Alabama Appealing Textbook Ruling

((HT: AL.com/Estes))

The University of Alabama will appeal sanctions handed down last week by the NCAA Committee on Infractions for major violations stemming from the school's textbook investigation.

UA President Robert Witt ((pictured, thanks Birmingham News))
confirmed today that the school is in the process of preparing a notice of appeal and will file it prior to June 26, the NCAA's 15-day deadline.

Witt did not detail specifics regarding which portions of the sanctions UA might not appeal.

"The University of Alabama will appeal the sanctions announced on June 11 by the NCAA Committee on Infractions regarding violations of the NCAA's policies on textbooks for student-athletes," Witt said in a statement. "We appreciate that the Committee recognized the isolated nature of this violation as well as UA's immediate and aggressive actions to correct the situation as soon as we discovered the problem.

"However, we are disappointed with the excessiveness of the sanctions in view of the facts of this case and the penalties in other textbook infractions cases. There is no evidence or allegations of other NCAA violations; no coaches or administrators were involved; no players obtained books and sold them for cash, and all the books were returned or charged to the student's account as required by the UA textbook policy in effect at that time."

Regarding appeals, Bylaw 32.10.4.1 of the NCAA rulebook states that, "A penalty determined by the Committee on Infractions shall not be set aside on appeal except on a showing by the appealing party that the penalty is excessive such that it constitutes an abuse of discretion."

In recent instances, Oklahoma successfully appealed to have 2005 wins restored for an infractions case.