College Football (FBS) and NCAA Probation

Updated December 30th, 2012

For obvious reasons schools don’t publicize the dates they were placed under probation. But the period of time a school spends on probation can have a direct impact on its future. It’s important to create a record of NCAA probation, so that the history of the game can be better understood.

Take for example a few years ago when Southern California was placed on probation.  Some people were surprised by the severity of the penalties. But in the report released by the NCAA, it was directly noted that the USC football program had previously been placed on probation five times since the early 1950s. I’m sure USC’s repeat violations had some impact on the severity of the penalties they received in 2010.

Listed below are the current FBS schools that have been placed on probation, in which the school’s football team was somehow involved. It’s important to keep in mind that violations in other sports often bring attention to a school’s entire athletic program. Sometimes the football violations paled in comparison to violations in other sports, but if the football program was involved I still listed them (i.e. Baylor’s probation from 2005-09).

Please also note that I didn’t put exact dates down. Instead I simply listed the season(s) in which the violations occurred, or the season(s) in which a school played under probation. If probation was handed down mid-season I listed the month the probation was handed down. In those cases, you can assume the school’s probation ended that same month plus the number of seasons, unless otherwise noted. There have also been instances in which a conference puts a team on probation and the NCAA doesn’t. I only listed instances of NCAA mandated probation. Although I did list conference enacted or self-imposed bowl bans that were affirmed by the NCAA.

The NCAA started handing out punishments for football violations in 1953.

College Football (FBS) and NCAA Probation

Columns can be sorted by clicking on the titles in the header. You can search for a specific school using the search box to the right.

