KU's Darnell Jackson suspended

[Eleazar]

KU's Darnell Jackson suspended for nine games

J-W Staff Reports
Tuesday, November 15, 2005

A review by the NCAA and Kansas University has concluded that violations occurred with sophomore forward Darnell Jackson.

The NCAA Student-Athlete Reinstatement staff notified Kansas that it has restored Jackson's eligibility on the condition that he sit out 30 percent -- nine games -- of the 2005-06 regular season. During that span, Jackson may practice with the team but may not travel for competition. In addition, Jackson must repay the full value of the benefits he received from Kansas booster Don Davis, which the university and the NCAA have determined was approximately $5,000.

"We're disappointed that we are having to deal with this situation," KU coach Bill Self said in a released statement. "I believe that, although inappropriate by NCAA rules, Mr. Davis' intentions were sincere and were intended to be in the best interests of Darnell and his family. This is a rough stretch for him and his family, but Darnell has handled it very maturely. He understands that he has to accept responsibility, and he has done that."

The violations include impermissible benefits provided by Davis, of Oklahoma City, between the fall of 2002 and April 2005. The benefits include impermissible transportation, meals and lodging for Jackson and his family, gifts and a personal loan.

"Mr. Davis has been a friend of my family, a mentor and a positive influence on my life," Jackson said in the statement. "I didn't realize at the time that certain aspects of our friendship violated NCAA rules. I understand that now, and I regret any embarrassment to my family, my university and Mr. Davis. This is a trying time in my life; I accept this decision and look forward to competing again for KU basketball."

Davis met Jackson prior to Kansas' recruitment of Jackson. No one associated with Kansas Athletics was aware of the relationship during the recruiting process.

"I established a relationship with this fine young man and his family when I initially met him at a high school basketball game in Oklahoma City prior to his being recruited by the University of Kansas," Davis said. "My interest in Darnell was reinforced greatly when I viewed a United Way video, which prominently mentioned Darnell and the difficulties he overcame as a young man to become the person of high character that I know him to be. During my relationship with Darnell, I provided him benefits that were in violation of NCAA rules.

"At the time I was uncertain if my conduct violated any NCAA rules, however, I erred in not contacting the University of Kansas Athletic Department or the NCAA to determine whether or not my relationship with Darnell would violate any relevant rules and regulations.

"As a result of my actions, I have been disassociated from the University. I have no ill will towards the University of Kansas for which I have always had and will continue to have a great affection and respect. I greatly regret that my actions have resulted in any adverse consequences to Darnell Jackson or his family. I consider Darnell Jackson to be one of the finest young men I know and a wonderful example of a college student-athlete. I also regret that my actions reflect negatively upon the University of Kansas. I apologize to Darnell, his family and the University of Kansas."

KU Athletics Director Lew Perkins said he looked forward to quickly putting the matter in the past.

"The university appreciates the cooperation of the NCAA in this matter," Perkins said in the released statement. "We believe the NCAA acted very fairly and in a timely manner. We are committed to following the letter and spirit of NCAA rules."

[|Zach|]

Woops

[Dunit35]

Son of a...

[CoMoChief]

He sucks anyway, though he adds depth. At least he is out for the easy part of the season. I don't see Kaun and Giles carrying the load all year. Hopefully Wright will come along quickly like he was projected to.

[Dunit35]

He sucks anyway, though he adds depth. At least he is out for the easy part of the season. I don't see Kaun and Giles carrying the load all year. Hopefully Wright will come along quickly like he was projected to.


Its all about the depth for Jackson and he brings a stronger presence inside.

[Extra Point]

Too bad he had stronger presents in wallet.

[irishjayhawk]

Personally, I think the NCAA needs to get their heads out of their asses and rewrite some of these rules. Some of them, not saying this one, are insane.

I can see why they want to keep $$ and college seperate, but they need to rewrite some rules.

[Extra Point]

He should have gotten a "campus job."

[jcroft]

Isn't the a Don Davis from Olathe that played LB for the Jayhawks and then for the Rams? Same guy?

[Eleazar]

He should have gotten a "campus job."

Take out this can of garbage...

Ok, you're finished for the year here... thanks for all your hard work. ROFL

[Mr. Laz]

i'm surprised that it's only 9 games with no sanctions on the basketball problem itself.


the violations must be pretty freakin' small if the NCAA isn't sticking it's nose in there for a big violation.

[Braincase]

What we need is to have some billionaire's kid on the team, then he can "loan" DJ everything he'll ever need. That's OK by the NCAA, after all, he's a teammate.

[Ultra Peanut]

It's implosion day around college basketball, or something. Both Providence and Purdue have lost their leading scorers; one quit the team, one got hurt.

