The 20 most memorable college football scandals

Bill McCartney transformed the Colorado football program from a conference doormat to a perennial national championship contender. He was also very public about his God-fearing, conservative, family-first nature. So, it was natural that heads turned and eyes rolled when McCartney's college-aged daughter Kristy got pregnant by quarterback Sal Aunese while in school. Aunese was diagnosed with a rare form of stomach cancer in March 1989 and died in September of the same year at age 21.

Cam Newton helped Auburn win a national championship to conclude the 2010 season, but that run didn't come without any hiccups. A good chunk of Newton's only season at Auburn was clouded by allegations that his father, Cecil, along with former Mississippi State player Kenny Rogers, tried to solicit cash payments for Newton, who began his college career at Florida, to play for the Bulldogs. Newton was briefly suspended amid the NCAA's investigation, but was back on the field after it was deemed that he and Auburn were unaware of such alleged payments. Cecil Newton and Rogers were found responsible for the scandal, though the former has claimed he did not orchestrate such payments.

One of the more under-the-radar scandals in the history of college football. In 2016, Wake Forest announced that former Demon Deacons player and assistant coach Tommy Elrod had reportedly given or attempted to provide confidential game information to opponents, beginning with the 2014 season. Elrod had been fired from the program for that campaign. Though Elrod has not spoken of the matter, many others around college football were reprimanded for their reported roles in the scandal. Notably, Shane Beamer, an assistant at Georgia at the time and current South Carolina coach, was slapped with a $25,000 fine.

It was a few entrepreneurial-minded students at the University of Notre Dame during the late 1980s who birthed one of the great football rivalries -- and controversies -- in the history of the college game. Leading up to the Irish's marquee matchup with the reigning national champion Miami Hurricanes during the 1988 season, homemade t-shirts were sold in and around the South Bend campus reading "Catholics vs. Convicts." Praising Notre Dame's holier-than-thou reputation and the alleged wild-boys, trouble-making nature of the brash Miami program. Much to the chagrin of the latter, and chastised by plenty associated with the Irish. The t-shirts were just as big a story as the game, which Notre Dame won 31-30 in thrilling fashion.

Brian Bosworth was an elite college football player at Oklahoma and no stranger to controversy. He was suspended for the 1987 Orange Bowl after he failed a steroid test. Then was relegated to the sidelines of the game, Bosworth sported a shirt that read "National Communists Against Athletes" "Welcome to Russia." In his 1988 autobiography, The Boz: Confessions of a Modern Anti-Hero,  he alluded to widespread drug use and other illegal doings within the Oklahoma program, which led to a three-year probation stay for the Sooners.

Amid Notre Dame's run to the national championship game at the end of the 2012 season, Te'o's emotional story of his long-distance girlfriend, who died from leukemia, provided a captivating subplot on the Irish's 2012 journey. One problem: There was no girlfriend. Te'o was the victim of a catfishing hoax, where a man named Ronaiah Tuiasosopo created a woman and other members of her family and circle of friends to deceive and embarrass the popular linebacker, who had only spoken with her on the phone and online. Once the truth was revealed, Te'o's reputation took a hit, as ridicule reigned down. Tuiasosopo eventually confessed to the hoax and Te'o's story was told via an intriguing Netflix documentary.

George O'Leary's tenure as Notre Dame's football coach lasted only five days in the Fall of 2001. Seemingly hours after O'Leary, who made a name for himself while leading Georgia Tech to success, was introduced as the Irish coach, reports surfaced that he lied about his resume. Notably, he earned a master's degree and played football at the University of New Hampshire -- neither of which was true. O'Leary resigned in the wake of the controversy.

Mike Price was hired as Alabama football coach in December 2022, but never coached a game for the Crimson Tide. But he certainly lived the life of a big-time college football coach during his short tenure. Price was reprimanded by school officials for attending campus bars and late-night drinking escapades. However, the final straw came in May 2003, when Price was caught for a hefty hotel room bill run up by a female guest while playing in a Florida golf tournament. That incident eventually led to Price's dismissal from Alabama.

Improper benefits, fake classes, inflated grades, those were just a few problems that put the North Carolina program on probation during coach Butch Davis' tenure (2007-'10). Of course, Davis claimed he had little or no idea that many of his players were receiving payments from agents, enrolled in classes that didn't exist, or had passed grades. Sure. Regardless,much of the responsibility fell on Davis, who was fired by the school.

Miami Hurricanes booster Nevin Shapiro is as shady as they come. And, it didn't matter who was victimized in his wake. While Shapiro's issues and law-breaking business practices have been prevalent, he is best known for providing payments -- cash and other forms -- to University of Miami football and basketball players from 2002 to '10. As a result, the Hurricanes football program delivered self-imposed sanctions and was placed on three years probation by the NCAA.

