“Disassociation Day” continues on in full-fledged glory today here at CFT.
Earlier, we noted that Ohio State announced it would be “completely disassociated” from former quarterback Terrelle Pryor for five years after the school declared Pryor would be ineligible for the entire 2011 season and accused him of failure to cooperate with the NCAA’s investigation of the program.
Now, it appears Alabama is doing -- or, has done -- the same with another individual who has the potential to cause more than a few NCAA headaches for the Tide down the road.
The Birmingham News writes today that the University of Alabama has disassociated itself from T-Town men’s store owner for three years, but that the school sent the letter to the store back in March.
You can check out the letter in its entirety HERE.
“Due to the concerns expressed in our letter to Mr. Albetar dated March 31, 2011, we disassociated him from our program,” Alabama associate athletic director of compliance Mike Ward said in a news release. “As we always do in matters of this nature, we discussed this matter with the SEC Office. Because we found no evidence of any NCAA violation, we did not self-report a violation.”
Alabama had also sent a cease and desist letter to T-Town asking that the store stop selling autographs of UA student-athletes. To escalate the matter further, a photo was found of Tide running back Trent Richardson signing what appeared to be a football jersey with a name on the back and a fixed price tag.
Under NCAA bylaws, student-athletes cannot knowingly sign memorabilia with the knowledge that it will be sold for commercial purposes. Likewise, a store cannot sell memorabilia that has a student-athlete’s name attached to it.
“The institution must remain cautious regarding any relationship you may have with its student-athletes beyond that of a store owner and customer,” the letter said. “As the owner of a local business, the institution is reliant on you to heed all instructions provided by the institution and its compliance staff regarding adherence to NCAA rules.”