[Fezzic]

The program itself is not out of hot water on this yet. The Eligibility and Infractions committees are two totally separate groups. Eligibility only deals with the player side of it and Darnell got his penalty in the form of the 9 game suspension.

The Infractions committee has to make a ruling on this (and that's where the program can get into trouble). We probably won't hear something for quite some time.

[DJJasonp]

I think it makes a difference if the University turns over the findings to the NCAA (which KU, in this case, did their own investigation first).

[Lzen]

I don't see how the university can get infractions if what was said in this article is true. The university didn't know about this booster.

BTW, what jcroft said. Is this the same Don Davis that played LBer for the Jayhawks in the early to mid 90s?

[Eleazar]

I don't see how the university can get infractions if what was said in this article is true. The university didn't know about this booster.

BTW, what jcroft said. Is this the same Don Davis that played LBer for the Jayhawks in the early to mid 90s?

As I understand it the university is not getting sanctioned, it's the player. He took money, gifts, and favors from a booster so he's being suspended. It's not the athletic department being sanctioned.

[Swanman]

i'm surprised that it's only 9 games with no sanctions on the basketball problem itself.


the violations must be pretty freakin' small if the NCAA isn't sticking it's nose in there for a big violation.

The Illinois football program got hit with a "major infraction" for a former running back (was thrown off the team before this season) taking a lot less than $5,000 from a booster. Luckily, the one-year probation handed down didn't have any sanctions attached to it. The probation basically means the NCAA will keep a very close eye on the program for the length of the probation. It helped that Illinois self-reported the violation.

With that said, I wouldn't be one bit surprised if nothing comes down from the NCAA regarding this issue. They have a bad habit of turning the other cheek when "elite" programs are involved.

[Fezzic]

As I understand it the university is not getting sanctioned, it's the player. He took money, gifts, and favors from a booster so he's being suspended. It's not the athletic department being sanctioned.

As my last post said, this handing down of the suspension was from the Eligibility Committee. The Infractions committee (totally seperate body) will rule on this at some point down the road, probably after this season, and that is the committee which would place penalties on the University.

Also, to the NCAA it does not matter at all if the coaching staff or the university knew or were involved (which I think is a load of crap). I forget the exact wording and I don't care to look it up, but if you're a representative of the University, either through current or past donations to the Williams Fund and/or ticket purchases, you can never provide a benefit to a potential recruit, current player, or former player. As a season ticket holder and donor, if I bought Collison or P. Pierce, or hell, even Wilt a beer, it's technically a violation and subject to the ruling of the Infractions committee.

This whole thing is a wreck. This is a guy that he'd known before he was even on the college basketball map, who he met through involvment in the United Way, and who has been a mentor to him through his younger years. The man didn't hand him a bag full of bills to come to KU....he (being a friend of the family) helped his parents get to his High School away games, his summer AAU games, and helped Darnell out this year since the car accident that killed his grandmother and put his mother in the hospital.

I don't think anything will come out of it against KU, but we'll have to wait until the Infractions committee rules. I'm nervous, though, after seeing what just happened to Illinois for a football violation with some similar elements (player/alumni thing, with coach and university not involved in any way).

-Fezzic

[sondevil]

Shocking that such a great and moral institution such as KansASS could do such a thing.

Anyway, I saw the story about Darnell Jackson being suspended for 9 games for taking $5,000 from a KU booster. However, something didn't seem right. Jason King, at first pass seemingly innocuously, makes the following statement:

"Jackson and Davis met during Jackson’s junior year of high school in Oklahoma City.....This was in the fall of 2002, before Kansas had ever begun recruiting Jackson."

And from tonight's LWJ:
"Davis met Jackson prior to Kansas' recruitment of Jackson."

and also...
"The violations include impermissible benefits provided by Davis, of Oklahoma City, between the fall of 2002 and April 2005. The benefits include impermissible transportation, meals and lodging for Jackson and his family, gifts and a personal loan."

However, this is curious. I thought to myself, "wasn't Jackson being recruited by KU then? It sure seemed like he was..."

Then I saw this quote from the LWJ, dated February 17, 2002:
"Recruits: Three Oklahoma City, Okla., high schoolers attended the game on unofficial recruiting visits. Juniors J.R. Giddens (6-foot-5) and Adam Liberty (6-1) hail from John Marshall High, while Darnell Jackson (6-8 ) is a soph at Northwest Classen High.

As of tonight, the articles from both the Star and the LWJ claim that KU booster Don Davis had a relationship with the young man and his family before KU was recruiting him, and both articles say this relationship with Jackson began in the fall of 2002. However, Jackson received tickets to a game he attended in Lawrence (an integral part of any in-season unofficial visit) in February of that same year, documented in the first piece.

Can you explain this?

[Fezzic]

Shocking that such a great and moral institution such as KansASS could do such a thing.

