It looks like there's trouble in Baton Rouge.
The defending national champions are self-imposing the reduction of eight football scholarships over a two-year period as well as reducing recruiting visits, evaluations and communication after an investigation revealed booster payments to a football player's father, Sports Illustrated reports.
Basically, a booster stole almost $200,000 from a Baton Rouge hospital to pay the father of former LSU All-American lineman Vadal Alexander.
From Sports Illustrated:
The father of former offensive lineman Vadal Alexander received $180,000 in stolen money from LSU booster John Paul Funes, who admitted in 2019 that he embezzled more than half a million dollars from Our Lady of the Lake Hospital in Baton Rouge. The money was payment from 2012 to 2017 for what the NCAA characterized as a “no-show job.”
LSU is also banning Odell Beckham Jr. from its facilities for two years after the former Tiger and current Cleveland Brown receiver was seen handing out wads of cash to LSU players following the national championship win over Clemson.
OBJ handing wads of cash to LSU players on the field after the National Championship pic.twitter.com/QVmebrjpPy
— Brody Logan (@BrodyLogan) January 14, 2020
An LSU official initially told reporters that the money was fake, but after Joe Burrow admitted in an interview that the money was very much real, the school has since altered its stance, saying that the money totaled $2,000.
It's worth noting that these are self-imposed penalties, and it's possible that the NCAA could impose additional punishment.
According to previous correspondence between the school and NCAA, LSU believes its violations are Level 1 in nature, which is the most serious of the NCAA’s infraction ladder. However, there are three degrees within Level 1: aggravated, standard and mitigated. LSU’s self-imposed penalties are typical for a Level 1 mitigated, which normally does not carry a postseason ban according to the NCAA's sanction matrix. Aggravated and standard Level 1 violations carry, at the very least, a one-year postseason ban.
LSU and NCAA officials communicated as recently as July about potential penalties. A postseason ban was part of the discussion, sources told SI. The school decided against self-imposing such a stiff penalty. The issue is now in the hands of the NCAA, where it is linked with a simultaneous investigation into the school’s men’s basketball program. The school has not yet received a formal Notice of Allegations from NCAA Enforcement.
It just means more.
