NCAA takes an unprecedented step as it threatens to vacate the past 8 Big Ten champions amid sign-stealing fiasco

The NCAA may vacate the last 8 years of football champions, the last 20 years of basketball champions, and the last 50 years of baseball titles.

NCAA takes an unprecedented step as it threatens to vacate the past 8 Big Ten champions amid sign-stealing fiasco

Jim Harbaugh (via AP)

While the Michigan Wolverines await a response from the Big Ten on the disciplinary action that they stand to face, the NCAA is being pushed to consider making a rather unprecedented move by potentially considering vacating the national championships of the last eight years.

This is in light of the ongoing investigation into Big Ten teams allegedly stealing signs at the games of their opponents in college football. The NCAA’s decision is not yet final.

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However, if the league does decide to go ahead with this, it would mean that the Big Ten football championships for the last 8 years, men’s basketball championships for the past 20 years, and baseball championships for the past 50 years are likely to be vacated.

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Notably, this is not the first time that the NCAA has vacated wins. When the FBI was looking into the basketball recruiting scandal, the league ended up vacating a lot of wins. The scandal witnessed former NBA agent Andy Miller and his agency, ASM Sports, paying nearly 25 players across 20 different Division I men’s basketball programs.

The NCAA’s decision is likely to invalidate the concept of ‘fair competition’ in collegiate sports

The league has stripped schools of their wins before, but not to this extent. In fact, to date, there have been 162 Division football teams and 272 basketball teams that have vacated wins. 

Jim Harbaugh
Jim Harbaugh (via AP)

However, more interestingly, the Jim Harbaugh and Michigan Wolverines scandal took yet another turn yesterday as Ohio State and Rutgers allegedly had a full list of Michigan football plays with signs as per Sports Illustrated.

Now, if the NCAA does decide to go ahead with this, it would come as a big blow to all the teams that have genuinely worked hard to get there without relying on questionable methods. The NCAA is still yet to take a final call on this matter.

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