Anyway, I saw the story about Darnell Jackson being suspended for 9 games for taking $5,000 from a KU booster. However, something didn't seem right. Jason King, at first pass seemingly innocuously, makes the following statement:

"Jackson and Davis met during Jackson’s junior year of high school in Oklahoma City.....This was in the fall of 2002, before Kansas had ever begun recruiting Jackson."

And from tonight's LWJ:
"Davis met Jackson prior to Kansas' recruitment of Jackson."

and also...
"The violations include impermissible benefits provided by Davis, of Oklahoma City, between the fall of 2002 and April 2005. The benefits include impermissible transportation, meals and lodging for Jackson and his family, gifts and a personal loan."

However, this is curious. I thought to myself, "wasn't Jackson being recruited by KU then? It sure seemed like he was..."

Then I saw this quote from the LWJ, dated February 17, 2002:
"Recruits: Three Oklahoma City, Okla., high schoolers attended the game on unofficial recruiting visits. Juniors J.R. Giddens (6-foot-5) and Adam Liberty (6-1) hail from John Marshall High, while Darnell Jackson (6-8 ) is a soph at Northwest Classen High.

As of tonight, the articles from both the Star and the LWJ claim that KU booster Don Davis had a relationship with the young man and his family before KU was recruiting him, and both articles say this relationship with Jackson began in the fall of 2002. However, Jackson received tickets to a game he attended in Lawrence (an integral part of any in-season unofficial visit) in February of that same year, documented in the first piece.

Can you explain this?



It's really not that tough.....Giddens and Darnell were good friends, and Darnell was the tag along with Giddens. He wasn't being actively recruited by Roy Williams (the coach at the time), and as a Sophmore that far out of the top 50, he wasn't really on many peoples radar. This happens a LOT where the targets bring other guys with them that aren't on the radar just for the experience (look at this last year and the crew coming up from Georgia to visit....it's pretty obvious who the targets were, and the underclassmen friends were along for the ride).

It's funny because Self was starting to recruit him around that time in early 2002, although he was at Illinois at the time. Darnell didn't actually start getting recruited to KU until later, after the coaching change and well after he'd already met Don Davis.

[Mr. Laz]

Can you explain this?

arizona state sucks

[CarolinaChiefz]

Not true, guys. You know I love the Hawks, but we WERE recruiting Darrell when he came on the visit. Tag-alongs don't get tickets to games. In fact, they are only allowed 3 per unofficial visit, by NCAA rule.

I'm excited by Mangino and especially Bill Self's recruiting ability, but honestly, we've now admitted to a booster giving a kid $5000 worth of stuff/travel/gifts, free suits for graduation, and somethin like eight counts of giving kids answers for tests in football.

All of this looks really bad and could lead to sanctions.

But until then....we're going UNDEFEATED, Baby!!!! WOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! SELF!!!!!!!!!!!

[beavis]

Cheaters.

Seriously, how can there not be some kind of penalty placed on the program for this?

[Skip Towne]

Why was KU recruiting this guy? He sounds like he is more Mizzou's speed.

[CarolinaChiefz]

He's AWESOME, Skip! A differance maker on both ends!!!

Hurry back, Darrell!!!!

WOOOOOO!!!!! SELF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sondevil]

arizona state sucks

Why yes we do.

[Mr. Laz]

He's AWESOME, Skip! A differance maker on both ends!!!

Hurry back, Darrell!!!!

WOOOOOO!!!!! SELF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the more you post, the more i think you're RaidersRock

[irishjayhawk]

The fact is, this "booster" had a preexisting relationship with Darnell. Like someone pointed out, Roy wasn't recruiting him to KU at the time and Self had him on his radar in Illin. Thus, KU's athletic department had no fault in this mess and that is why we aren't on probation or anything.

It is the player. Frankly, it seems like the "booster" was trying to help Darnell out in a time of need.

Personally, if the guy wants to give him $5000, it's his right todo so. It's not like he was giving him a signing bonus or anything. The NCAA needs to rewrite rules like this.

If memory serves, illinois was on probation because the coach bought a player a pizza. Regardless of my disdain of illinois' fans, I must side with them in that that probation is rediculous. That's as bad as Larry Brown's 1988 probation cause for paying someone's airfare to attend their family funeral.

[irishjayhawk]

the more you post, the more i think your RaidersRock
I was going to post something similar but it consisted of n-0-0-b.

Well done Laz!!!!!!!!11111eleven!!!one!!!

As to Skip, I'm not sure he does add anything except depth. That said, he is our biggest guy physically down low. Course, he doesn't really play like Sasha or Giles....

[Saulbadguy]

the more you post, the more i think your RaidersRock
Duh. He has nothing better to do because his board doesn't generate more than 5 posts per day.

