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UPDATED: NCAA issues Ole Miss notice of allegations
Ole Miss has received a Notice of Allegations from the NCAA's enforcement staff alleging violations in football, women's basketball and track and field. The withholding and reinstatement process around Laremy Tunsil last fall is also part of the report.
Ole Miss Athletics Director Ross Bjork issued a statement on Saturday, responding to the allegations.
"To be clear, the NCAA has only brought allegations, and as part of the NCAA process, the University and others have 90 days to issue a response," Bjork said. "We've been transparent throughout this process, and it is important to note that most of the football allegations are based upon facts that have been publicly disclosed previously in "self-reports" and reinstatement requests or have been reported publicly in connection with another NCAA case.
"Out of fairness to the individuals involved and the integrity of the NCAA process, we will not provide further details or comment until everyone has had an opportunity to review the allegations and respond. Once they do so, we will release the official notice and the university's response. In all three sports, I am confident in the leadership of our current head coaches and the manner in which they operate their programs."
Yahoo Sports' Pat Forde previously reported that the bulk of the potential violations related to the women's basketball program, which fired Adrian Wiggins and two of his assistants in 2012 before the coach had an opportunity to make his official debut courtside.
"The source said the current football staff of head coach Hugh Freeze is not believed to be implicated in any major violations, and that much of the football inquiry dates back to actions by a previous Ole Miss staff," Forde wrote in October 2014.
During the 2015 football season, Tunsil was suspended for seven games for accepting impermissible benefits.
Forde also lists the suspension of star defensive
tackle Robert Nkemdiche, who sat for the Sugar Bowl -- and subsequently declared for the NFL draft -- after falling out of a hotel window in Atlanta during the winter break.
Nkemdiche was charged with possession of marijuana after he broke a double-paned hotel room window, walked about 15 feet, climbed over a wall and fell 15 feet, according to police.
Former Mississippi State quarterback Matt Wyatt, who co-hosts the daily Head-to-Head radio show, tweeted the football violations are tied to former Ole Miss assistant coach David Saunders, who coached in Oxford from 1999-2002, 2006 and 2010.
Saunders, currently at Pearl River Community College, was at the center of a lengthy investigation stemming from his time at Louisiana-Lafayette.
The NCAA handed Saunders an eight-year show-cause order due to serious NCAA rules violations, including arranging fraudulent college entrance exam scores for five prospects.
The NCAA announced its punishment on Tuesday, saying that Saunders denied his involvement in the infractions and failed to cooperate in its investigation.
"We're aware of the situation," PRCC spokesman Chuck Abadie said earlier this month. "We feel like we made a great hire and he will be a great leader for our football program."
Ole Miss has 90 days to respond to the allegations before the process can move forward.
Patrick Magee, a Sun Herald reporter, contributed to this report.
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