Kentucky will vacate football games and serve two years of probation because of rules violations committed in 2021 and ’22, the NCAA announced Friday.
The school reached an agreement with the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions on a case involving impermissible benefits for at least 11 football players who received payment for work not performed between spring 2021 and March 2022. Eight of the players went on to compete while ineligible, but Kentucky and the NCAA enforcement staff agreed that no Kentucky athletics staff member knew or reasonably should have known about the payments, so the program will not be hit with a failure-to-monitor violation.
The NCAA also sanctioned Kentucky for rules violations in its men’s and women’s swimming programs, which exceeded countable athletically related activities limits. The agreement states that athletes weren’t provided with required days off and exceeded practice hours for nearly three years. Kentucky agreed that it failed to monitor its swimming and diving program and the head coach was deemed responsible.
One former coach did not participate in the agreement. That part of the case will be considered separately by the committee. The process is ongoing and the committee’s final decision, including possible penalties for the former coach, are pending.
(Photo: Jordan Prather / USA Today)
