Details out regarding NCAA's punishments for Kentucky Football, Swimming

One week ago, the NCAA announced that the Kentucky Football and Swimming programs had been placed on two years of probation for Level II violations, for which Kentucky agreed to vacate all 10 wins from the 2021 football season and pay a fine. At the time, all we knew was the NCAA did not impose a postseason bowl ban or scholarship limitations, but the rest of the details were a little murky. Not anymore. Jon Hale got his hands on the NCAA’s settlement agreement through an open record request and shared it with the world this morning.

Let’s start with the punishments that UK self-imposed. In September 2022, Kentucky self-reported violations stemming from 11 football players being paid for work not performed at the University of Kentucky hospital between Spring 2021 and March 2022. Kentucky held four of those players from competition in 2022 until their eligibility was reinstated by the NCAA, including Jordan Wright and Chris Rodriguez. UK Hospital also terminated the employment of all athletes in the patient transport department and barred future athletes from working there unless there was a specific academic reason for their employment. The hospital supervisor in the transport department was also fired.

What about Chris Rodriguez? As part of the NCAA’s settlement, Kentucky must vacate individual records of the ineligible players who played in the 2021 season. That takes away Rodriguez’s 1,379 rushing yards from that season, which previously ranked fifth on Kentucky’s single-season rushing yards list, and takes his career rushing yards total from 3,644, which ranked third, to 2,265, which ranks tenth in Kentucky history. He also drops out of the top ten of Kentucky’s career scoring list and no longer holds the record for most 100-yard games in a season. Wildly enough, Rodriguez is allowed to keep his Associated Press All-SEC honors for the 2021 season because individual awards are not vacated by the settlement.

What about Mark Stoops? The NCAA agreed with UK that no staff member in the athletics department knew or reasonably should have known about the players receiving payment for work not performed; however, the vacated wins will apply to Stoops’ career record, which falls from 73-65 to 63-65. He remains the winningest coach in program history, with a three-game lead over Bear Bryant (60).

What about the Citrus Bowl trophy? UK is required to reflect the vacated wins total in all publications and must remove any reference to the vacated records from “athletics department stationary, banners displayed in public areas and any other forum in which they may appear.” As part of the settlement, UK would be required to return trophies awarded by the NCAA for vacated games, but because the NCAA does not administer bowl games, the Citrus Bowl trophy can remain in its place in the practice facility lobby.

What about the fine? Kentucky will pay a self-imposed fine of $5,000 in addition to 10% of its payout from the SEC for the Citrus Bowl. That’s equivalent to roughly $860,000, 10% of Kentucky’s $8.6 million in bowl revenue in 2022.

What about swimming? From August 2022 to May 2023, the program exceeded the practice time limits set by the NCAA and failed to give swimmers their required days off. In May 2023, Jorgensen was suspended by UK and the two sides eventually parted ways, with UK paying Jorgensen $75,000 to retire. UK self-imposed a ban on practice time, reduced the 2023-24 season, and added flex days. As part of the agreement with the NCAA, they’ll do that again for the 2024 season.

Jorgensen did not agree to the settlement terms, so a portion of the swimming case will be handled by the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions. This is separate from the ongoing investigation into sexual misconduct by Jorgensen while he was at UK.