School	Violations Occurred	Probation	Seasons	Bowl Ban	Seasons
Alabama	1989-1990, 1993	1995 - 1996	2	1995	1
Alabama	1995-2000	2002 - 2006	5	2002 - 2003	2
Alabama	2005-2007	2009 - 2011	3	-	0
Arizona	1952-1956	1961	1	-	0
Arizona	1976-1980	1983 - 1984	2	1983 - 1984	2
Arizona St.	1949-1952	1953 (Sep) - 1955	2	1953	1
Arizona St.	1958	1959 (Oct) - 1961	2	1959	1
Arizona St.	1975 - 1979	1980 (Dec) - 1982	2	1981	1
Arizona St.	2002 - 2004	2005 (Nov) - 2007	2	-	0
Arkansas	?	1964 (Dec) - 1965	1	-	0
Arkansas	1994, 1997 - 1999	2003 - 2005	3	-	0
Arkansas St.	2005 - 2006	2011 - 2012	2	-	0
Auburn (AL)	1955	1956 - 1958	3	1956 - 1957	2
Auburn (AL)	1957	1958 - 1960	3	1958 - 1960	3
Auburn (AL)	1974 - 1979	1979 - 1981 (Nov)	3	1979 - 1980	2
Auburn (AL)	1986 - 1992	1993 (Nov) - 1995	2	1993 - 1994	2
Ball St. (IN)	2004 - 2005	2007 (Oct) - 2009	2	-	0
Baylor (TX)	2004	2005 - 2009	5	-	0
Baylor (TX)	2007 - 2011	2012 - 2014	3	-	0
Boise St. (ID)	2005 - 2009	2011 (Sep) - 2014	3	-	0
Buffalo (NY)	1969 - 1970	1970	1	-	0
California	1952 - 1955	1956 (Nov) - 1957	1	-	0
California	1970 - 1971	1973 - 1974	2	1973 - 1974	2
California	1997 - 2001	2001 - 2005	5	2002	1
Central Florida	2007 - 2009	2010 - 2011	2	-	0
Central Florida	2009 - 2011	2012 - 2016	5	2013 ?	1
Cincinnati (OH)	1951 - 1953	1955	1	1955	1
Cincinnati (OH)	1974 - 1977	1978 (Dec) - 1980	2	-	0
Cincinnati (OH)	1984 - 1987	1988 (Nov) - 1991	3	1988	1
Cincinnati (OH)	2009 - 2010	2011 (Sep) - 2013	2	-	0
Clemson (SC)	1985, 1987	1990	1	-	0
Clemson (SC)	1977 - 1982	1982 (Nov) - 1984	2	1982 - 1983	2
Colorado	1972?	1973	1	-	0
Colorado	1959 - 1961	1962 - 1963	2	1962 - 1963	2
Colorado	1971 - 1979	1980 (Dec) - 1982	2	1981	1
Colorado	1996 - 1999	2002 (Oct) - 2004	2	-	0
Colorado	2000 - 2005	2007 - 2008	2	-	0
East Carolina (NC)	1980 - 1984	1986 (Sep) - 1987	1	-	0
Florida	1953 - 1956	1956 - 1957	2	1956 - 1957	2
Florida	1979 - 1983	1985 - 1986	2	1984 - 1985	2
Florida	1986 - 1988	1990 (Sep) - 1992	2	1990	1
Florida Intl	2002 - 2004	2005 - 2007	3	-	0
Florida Intl	2004, 2007	2008 - 2011	4	-	0
Florida St.	1972 - 1973	1974	1	-	0
Florida St.	1992 - 1994	1996	1	-	0
Florida St.	2006 - 2007	2009 - 2012	4	-	0
Fresno St.	1980 - 1982	1983	1	-	0
Georgia	1982	1985	1	-	0
Georgia	1981 - 1982	1982 (Sep) - 1983	1	-	0
Georgia	1993 - 1995	1997 - 1998	2	-	0
Georgia Tech	1998 - 2004	2005 (Nov) - 2007	2	-	0
Georgia Tech	2009 - 2010	2011 - 2014	4	-	0
Hawaii	1974 - 1975	1977 - 1978	2	-	0
Houston (TX)	1962 - 1965	1966 - 1968	3	1966 - 1968	3
Houston (TX)	1977	1977 (Sep) - 1978	1	-	0
Houston (TX)	1978 - 1987	1988 (Dec) - 1991	3	1989 - 1990	2
Illinois	1962 - 1966	1967 - 1968	2	1967 - 1968	2
Illinois	1971 - 1973?	1974 - 1975	2	-	0
Illinois	1980 - 1982	1984 - 1985	2	1984	1
Illinois	1984 - 1985	1988 - 1989	2	-	0
Illinois	2003	2005 (Oct) - 2006	1		0
Indiana	1956 - 1957?	1957 (Oct) - 1958	1	-	0
