For as long as there have been sports, there has been cheating. When it comes to college athletics and the NCAA, most of the cheating scandals occur off the field, but nevertheless have gone down in history as momentous college sports scandals.
Because college sports is a multimillion-dollar, nonprofit, amateur operation, there are very strict rules about what constitutes cheating. What makes for college sports cheating scandals? Players accepting money of any kind is a college sports cheating scandal. Football players receiving gifts of any kind for playing are considered college football cheating scandals. Undermining academic integrity is a college sports scandal as well.
Vote up the controversies below that you think are the biggest college cheating scandals of all time. One thing this list will prove is that you never want to get on the NCAA's bad side.
In 1989 University of Oklahoma Sooners football head coach Barry Switzer was caught offering illegal cars and money to players. Things only got worse for the school when the subsequent investigation saw quarterback Charles Thompson charged with cocaine possession.
From 1993 to 2011 the University of North Carolina helped students get good grades with little work. Hundreds of classes required little work or had no faculty involvement and many of the students involved were student-athletes. Surprisingly, the NCAA concluded that UNC's wrongdoing was not conclusive, and the university evaded punishment.