[Lzen]

As I understand it the university is not getting sanctioned, it's the player. He took money, gifts, and favors from a booster so he's being suspended. It's not the athletic department being sanctioned.

I was replying to Fezzic's post about the program itself not being out of hot water as of yet. ;)

[KCChiefsMan]

KU athletes......or any popular athletes in the country profit all the hot women around campus....I'm surprised they didn't make a rule for that.....just kidding, but Darnell Jackson had to know the rules, so he shouldn't have accepted anything

[jAZ]

Why yes we do.
http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/attachment.php?attachmentid=49289&stc=1
Most sundevils fans suck my balls and these are certainly no exception.

[DJay23]

I become more disturbed as time goes by, at how bad Self is at controlling his camp. I don't remember any of this type of shit going on with RoyBoy. I fear something very bad will happen one of these days and really muddy KU's name.

[irishjayhawk]

Umm..

Giddens wasn't Selfs recruit anyway.
Stewart/Robinson/whoever else scuffle was invoked, as far as i know by someone else and teammates jumped in on behalf of Stewart.
Jackson's money had todo with things prior to Selfs recruitment of him at Kansas.

That's what I've seen out of the media surrounding those events.

I'm not disturbed yet.

[DJay23]

Umm..

Giddens wasn't Selfs recruit anyway.
Stewart/Robinson/whoever else scuffle was invoked, as far as i know by someone else and teammates jumped in on behalf of Stewart.
Jackson's money had todo with things prior to Selfs recruitment of him at Kansas.

That's what I've seen out of the media surrounding those events.

I'm not disturbed yet.
I don't care who recruited who, Self has been in charge of this team since all of this craziness has ensued. I don't like it.

[Skip Towne]

I don't care who recruited who, Self has been in charge of this team since all of this craziness has ensued. I don't like it.
Isn't that "who recruited whom"?

[WilliamTheIrish]

Death penalty...

[Saulbadguy]

Death penalty...
ROFL

[jAZ]

Death penalty...
Ok, even as a liftetime KU fan, I had to ROFL along with Saul...

[Skip Towne]

Death penalty...
Yeah, like they're going to kill off the cash cow that is KU.

[jAZ]

I'm pretty stoked for KU's success (except when it has come against UofA), but I'm very concerned for the integrity of the program. I certainly hope that $5000 paid to a basically unknown reserve player by a booster isn't the tip-of-the-iceberg that it might appear.

My big concern has to do with the rumors that have always swirled around Kurtis Townsend. He's got a pretty sketchy reputation out west and it seems like it might be following him back to Kansas.

Let's hope this goes away with no further complications.

[Saulbadguy]

KU MBB isn't in trouble.

FB and WBB has some more sanctions coming, IMO.

[WilliamTheIrish]

Yeah, like they're going to kill off the cash cow that is KU.

It was joke... you Livin On Tulsa Time red clay eating, van down by the river living...

You bring up a great point though. KU is a cash cow.

How many really big time programs in basketball/football has the NCAA killed off or really put the hammer down on in the last 20 years?

UNLV - but that was because of Tark.

UCLA- barely got a handslap when Harrick was paying players outright. Although they got sanctions

Cinci- Miles Brand wanted Huggins.

SMU in football. Never recovered.

About 5 years ago, Notre Dame was in serious hot water over academic fraud and payments to players. They got a kiss on the forehead.

[Saulbadguy]

Baylor got destroyed this year.

[Skip Towne]

It was joke... you Livin On Tulsa Time red clay eating, van down by the river living...

You bring up a great point though. KU is a cash cow.

How many really big time programs in basketball/football has the NCAA killed off or really put the hammer down on in the last 20 years?

UNLV - but that was because of Tark.

UCLA- barely got a handslap when Harrick was paying players outright. Although they got sanctions

Cinci- Miles Brand wanted Huggins.

SMU in football. Never recovered.

About 5 years ago, Notre Dame was in serious hot water over academic fraud and payments to players. They got a kiss on the forehead.
I've heard better jokes you clod busting dirt farmer.

[Mr. Kotter]

Death penalty...

Keep dreamin', mildcat. :p

[the Talking Can]

I become more disturbed as time goes by, at how bad Self is at controlling his camp. I don't remember any of this type of shit going on with RoyBoy. I fear something very bad will happen one of these days and really muddy KU's name.

what?....this happened while Roy was recruiting Jackson, and we've already been in trouble for Alums paying players after they left - something Roy lied about to cover up...a lot of this "type of shit" happened under Roy's watch, people were just to blinded by his "awwwschucks I'm a bumpkin" routine to believe it...

and what, out of curoisty, could happen worse than an alum giving $5000 CASH to a recruit?

that doesn't "muddy our name?"