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Clemson reports four secondary NCAA violations

By PETE IACOBELLI, AP Sports Writer  Saturday, August 15, 2009

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CLEMSON — Clemson reported four NCAA secondary violations Friday, including one that involved the Tigers potential starting quarterback Kyle Parker and another where the team practiced in impermissible shorts that coach Dabo Swinney dubbed “Girdlegate.”

The Clemson athletic department makes such violations public twice a year, partly because of open records requests by The Associated Press and other media outlets.

Both football infractions were classified as Level II violations, the less severe category of secondary violations that are reported to the Atlantic Coast Conference and later forwarded to the NCAA.

The most serious of Clemson’s infractions played out on national TV last March when basketball guard Terrence Oglesby threw an elbow to the face of Michigan’s Stu Douglass in the team’s first-round NCAA tournament game. Oglesby was ejected from the game, a 62-59 Michigan victory. He would’ve been liable for a one-game suspension should the Tigers return to the NCAAs next March, but Oglesby left the team in May to pursue a pro career in Europe.

“It was selfish of me to lose my cool,” Oglesby said after the NCAA game.

Oglesby’s infraction was classified as Level I, a violation that gets reported directly to the NCAA.

The remaining violation took part in June when an athlete wrongly got promotional materials from two staffers, considered an extra benefit. Everyone involved received a review of NCAA rules. There were no other penalties connected to the Level II infraction.

No sports, players, staff members or coaches were listed in Clemson’s report. Athletic spokesman Tim Bourret confirmed that Oglesby’s flagrant elbow was the basis for one infraction. He would not detail the others, although Parker was the only football player to take part in another sport following the team’s spring game.

Parker’s dual role as quarterback and outfielder-designated hitter on the baseball team led to a violation, the school said.

Parker, competing with Willy Korn for Clemson’s starting quarterback job, was among the busiest players of the spring as he balanced football workouts with his role as an outfielder-designated hitter for the baseball team.

Swinney and baseball coach Jack Leggett worked out a schedule where Parker would miss just two games last spring. So there he was last April, getting into the Miami baseball games — Parker homered in both — after his performance on the football field.

Clemson’s compliance office discovered the violation when reading an article about how another school’s two-sport athlete could play for both teams and not be over the NCAA allowable, daily time limit.

Clemson had a similar infraction in 2007 when kicker Mark Buchholz also played on the soccer team and did not get his mandated time off.

“Girdlegate” sparked and quickly faded this past Monday.

Clemson was turned in to the ACC last week when its football players came out in tight-fitting compression shorts with a padding pocket, called a “girdle.” Pictures of the players wearing the shorts were on the school’s Web site and media were invited out to watch workouts.

Swinney, starting his first full season as coach, quipped that if you plan to rob a bank, you wouldn’t ask the media to come out, explaining there was no intent on Clemson’s part to violate the rule.

The Tigers canceled two practices to make up for the infraction. However, hours later the NCAA rescinded the punishment and Clemson kept its full complement of workouts. There were no additional penalties imposed.

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Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney, right, talks with C.J. Spiller during the Tigers’ practice Friday in Clemson. (AP)




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