Notre Dame Penalty Is Deemed ‘Major’

The Notre Dame football program is expected today to be hit with “major” NCAA sanctions for the first time in school history, although the punishment will be no more than two years’ probation and a loss of a few scholarships.

The sanctions will not bar Notre Dame from bowl appearances--not an issue this year for the 5-7 Irish--and will not affect the school’s exclusive television contract with NBC.

The NCAA ruling reportedly will also exonerate Coach Bob Davie and his staff.

Yet, the blow is symbolic for the Catholic school program that has long cherished, protected and sculpted its hallowed image.

The Chicago Tribune reported Thursday that sanctions will be made official at an NCAA news conference today. Notre Dame officials cannot comment until then.

The violations stem from at least 12 Notre Dame players’ involvement with Kim Dunbar, a South Bend, Ind., bookkeeper who embezzled more than $1.4 million from her company, Dominiack Mechanical.

Dunbar used the money to lavish gifts and trips on players. Dunbar was convicted and was released in October from Atterbury Correctional Unit in Edinburgh, Ind., after serving one year of a four-year sentence.

The gift-giving constituted an NCAA violation because Dunbar was deemed a representative of the university by virtue of the $25 membership she paid to join the now-defunct Quarterback Club, a group that met for luncheons on Fridays before home games.

The NCAA Committee on Infractions’ decision to refer to the sanctions on Notre Dame as “major” overruled the conclusion of the NCAA enforcement staff, which ruled that the violations were minor.

Notre Dame can appeal the NCAA’s decision, but with national signing day for high school seniors approaching in February, the Irish may want to accept the penalties and be done with this sordid chapter.

This will not mark the first time Notre Dame has lost scholarships as a result of infractions. In 1993, the NCAA ordered the Irish to forfeit two football scholarships for the 1993-94 season as an institutional penalty for impropriety involving linebacker Demetrius DuBose, who accepted $1,000 from a Seattle couple with ties to the university.