Indiana	1958 - 1959	1960 - 1963	4	1960 - 1963	4
Iowa St.	1983 - 1985	1986 (Dec) - 1988	2	-	0
Kansas	1968 - 1971	1972	1	1972	1
Kansas	1957, 1959	1960 (Oct) - 1962	2	1960	1
Kansas	1979 - 1982	1983 (Nov) - 1985	2	1984	1
Kansas	2003	2006 (Oct) - 2009	3	-	0
Kansas St.	1947 - 1952	1954	1	-	0
Kansas St.	1997 - 1998	1999	1	-	0
Kansas St.	1968 - 1970	1970 (Oct) - 1973 (Jan)	3	1970 - 1972	3
Kansas St.	1975 - 1978	1978 - 1980	3	1978 - 1979	2
Kentucky	1962 - 1963	1964	1	1964	1
Kentucky	1974 - 1975	1976 (Dec) - 1978	2	1977	1
Kentucky	1999 - 2000	2002 - 2004	3	2002	1
Louisiana St.	2009	2011	1	-	0
Louisiana St.	1981 - 1984	1986 (Sep) - 1987	1	-	0
Louisiana-Lafayette	1966 - 1967	1968 - 1969	2	-	0
Louisiana-Lafayette	2002 - 2005	2007 - 2008	2	-	0
Marshall (WV)	1968 - 1969	1969 (Oct) - 1970	1	1969	1
Marshall (WV)	1996 - 2000	2001 (Dec) - 2005	4	-	0
Maryland	2002 - 2003	2003	1	-	0
Massachusetts	1966 - 1968	1970	1	-	0
Memphis (TN)	1975 - 1978	1979 - 1980	2	1979	1
Memphis (TN)	1983 - 1985	1986 - 1987	2	-	0
Memphis (TN)	1988	1989 - 1991	3	1989	1
Miami (FL)	1950 - 1954	1954 (Oct) - 1957 (Jan)	3	1954 - 1956	3
Miami (FL)	1977 - 1980	1981 (Nov) - 1983	2	1981	1
Miami (FL)	1985 - 1994	1995 (Nov) - 1998	3	1995	1
Michigan	2008 - 2009	2010 (Nov) - 2013	3	-	0
Michigan St.	1957 - 1959	1964 (Nov) - 1967	3	-	0
Michigan St.	1967, 1972 - 1975	1976 - 1978	3	1976 - 1978	3
Michigan St.	1991 - 1995	1995 (Dec) - 1999	4	-	0
Minnesota	1985 - 1986	1988 - 1989	2	-	0
Minnesota	1982 - 1988	1991 - 1992	2	1991	1
Mississippi	1957	1959 (Oct) - 1960	1	-	0
Mississippi	1982 - 1984	1986 (Dec) - 1988	2	1987	1
Mississippi	1991 - 1994	1994 (Sep) - 1998	4	1995 - 1996	2
Mississippi St.	1991 - 1993	1996	1	-	0
Mississippi St.	1974	1975 (Sep) - 1977	2	1975 - 1976	2
Mississippi St.	1998 - 2002	2004 - 2007	4	2004	1
Navy (MD)	1964	1964 (Nov) - 1965	1	-	0
Nebraska	1983, 1986	1986 (Oct) - 1987	1	-	0
Nebraska	2007 - 2010	2012 - 2013	2	-	0
New Mexico	2004 - 2005	2008 - 2010	3	-	0
New Mexico St.	1959 - 1960	1962 - 1964	3	1962 - 1963	2
North Carolina	2008 - 2010	2012 - 2014	3	2012	1
North Carolina St.	1952 - 1953	1954	1	-	0
North Carolina St.	1981 - 1982	1983	1	-	0
North Carolina St.	¹ Basketball	1956 (Nov) - 1960	4	1956 - 1959	4
Notre Dame (IN)	1995 - 1999	1999 (Dec) - 2001	2	-	0
Ohio St.	1951 - 1955	1956	1	1956	1
Ohio St.	2004	2006 - 2008	3	-	0
Ohio St.	2008 - 2010	2011 (Dec) - 2014	3	2012	1
Oklahoma	1952, 1954 - 1955	1960	1	1960	1
Oklahoma	1953?	1955 - 1956	2	-	0
Oklahoma	1972	1973 - 1974	2	1973 - 1974	2
Oklahoma	1983 - 1986	1988 (Dec) - 1991	3	1989 - 1990	2
Oklahoma	2005 - 2006	2008 - 2009	2	-	0
Oklahoma St.	1972 - 1978	1978 - 1981	4	1978 - 1979	2
Oklahoma St.	1982 - 1987	1989 - 1992	4	1989 - 1991	3
Oregon	1977 - 1979	1981 (Dec) - 1983	2	1982	1
Oregon	2003	2004 - 2005	2	-	0
