NCAA extends Rebels’ bowl ban to 2018 season

OXFORD, MISS. — Mississippi’s football program won’t participate in the postseason this year or in 2018 as part of the NCAA’s sanctions levied against the school in the rules violation case that included a charge of lack of institutional control.

The Committee on Infractions came down Friday fairly hard on Ole Miss in a case that goes back five years. Most notable, the NCAA decided the one-year self-imposed bowl ban was not enough for the Rebels, who were 6-6 this season.

Ole Miss had hoped to avoid a postseason ban in 2018, but was hit with another year and plans to appeal the decision.

“We wish that this were over,” Athletic Director Ross Bjork said. “But there is more work to be done and that work has already started.”

The Committee on Infractions said the case was similar to Ole Miss rules violations cases in 1986 and 1994 and that the school had an “unconstrained booster culture.” The NCAA said six football staff members and 12 boosters contributed to the current violations.

“This is now the third case over three decades that has involved the boosters and football program,” the panel said in its decision. “Even the head coach acknowledged that upon coming to Mississippi, he was surprised by the ‘craziness’ of boosters trying to insert themselves into his program.”

Ole Miss had self-imposed other punishments in anticipation of Friday’s sanctions, including scholarship reductions and recruiting restrictions. The NCAA largely accepted those penalties.

Ole Miss Chancellor Jeffrey S. Vitter said the 2018 postseason ban was excessive.

“We will vigorously appeal the additional postseason ban,” he said. “We are outraged at the unfair characterization of our football program and university culture involving athletics.”

Bjork added that citing a case from more than 30 years ago “is not applicable to our current case.”

Former Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze, who was forced out before the season, will be suspended for two conference games during the 2018 season if he’s employed as a head coach at another school. The ruling said that Freeze promoted an atmosphere of rules compliance, but that he failed to monitor his staff.