The Most Notable College Sports Cheating Scandals

Colorado head football coach Gary Barnett was caught luring recruits with strippers, sex, and drugs. He also mocked Katie Hnida, a female kicker on the team, after she was allegedly raped. Barnett was forced to resign.

In 2018, the NCAA stripped the University of Louisville's men's basketball team of its 2013 national championship title over a recruiting scandal, where coaches used sex workers to entice recruits and keep players happy at the university. Coach Rick Pitino resigned over the scandal, and the team faced several infractions on the team, including a $600,000 fine. 

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. 

From 1989 to 1991 the University of Miami assisted athletes by forging applications for federal Pell Grant money, receiving approximately $220,000 in funds. The NCAA issued a one year ban on post-season play and three years of probation.

In 1999 the University of Alabama paid high school student Albert Means an estimated $200,000 to come play football for the them. In 2002 the NCAA punished the university by reducing scholarships, issuing a two-year bowl ban, and placing the school on probation for five years.