of the three being brought to trial over fraud in college basketball. On Tuesday, April 23rd, Blazer implicated Notre Dame football in the scandal.

Blazer testified that he paid players and their families. He did not pay them to play for the universities that they were attending, rather so they would hire him as a financial adviser once they went to the NFL. At that point, he would steal from them. Blazer did this from 2000 to 2013.

He said he did this at a number of universities. Among the list of names was Michigan, Alabama, Pitt, Northwestern, and Notre Dame.

Blazer implied who a couple of clients were, at North Carolina, and Penn State, by giving their draft position. However, he neither listed any players name nor gave clues to who any of the Notre Dame players he paid were.

Blazer will have more time to testify, and possibly give more information, but for now that’s what he’s testified about. There’s also another person with charges in the scandal pending. So, more specifics could come out later.

For now, the question becomes how will the NCAA react?

As a rule, the NCAA has a four year statute of limitations on investigating violations. This incident falls outside those four years. So, there is a potential the NCAA ignores this incident. There’s a chance that they look at the programs involved, and sweep it under the rug. That wouldn’t be entirely uncharacteristic for the NCAA.

It’s more likely that this scandal is too big to ignore, and forces the NCAA to investigate these programs. There’s four reasons to investigate a program after four years. Of those four reasons, probably only one could reasonably be used by the NCAA: That’s a blatant disregard for certain fundamental rules, such as benefits to student athletes that they shouldn’t be receiving.

There is testimony of players from a number of schools being paid, therefore it wouldn’t be all that difficult for the NCAA to investigate. Still, it would take a long time. The NCAA always takes a long time to investigate violations.

Then, if the NCAA finds guilt in these schools they will decide whatever punishment they decide. This can seem random. It can differ from team to team. It probably won’t be a fair punishment. That’s just how the NCAA operates. A guess, wins from the seasons ineligible athletes played would be stripped, and probation based on how much the individual school knew about the benefits.

This scandal has been a slow burning one. Every now and again, someone else seems to be accused of paying players. There was a flurry of accusations when the scandal first broke, but they’ve slowed. Without a doubt, the NCAA is watching it and investigating closely. For now, it’s a matter of waiting to see what happens next.

Editor’s Note: Even though Notre Dame players allegedly received payments, Brian Kelly nor any Notre Dame coach has been accused of any wrongdoing.