Oregon St.	1977, 1979	1981	1	1980	1
Penn St.	1998 - 2011	2012 - 2016	5	2012 - 2015	4
Pittsburgh (PA)	1986 - 1989	1993 (Nov) - 1995	2	-	0
Rutgers (NJ)	1967	1967 (Dec) - 1968 (May)	0	-	0
Rutgers (NJ)	1998 - 2000	2003 - 2004	2	-	0
San Diego St. (CA)	1998 - 2002	2004 - 2004	2	-	0
South Carolina	1965 - 1966	1967 - 1968	2	1967 - 1968	2
South Carolina	2001 - 2002	2005 - 2007	3	-	0
South Carolina	2009 - 2010	2012 - 2014	3	-	0
Southern California	1952 - 1956	1956 (Nov) - 1958	2	1956	1
Southern California	1957 - 1958	1959 - 1960	2	1959	1
Southern California	1971 - 1979	1982 - 1984	3	1982 - 1983	2
Southern California	1983 - 1985	1985 (Dec) - 1987	2	-	0
Southern California	1996 - 1998	2001 - 2002	2	-	0
Southern California	2004 - 2005	2010 - 2013	4	2010 - 2011	2
Southern Methodist (TX)	1957	1958	1	-	0
Southern Methodist (TX)	1963	1964 - 1965	2	1964 - 1965	2
Southern Methodist (TX)	1970 - 1975	1974 - 1976	3	1974 - 1975	2
Southern Methodist (TX)	1978 - 1980	1981 - 1982	2	1981	1
Southern Methodist (TX)	1981 - 1984	1985 - 1987	3	1985 - 1986	2
Southern Methodist (TX)	1984 - 1986	1987 - 1990 ²	4	1987 - 1988	2
Southern Methodist (TX)	1995 - 1998	2000 (Dec) - 2002	2	-	0
Southern Mississippi	1983 - 1985	1985	1	-	0
Southern Mississippi	1979 - 1982	1982 (Oct) - 1984	2	1982 - 1983	2
Syracuse (NY)	1986 - 1990	1992 (Oct) - 1994	2	-	0
Tennessee	1976 - 1985	1986 (Oct) - 1987	1	-	0
Tennessee	1989 - 1990	1991 (Sep) - 1993	2	-	0
Tennessee	2009 - 2010	2013 - 2014	2	-	0
Texas	1963?	1964	1	-	0
Texas	1980 - 1985	1987	1	-	0
Texas	1978, 1982	1982 (Sep) - 1983	1	-	0
Texas A&M	1955	1956	1	1956	1
Texas A&M	1964 - 1965	1966	1	1966	1
Texas A&M	1983 - 1987	1988 (Sep) - 1990	2	1988	1
Texas A&M	1990 - 1992	1994 - 1998	5	1994	1
Texas Christian	1981 - 1985	1986 - 1988	3	1986	1
Texas St.	1997 - 2001, 2003	2005 - 2007	3	-	0
Texas Tech	1982 - 1984	1987	1	-	0
Texas Tech	1991 - 1997	1998 - 2001	4	1997	1
Texas Tech	2007 - 2010	2011 - 2012	2	-	0
Texas-El Paso	1992 - 1996	1997 - 2001	5	-	0
Tulsa (OK)	?	1960	1	-	0
Tulsa (OK)	1969 - 1970	1970 (Oct) - 1973 (Jan)	3	1970 - 1972	3
UCLA	1952 - 1956	1956 - 1958	3	1956 - 1958	3
UCLA	1970 - 1971	1971 (Oct) - 1972	1	-	0
UCLA	1977	1981 (Dec) - 1983	2	1980	1
Utah	1984 - 1985	1987	1	-	0
Utah	2000 - 2002	2003 - 2005	3	-	0
Utah St.	1967 - 1968	1968 (Oct) - 1970	2	1968 - 1969	2
Virginia	1987 - 1990	1993 - 1994	2	-	0
Virginia Tech	1979 - 1982	1983	1	-	0
Virginia Tech	1983 - 1986	1987 (Nov) - 1989	2	-	0
Washington	1951 - 1956	1956 - 1957	2	1956 - 1957	2
Washington	1980 - 1992	1994 - 1995	2	-	0
Washington	2000 - 2003	2005 - 2006	2	-	0
West Virginia	2005 - 2009	2011 - 2012	2	-	0
Wisconsin	1979 - 1980	1982	1	-	0
Wisconsin	1981, 1983	1983 (Nov) - 1984	1	-	0
Wisconsin	1996	1999 - 2000	2	-	0
Wisconsin	1998 - 2000	2001 (Oct) - 2006	5	-	0
Wyoming	1957	1959 (Oct) - 1960	1	1959	1