It seemed that Hugh Freeze's entire tenure as Mississippi coach (2011-'16) was marred by controversy. During that time, the program was slapped with more than 20 violations, mostly involving academic and recruiting misconduct, by the NCAA. Of course, the granddaddy of them all came in 2017, Ole Miss learned that Freeze frequently called an escort service while using a university-issued cell phone. Classy. That particular scandal led to Freeze's resignation.

Bobby Petrino was in the midst of a successful coaching run at Arkansas when a motorcycle crash in April 2012. Riding along with Petrino was Jessica Dorrell, a former Razorbacks volleyball player who worked under Petrino, with whom he was having an affair. Initially, Petrino tried to cover up the affair, saying he was alone during the accident. Eventually, the whole ordeal blew up on Petrino, who was fired as Hogs coach. Interestingly enough, Petrino is back guiding the Razorbacks as the interim head coach following Sam Pittman's firing.

Pat Fitzgerald helped turn around Northwestern's football as a player in the 1990s, then sustained that success as the program's popular head coach for 17 seasons. However, in July 2023, Fitzgerald was fired from his position amid allegations of hazing in the Wildcat program. He sued the school for $130 million, alleging wrongful termination, but the case was recently settled. Fitzgerald maintains that he was unaware of the extent of the hazing occurring within the Northwestern program under his command.

Apparently, sign and signal stealing has graduated beyond Major League Baseball. Perhaps the most prevalent example outside of the alleged doings of the Houston Astros was that of the University of Michigan. The NCAA found significant evidence that it undertook an impermissible, in-person scouting scheme and sign-stealing operation. Former Wolverines assistant Connor Stallions was at the forefront (filming a number of schools in-person, and often going on the sidelines in disguise during games) earlier this decade. Michigan was slapped with a hefty fine in the reported neighborhood of more than $20 million in revenue, received four years' probation and former head coach Jim Harbaugh was essentially banished from coaching college football.

A case of football fandom gone truly wild. Alabama supporter Harvey Updyke was so upset with the Tide's 2010 loss to rival Auburn in the Iron Bowl that he went to the Tigers' campus and poisoned the famed Toomer's Corner trees with a powerful herbicide. Updyke, hardly apologetic for the incident, which destroyed the trees, also claimed the alleged payment scandal involving Auburn star Cam Newton and his belief that Tiger fans needlessly disrespect Alabama legend "Bear" Bryant, aided his impulse. Updyke pleaded guilty to felony criminal damage, received jail time and was forced to pay a large restitution amount. 

Coach Jim Tressel had a good thing going at Ohio State, then some of his players, most notably quarterback Terrelle Pryor, started trading autographs, Big Ten Championship rings and jerseys, among other stuff, for tattoos. The scandal, which spanned 2011-'15, ballooned and turned into an investigation that featured the NCAA, the FBI, and the United States Department of Justice. The result: Ohio State was forced to vacate all wins from the 2010 season, received a 2012 postseason, and two years of probation. Tressel famously resigned due to the fallout.

Another coach who apparently had no problem looking the other way at some serious allegations. Art Briles helped turn Baylor into a successful Big 12 program from 2008-'15, but he was fired and essentially blacklisted by the college football world after an independent investigation found he and the school administration did not properly address sexual assault claims against members of Baylor's football team. In addition to Briles, University President Ken Starr and Athletic Director Ian McCaw were also fired. 

Reggie Bush is one of college football's all-time great running backs, but he brought plenty of baggage to USC. During the 2000s, Bush and his family received several thousand dollars in cash payments and a car from budding sports agents. That didn't seem to bother the Trojans program, which was hit with the ever-popular lack of institutional control that forced the school to vacate its 2004 national title and Bush's 2005 Heisman Trophy. Bush eventually got his Heisman back, but sued USC, the NCAA and Pac-12 Conference for compensation.

The Southern Methodist University football program has literally risen from the football dead. In 1987, the SMU football program received the granddaddy of all NCAA sanctions, the dissolution of its football program -- aka the "Death Penalty." The harsh and groundbreaking decision stemmed from the program's years (including the golden days of "The Pony Express") of illegal payments to athletes, which left the team dormant for the 1987 season. With no players or coaching staff, SMU was forced to rebuild its program from scratch, a process that took years to make it competitive again. 

To this day, there is no controversy in all of college sports bigger than that of former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, who was convicted on 45 counts of child sexual abuse, then sentenced to a maximum of 60 years in prison in 2012. Sandusky, one of coach Joe Paterno's right-hand men, founded a charity for at-risk youth where the grooming allegedly took place. The fallout from the controversy set a dark cloud over Penn State football for years and tarnished the legendary reputation of Paterno, who, along with school president Graham Spanier, was fired after an FBI investigation found the administration was involved in a cover-up of the incidents.