Ole Miss given an extra 30 days to respond to NCAA allegations

Friday marks 90 days since Ole Miss opened a letter from the NCAA informing the school that it was being charged with some 30 violations, and Friday was supposed to be the deadline by which Ole Miss was required to respond.

Instead, the metaphorical can has been kicked another month down the road. Rebels Athletic Director Ross Bjork confirmed in a statement on Thursday afternoon that the NCAA has granted a 30-day extension at the request of "a party other than Ole Miss," according to The Clarion-Ledger.

That third party is likely one of the former Ole Miss coaches tangled up in this mess. David Saunders, who served on Houston Nutt's staff, was recently slammed by the NCAA for violations during his stint at Louisiana-Lafayette. Chris Vaughn, another Nutt assistant, was fired by Texas in mid-February, reportedly because of his involvement with the investigation in Oxford.

"This extension is an often used tool available to all parties and the Notice of Allegations itself has not changed in any way," Bjork said in a statement. "Upon completion of the 30-day extension period, the University will release our full Response to the Notice of Allegations."

Keep in mind that the official university response is simply the next step in the process—this thing will likely drag out until late October. From The Clarion-Ledger:

After Ole Miss submits its response, the notice of allegations and the school's response to it are combined into one document that is presented to the committee on infractions, a 60-day process.

A hearing would then likely take a few weeks to be scheduled. The committee on infractions would then present its ruling about six weeks after the hearing.

By then, this investigation will be approaching its fourth birthday. This whole shit show started after Bjork canned recently hired women's basketball coach Adrian Wiggins for recruiting and academic misconduct. The NCAA showed up shortly thereafter, and the investigation gradually expanded, wrapping its tentacles around the track and football programs. Read the full history of the investigation here.

Of the reported 30-something violations, the majority are thought to be tied to Wiggins and the women's hoops team. In early February, ESPN and the Associated Press reported that 13 of the allegations pertain to the football program and are a mix of Level I, II and III violations. Read the breakdown of those violations here.