¹ The North Carolina St. basketball program brought sanctions upon the entire athletic program.  So although the football team didn’t violate any rules, they were still sanctioned.

² Southern Methodist is the only FBS football program to ever receive the NCAA’s “death penalty”.  SMU was barred from fielding a football team for one year (1987). SMU also decided to cancel the 1988 season.

 

Below is a list of current FBS football programs that have never been placed under probation. There are 44 FBS schools (35% of the FBS) that have never been placed on probation.

College Football (FBS) Programs That Have Never Been Placed on Probation

School	School	School
Air Force (CO)	Kent St. (OH)	San Jose St. (CA)
Akron (OH)	Louisiana Tech	South Alabama
Alabama-Birmingham	Louisiana-Monroe	South Florida
Army (NY)	Louisville	Stanford (CA)
Boston College (MA)	Miami (OH)	Temple (PA)
Bowling Green (OH)	Middle Tennessee	Texas-San Antonio
Brigham Young (UT)	Missouri	Toledo (OH)
Central Michigan	Nevada	Troy (AL)
Colorado St.	Nevada-Las Vegas	Tulane (LA)
Connecticut	North Texas	Vanderbilt (TN)
Duke (NC)	Northern Illinois	Wake Forest (NC)
Eastern Michigan	Northwestern (IL)	Washington St.
Florida Atlantic	Ohio	Western Kentucky
Idaho	Purdue (IN)	Western Michigan
Iowa	Rice (TX)

 

Notes

• Every school in the Big 12 has been placed on probation at some point in their histories.

• Missouri and Vanderbilt are the only schools in the Southeastern Conference to have never been placed on probation.

• Stanford and Washington St. are the only schools in the Pac-12 conference to have never been placed on probation.

• Army, Brigham Young, and Iowa are the only schools to have won a poll era national title (AP, Coaches’, and FWAA), and to have never been placed on probation. Penn St. was previously a member of this list until their recent sanctions.

 

College Football (FBS) Programs That Have Been on Probation the Most

Note: The count includes seasons not yet completed (i.e. USC 2012-2013).

Rk	School	Seasons	Sanctioned
1	Southern Methodist (TX)	17 seasons	7 times
2	Southern California	15 seasons	6 times
3	Auburn (AL)	11 seasons	4 times
4t	Alabama	10 seasons	3 times
4t	Michigan St.	10 seasons	3 times
4t	Oklahoma	10 seasons	5 times
7t	Colorado	9 seasons	5 times
7t	Illinois	9 seasons	5 times
7t	Texas A&M	9 seasons	4 times
7t	Wisconsin	9 seasons	4 times
11t	Arizona St.	8 seasons	4 times
11t	Baylor (TX)	8 seasons	2 times
11t	California	8 seasons	3 times
11t	Cincinnati (OH)	8 seasons	4 times
11t	Kansas	8 seasons	4 times
11t	Kansas St.	8 seasons	4 times
11t	Miami (FL)	8 seasons	3 times
11t	Oklahoma St.	8 seasons	2 times
11t	South Carolina	8 seasons	3 times
20t	Central Florida	7 seasons	2 times
20t	Florida Intl	7 seasons	2 times
20t	Houston (TX)	7 seasons	3 times
20t	Memphis (TN)	7 seasons	3 times
20t	Mississippi	7 seasons	3 times
20t	Mississippi St.	7 seasons	3 times
20t	Ohio St.	7 seasons	3 times
20t	Texas Tech	7 seasons	3 times

 

Notes

• Since 1953, the year the NCAA instituted penalties, Southern Methodist has spent 28% of their seasons on probation. By 2013, Southern California will have spent 25% of their seasons on probation.

• The 2012 season was Florida International’s first season off of probation since they joined the Sun Belt Conference in 2005.

 

Schools that are currently from the SEC have been sanctioned 36 times, for a total of 79 seasons; the most by any conference in the FBS.

