So, the theory bears out: start a bullshit campaign against Auburn to deflect attention from 27 violations.
What impact, if any, do secondary violations have on a school's probationary status?
Follow up question: Secondary violations are usually self-reported/self-sanctioned to take the sting out of any looming NCAA penalties. Can this reporting by SPUAT be read to telegraph some larger penalty possibility?
Secondary violations don't mean anything. They do nada. Squat. Zilch. Cero.
Slive spoke last summer about changing the NCAA rulebook. The main issues involve secondary violations, which really aren't violations at all. The rulebook is so thick and detailed that it's impossible to not accidentally commit a violation.
For example, when I worked in recruiting, before a game, the jumbotron displayed a shot of Kodi Burns and Tommy Tuberville talking. Boom. Secondary violation.
A recruit sends an assistant coach a Facebook request. The coach decides to check his Facebook and sees nine people have sent him a request. He goes ahead and clicks "yes" to all of them because he thinks they're all fans, but he failed to see the recruit's name, possibly because the recruit didn't use his real name but Jazzy Weezy Jeffy Fresh. Boom. Secondary violation.
During a "dead time" or some other arbitrary moment in the recruiting process, a recruit sends a coach a text message that asks something as simple as "Does Auburn wear orange and blue?" The coach responds, "Yes." Boom secondary violation.