College Football (FBS) and NCAA Probation by Conference

Note: The count includes seasons not yet completed (i.e. USC 2012-2013).

Counts probation (seasons and sanctions) of teams currently in the conference.

Conference	Sanctioned	Seasons
Atlantic Coast	18 times	38 seasons
Big 12	26 times	59 seasons
Big East	8 times	14 seasons
Big Ten	23 times	55 seasons
Conference USA	23 times	56 seasons
Independents	2 times	3 seasons
Mid-American	3 times	4 seasons
Mountain West	6 times	12 seasons
Pac-12	31 times	64 seasons
Southeastern	36 times	79 seasons
Sun Belt	5 times	13 seasons
Western Athletic	3 times	8 seasons

 

The bowl ban is one of the most dreaded penalties in the NCAA. Current FBS schools have spent a total of 136 seasons under a bowl ban.

Note: Includes conference enacted or self-imposed bowl bans that were affirmed by the NCAA. Miami (FL) has spent the last two seasons (2011-2012) under a self-imposed bowl ban; the NCAA hasn’t ruled on their case yet so that’s why those bans aren’t counted.

Auburn and Southern Methodist are tied for the most years of bowl bans; nine bowl bans in total.

College Football (FBS) Programs That Have Received the Most Bowl Bans

Rk	School	Bowl Bans	Sanctioned
1t	Auburn (AL)	9 bowl bans	4 times
1t	Southern Methodist (TX)	9 bowl bans	5 times
3	Southern California	6 bowl bans	4 times
4t	Florida	5 bowl bans	3 times
4t	Houston (TX)	5 bowl bans	2 times
4t	Kansas St.	5 bowl bans	2 times
4t	Miami (FL)	5 bowl bans	3 times
4t	Oklahoma	5 bowl bans	3 times
4t	Oklahoma St.	5 bowl bans	2 times
10t	Indiana	4 bowl bans	1 time
10t	North Carolina St.	4 bowl bans	1 time
10t	Penn St.	4 bowl bans	1 time
10t	Texas A&M	4 bowl bans	4 times
10t	UCLA	4 bowl bans	2 times
15t	Alabama	3 bowl bans	2 times
15t	Arizona St.	3 bowl bans	3 times
15t	California	3 bowl bans	2 times
15t	Colorado	3 bowl bans	2 times
15t	Illinois	3 bowl bans	2 times
15t	Kansas	3 bowl bans	3 times
15t	Kentucky	3 bowl bans	3 times
15t	Michigan St.	3 bowl bans	1 time
15t	Mississippi	3 bowl bans	2 times
15t	Mississippi St.	3 bowl bans	2 times
15t	Tulsa (OK)	3 bowl bans	1 time

 

On 25 occasions a bowl ban has prevented a current FBS school from: winning a conference championship, competing in a conference championship game, or has kept a conference champion out of a bowl game.

Includes bowl bans not yet affirmed by the NCAA (i.e. Miami FL’s recent self-imposed bowl ban).

School	Year(s)
Alabama	2002
Arizona St	1959
Auburn (AL)	1957, 1993
Clemson (SC)	1982, 1983
Florida	1984, 1985, 1990
Kentucky	1977
Miami (FL)	1995, 2012
Michigan St.	1978
North Carolina	2012
North Carolina St.	1957
Ohio St.	2012
Oklahoma	1973, 1974
Penn St.	2012
Southern California	1959, 2011
Southern Methodist (TX)	1981
Texas A&M	1956, 1994
Wyoming	1959

 

References

Thanks to Robert Bradley for the idea.

The NCAA has made available a database of every major infraction they have dealt with.  You can access their Legislative Services Database to conduct your own research on the topic.  I would have liked to have been able to provide a link to every document I accessed, but unfortunately the links change with every user session.  Most of the information posted was found using the NCAA database.

The NCAA database was a great resource, but there were some errors and omissions.  Check out this document for a list of newspaper resources I used to fill in some of the gaps.

Special thanks to Sharp Williams for providing additional and valuable information to this post.